Music from around the world had audience holding its breath till end

‘Rediscovered Places’ —
West Wycombe Chamber Music Festival

St Mary the Virgin, Hambleden

Friday, September 19

THE audience at the West Wycombe chamber music concert in Hambleden Church at lunchtime on Friday had struck gold. That a world-class group of players should grace such a tiny place is extraordinary, and fortuitous for those lucky enough to be there.

“Rediscovered Places” was the theme of the concert (inspired by Paul Hindemith, who was forced to flee from Nazi Germany, like so many cultural fugitives), part of the West Wycombe Chamber Music Festival which was founded, directed and partly performed by Lawrence Power (piano, violin and viola). The overall theme of this 15th anniversary festival, comprising five concerts, was “Across Mountains and Valleys”.

Power’s stellar group of performers for this concert of world-travelling music comprised Simon Crawford-Phillips and Gabriel Power, piano; Benjamin Marquise Gilmore, Charlotte Spruit and Annabelle Meare (co-founder of the festival) violin, together with cellist Nicolas Altstaedt, each of whom has a dazzling CV.

Opening with the first two movements of the Brahms Clarinet Trio, arranged by him for viola, cello and piano, Power and Altstaedt’s energy and brio was sensitively matched by Crawford-Phillips’s piano accompaniment.

The last two movements of this rather sombre piece came later in the programme, the melodic and dance-like contrasts melding in a storm of dark energy for the closing of the allegro.

Adès’ Fields, from Lieux Retrouvés, involves near-impossibly high notes on the cello which all but disappear in their delicacy, representing the ascent of animals’ breath at night. You were almost aware of the audience holding its own collective breath as Altstaedt’s meticulous fingering reached the altitudes.

Rachmaninov’s Romance for piano, played with six hands, saw the serried rank of Lawrence and Gabriel Power together with Crawford-Phillips, cheek by jowl at the grand piano. This rarely performed early piece was a treat indeed, opening with the familiar theme from the second movement of Rachmaninov’s second piano concerto.

“Rediscovered Places” included those explored by Vaughan Williams to inspire his six Studies on English Folksong on cello and piano.

This was a warm and affectionate tribute to the British folksongs Vaughan Williams collected and transcribed in the Twenties.

Little-known female Polish composer, Bacewicz’s Quartet for four violins closed the programme. The perfectly matched team played with style and virtuosity, pinpointing the rapid and demanding rhythms with energy.

This piece, written in 1949, also employs folk tunes but has an intoxicating jazz feel in its syncopation.

“Rediscovered Places” was a breathtaking masterclass in chamber music. We stumbled, dazed back into the humdrum world, having witnessed glory.

Jane Redley