Southwell Music Festival 2023Southwell Minster and other venues in Southwell, 25 - 28 August, 2023. Review: William Ruff

Southwell Music Festival 2023

Southwell Minster and other venues in Southwell

25 - 28 August, 2023

Review: William Ruff

@ReviewsGate

A celebration in beautiful surroundings of music’s rich diversity

The Southwell Music Festival is the answer to a question which grows more urgent year by year: why bother to get off your sofa and travel to hear music when you have a device in your pocket which allows you to hear just about any piece of music ever written?

I was surprised how quickly and decisively that question was answered this year. I’m not usually a fan of musicians tuning their instruments but last Friday the sound was a revelation. The first event of this year’s Festival took place in the Minster’s Chapter House, famed for its architecture and exquisite carvings. My eyes were prepared for beauty but my ears weren’t expecting that the first sounds made by the violin of Stella Zake and the viola of Francesca Gilbert would themselves seem to be filled with the air and light of that very special place. And this was even before they started to play Mozart’s G Major Duo, K.423, a piece whose small scale belies its significance in the Southwell context: sounds in harmony, musicians intimately interacting, listening as well as playing, precisely matching each other’s phrasing, seamlessly passing ideas one to the other.

And when they passed the baton to their colleagues Florence Cooke, Lena Eckels and Nathaniel Boyd for their performance of Beethoven’s String Trio, Op. 9 No 2 the atmosphere of intimate intensity was maintained, even though Beethoven creates a sound world of adventure and risk. The bright key of D major may suggests jollity and celebration but the composer throws plenty of challenges in the performers’ path, such as the startlingly difficult violin part, which Florence Cooke seemed to take effortlessly in her stride.

The following day Jeneba Kanneh-Mason started her lunchtime recital with a Beethoven piano sonata written at the same time as the String Trio. Unsurprisingly the Nave was packed with Jeneba’s many admirers to hear her crystalline playing of the Sonata in E Flat, Op.7, a piece which requires meticulous attention to the detail of Beethoven’s score and a willingness to submit to the composer’s very precise demands. Jeneba has just the right personality and technique to display this early masterpiece in its full glory: plenty of wit and sparkle in the outer movements combined with deep emotion in a slow movement which seems to spring from the depths of despair. She followed the Sonata with ten sharply characterised episodes from Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet. Jeneba doesn’t just have a dazzling technique but she can tell a story too, proucing a wide palette of tonal colour from the keyboard to paint vivid pictures. Applause was, of course, rapturous and the Debussy encore as delightful as it was inevitable.

Friday evening saw another event which just had to be experienced live, amid the air, light and architecture of the Minster, for anything like its full power to be communicated. ‘The Voice of Freedom’ concert took risks and put huge trust in its performers and audience. There were six choral works sung by the Festival Voices under the baton of Festival Director Marcus Farnsworth, ranging in date from the 16th to the 21st century and all reflecting the spirit of resistance in the face of oppression, all imploring that human beings should face life together in a spirit of harmony rather than descend into the pit of violent conflict. Holding the music together were the poems of Maya Angelou movingly performed by Simone Ibbett-Brown. These aren’t comfortable poems; indeed their ideas are frequently shocking in their intensity. Heard in the context of Southwell Minster, their power was palpable and they made a visible impact on the audience. The Festival Voices frequently astonished with their virtuosity and their ability to move between diverse styles with ease. Both their diction and the texture of each work were projected in ways which allowed listeners to enter their diverse spiritual worlds and to engage imaginatively with much which lay at musical and emotional extremes. Just one example: Sir James MacMillan’s Cantos Sagrados, the sometimes disturbingly vivid setting of poems concerned with political repression in South America, including the ‘disappearance’ of political prisoners. The concert ended with Errollyn Wallen’s setting of just one word: Pace (Peace), an extraordinary ending to an unforgettable evening.

The Southwell Festival does so much to promote the talents of the many young artists it takes under its wing. The Asaka String Quartet is just one example, an ensemble formed just two years ago by students at the Royal Academy of Music. Their Saturday afternoon programme of witty Haydn and lyrical, folk-inspired Arnold Bax also included a performance of Samuel Barber’s deeply reflective setting of Matthew Arnold’s poem Dover Beach (sung searchingly by Marcus Farnsworth). Again this was playing which had to be experienced live and in situ to experience the intensity with which these young players communicate with each other, not only to hear the care and insight with which they project the notes but also to see their eyes intently watching their colleagues for minute nuances of gesture.

Audience members who expect a big showpiece Festival event would not have been disappointed with a celebration of Handel on Sunday night: all the Coronation Anthems, the early Dixit Dominus - and a Concerto Grosso for good measure. The Festival Voices (including some who had actually performed in the Coronation of King Charles III) and Baroque Orchestra were on resplendent form. The singing was infused with translucency, dramatic energy and an infectious rhythmic vitality. And the orchestral playing had a lightness of touch perfect for the many dance-inspired sections. Marcus Farnsworth is in his element when telling musical stories, as could be seen by this series of high-octane performances which thrilled and moved in equal measure.

This is just a glimpse of a huge variety of events (30 in total) spanning four days. There were also folk music events as well as jazz, a musical picnic, talks, Minster services, an organ recital, late-night chamber music, a masterclass…and so much more. The Festival is a celebration of music on a grand scale and the Minster is the beating heart of its musical, spiritual and communal significance. The Festival is also a huge team achievement, under the direction of Marcus Farnsworth: an example of a town reaching out to music-lovers of all kinds and welcoming them to a stunningly beautiful venue. If you missed out this year, make sure you join the queue early in 2024 not only to hear but also to see and feel what is unique about the Southwell Music Festival.

Southwell Music Festival (Founder and Artistic Director: Marcus Farnsworth)

Featured Artists

Surround Sounds No 1: Stella Zake (violin), Francesca Gilbert (viola); Florence Cooke (violin), Lena Eckels (viola), Nathaniel Boyd (cello)

The Voice of Freedom: Festival Voices, Simone Ibbett-Brown (reader), Jonathan Allsopp (organ), Marcus Farnsworth (director)

Recital: Jeneba Kanneh-Mason (piano)

Asaka Quartet: Iona McDonald (violin), Eriol Guo Yu (violin), Susie Xin He (viola), Jonathan Ho Man Fong (cello)

Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Coronation Anthems: Danni O’Neill, Rachel Ambrose Evans (sopranos), Judy Louie Brown (mezzo), Joseph Doody (tenor), James Geidt (bass), Festival Voices, Festival Baroque Sinfonia, Marcus Farnsworth (director)