Little Missenden Festival 2008

By the time the music heard in this concert was being written the monasteries were being dissolved in this country and a tradition and culture were being destroyed but is interesting to surmise how far through the land performances of similar music took place. In the cathedral churches? Smaller monasteries? Priories or convents?
The programme consisted of motets from Continental sources and followed in general terms the order of the Mass. Thus the opening was 'Aspurges me,Domine' the ritual purging of the faithful with holy water, progressing, as does the order of the traditional mass to the prayers for life eternal through Christ's resurrection. This was reflected in the sequence of this programme the central motet being Jacob Obrecht's Mi'ssa Libenter (Kyrie and Gloria)
This was very real indeed to these composers who wrote reflecting the strength of their beliefs.
This was captured by the Binchois Ensemble whose performance rose above being technically accurate to recapturing the fervour of the beliefs of the period when they were written.
Saturdays are very busy days at this Festival and the first started with a programme for children that was repeated three times.
Janet Davey is the inspiration behind these events, aided by Richard Benjafield on Percussion but most important the children from Bucks Schools are actively involved.
This year is the fiftieth anniversary of Vaughan Williams death and more recently his widow Ursula died. She for many years supported the Festival. The showing of Tony Palmer's new film, O 'thou transcendent, on' the Life and music of Vaughan Williams in the village Hall attracted a capacity audience. The film sensitively investigated the music of this great composer who we all hope will receive the recognition he deserves.
In recent years we have had lectures on forthcoming art exhibitions in London to give us an introduction to what will be shown and also to excite our interest in some of the treasures that are displayed in these exhibitions.
This illustrated lecture was given by Catherine Reynolds as a prelude to the exhibition Renaissance Faces which opens at the National Gallery and explored the significance of portraits of individuals, particularly children, in the Renaissance world. One obvious example is the promotion of a marriage between important families but they were also used as a visible demonstration of worldly success.
For several years now we have enjoyed performances by Gary Cooper on the harpsichord and various period pianos.
An early appearance was a performance of Bach's Goldberg Variations that I can still remember. Last year we had performances an early piano and this year we enjoyed an exploration of late Beethoven piano music on a piano that was a copy of an 1823 instrument by Brodman of Vienna. Gary introduced the instrument and explained how the construction of the instrument affected the sound and that this was the sound that Beethoven's audiences would have heard. The programme contained the last three sonatas that Beethoven composed for the piano separated by a Liszt transcription and the second of three sets of Beethoven's Bagatelles.
Transcriptions of orchestral works were important in an age when few people could attend concert halls to hear orchestras. Liszt was a master of these arrangements and we heard his piano version of the slow movement of the 9th Symphony.
A full and appreciative audience listened to a recital that was both interesting musically and also supremely performed. I am hoping that Gary will become 'pianist in residence'.
The last concert of the first part of the Festival was given by the Allegri String Quartet who played a programme whose two halves had the initial appearance of being contrasting. However a better description might be complimentary as all three composers had a compulsion to use the medium of the quartet.
The Beethoven Quartet No.14 in C sharp minor was the work in the second half of the evening and was preceded by Robert Simpson's Quartet no.2 and a work by Matthew Taylor - his Quartet No.6, op.36 receiving its world premiere.
Robert Simpson is rather neglected at the moment but the Coull Quartet played a lot of his compositions 25 years ago, he was an academic who also expressed himself to great effect through his String quartet compositions.
Matthew Taylor introduced his quartet, explaining some of the thought processes involved. String Quartets, possibly more than any other music form are a vehicle for releasing or developing emotions, certainly I think this applies to this quartet as the central movement, which is atmospheric and tranquil, is an elaboration of music written for the composer's wife at the time of their marriage.
The Allegri are a quartet with a distinguished history and gave a commanding performance of one of the greatest works in the repertoire of the string quartet. The last string quartets of Beethoven are among the musical wonders of the world particularly when they receive a performance such as we enjoyed in Little Missenden's ancient church.