{"id":7888,"date":"2017-04-11T11:35:16","date_gmt":"2017-04-11T10:35:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/?p=7888"},"modified":"2017-09-11T11:37:16","modified_gmt":"2017-09-11T10:37:16","slug":"concert-review-the-guardian-pritchards-vibrant-violin-concerto-captures-sound-of-the-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2017\/04\/11\/concert-review-the-guardian-pritchards-vibrant-violin-concerto-captures-sound-of-the-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"Concert Review, The Guardian \u2013 Pritchard’s vibrant violin concerto captures sound of the sea\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

ESO\/Woods review \u2013 Pritchard’s vibrant violin concerto captures sound of the sea<\/h2>\n

Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
\n<\/strong>Kenneth Woods led the English String Orchestra through a strong programme of new work that included Deborah Pritchard\u2019s concerto inspired by Maggi \u2018s Hambling\u2019s art<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Maggi Hambling is the most musical of painters. Her\u00a0giant Scallop sculpture on Aldeburgh beach<\/a>\u00a0is inscribed with lines from Britten\u2019s Peter Grimes; while her series of vast,\u00a0spuming wave studies<\/a>\u00a0developed out of a desire \u201cto paint the sound of the sea\u201d.<\/p>\n

Deborah Pritchard\u2019s violin concerto,\u00a0Wall of Water<\/a>, was inspired by a visit to Hambling\u2019s studio, and might be characterised as an attempt to capture the sound of the paintings. Pritchard \u2013 a synaesthetic who perceives intervals in terms of colour \u2013 on the spot began sketching the cadenza that opens the work. The concerto exhibited a spontaneity and vibrance that echoed Hambling\u2019s freedom across the canvas.<\/p>\n

Pritchard\u2019s Wall of Water, however, is by no means a wall of sound. While Hambling\u2019s works overwhelm you with their scale, Pritchard\u2019s concerto is a transparent, melancholic piece scored for a modest ensemble of 12 strings. The expressive soloist Harriet Mackenzie traced a pellucid line, which was perhaps more reminiscent of a droplet of rain descending a windowpane than a giant wave exploding against the sea wall; although, for the non-synaesthetics in the audience, projections of the paintings made for a multisensory experience.<\/p>\n

The English String Orchestra\u2019s charismatic American conductor,\u00a0Kenneth Woods<\/a>, led a programme entirely of contemporary female composers. Thea Musgrave\u2019s Green, Kaija Saariaho\u2019s Terra Memoria and Emily Doolittle\u2019s\u00a0falling still<\/a>\u00a0were eloquently played, though the timbral similarities in the lineup ran the risk of the small orchestra\u2019s wispy sound becoming ephemeral.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Read the original here<\/a><\/p>\n