Brandon and Matthewman conclude 74th Waterford-Music season with a 'joyous feast' of song

Sarah-Jane Brandon Gary Matthewman at The Georgian Large Room, Waterford

Schubert Viola 
Brahms Zigeunerlieder
Strauss Lieder op 27
Debussy Beau Soir/ Mandoline / Apparition
Franz Liszt Oh Quand je dors/ Enfant, si j'étais roi/ Comment, disaient-ils
Rachmaninov:  Zdes' khorosho op21  no 7
                          In the silence of the secret night op 4 no 3
                          The Water Lily Op 8 no 1
                           Son (The Dream) Op 38 no 5
                           Do not sing to me my beauty ) Op 4 no 4
Encores
Art is Calling me (I want to be a prima dona) from The Enchantress   Victor Herbert
O Mio Babbino Caro  Giannio Schicchi Puccini


Hey, Gypsy, strike upon your strings
Play the song of the faithless young girl
Let the strings weep complain, sadly quiver,
Until the hot tears flow down this cheek.

 Last night, I confess, 'hot tears flew down this cheek' as the 74th consecutive series of chamber music recitals under the aegis of Waterford-Music went out on a blaze of glorious song from two superb  artists. Pianist, Gary Matthewman is  no stranger to The Large Room. The Yorkshire man  made a big impression on Waterford audiences last year when he accompanied Máire Flavin at this event last year. Nobody gets a pianissimo out of the house Steinway C quite like Matthewman. The song pianist was  back in The Georgian Large Room last night with soprano, Sarah-Jane Brandon and the unanaimous consensus was that this was a fabulous night of song that will long be remembered.   If you missed it, too bad but you can  get a flavour of one of the numbers in this song of yearning, 'Quand je dors' by Franz Liszt .
https://vimeo.com/99714504


Sarah-Jane Brandon sings Liszt from TallWall Media on Vimeo.

Throughout, Brandon demonstated the consummate skill and artistry that has garnered her prizes in the most prestigious song competitions She has a  gorgeous tone, the colour of which changed like a theatrical light board according to  range of emotions expressed in the lyrics  in German, French and Russian, all performed .from memory. A truly great voice allied to a gracious stage presence with animated facial expression all combined to make Brandon a compelling performer. Moreover, the pair exuded a joyful generosity of spirit and the audience responded warmly eliciting two encores before they were released.

Had I travelled to hear this superb song team  in a temple of music in London or Berlin, I would have considered it worth the trip. How blessed  are we to hear artists of this calibre
 on our doorsteps in the gem of a venue that is the Georgian Large Room.  A fabulous finale to another great season.

The recital was sponsored by the extended Downey family  in memory of Elizabeth Downey, a remarkable a lady who was singer , performer and concert promoter.  More about Elizabeth Downey here .https://waterfordarts.com/2013/10/08/elizabeth-downey-memorial-concert/

Related Posts Remembering Elizabeth 

                        Gary Matthewman: Lied in London Series

Convincing Crusaders: Sidorova and Avital at Waterford City Hall

There is something so ephemeral about the notes emanating  from the instruments heard at City Hall, Waterford  last night. The diminutive  mandolin,  produces the most fragile of string timbres demanding quite furious finger plec action to keep the sound waves aloft. We don't think of the accordion as being delicate but from the first squeeze on the bellows, the sound is on a countdown to extinction. The collision of these two vaguely deliquescent musical forces is a rare enough occurrence.  The combination  mixed with  double measures of the platform charisma of Avi Avital and Ksenija Sidorova proved an explosive cocktail.

Much of the first half  presented a fresh take on familiar violin repertoire. Most of it worked brilliantly. Bartok's Romanian Dances sounded as though they might have been  original conceived for such a duo.The familiar gems of De Falla's Spanish Dances shimmered and  Kreisler's Prelude and Allegro lost some of it's pomposity- no bad thing at all. Only in a Bach Partita transcribed for solo mandolin, was I conscious of the limitations  of pizzicato strings to produce the sostenuto needed to fully express the depth of Bach's Chaconne

Ian Wilson 

Composer, Ian Wilson was in The Large Room to introduce his piece Spilliaerts Beach,   a neo- impressionistic musical response to the painting Moonlit Beach by the Belgian painter. Wilson has two pieces premiering next week, at Drogheda and Cork Choral Festival.
Schnittke sounded a bit daunting
Not a bit.

Soloists with Latvian guests

Revis Fairytale was a smashing showcase for solo accordion evoking the humour and pathos of Gogol's stories, delivered with great charm and flair by Sidirova. Then it was off to a more grown up milieu  of Buenos Aires nightlife for a slice of   Piazzola's, Tango Nuove The final concerto by 20th century composer Budashkin gave both a chance to show off their impressive virtuosity and drew the audience to their feet.  Following sustained applause there was  a Czardas lollipop before the charismatic duo  were released from the podium  to meet audience members.

 Photo Plaza Waterford Peter Crann 

With their great flair, skill and charm,  Sidirova and Avital are bright sparks on the classical music scene and  convincing crusaders for these somewhat exotic instruments.  A wonderful,  entertaining  finale to the 73rd Waterford-Music season.

Related Posts Preview Cathy's Reviews http://cathydesmond.blogspot.ie/2015/04/accordion-and-mandolin-globe-trotters.html

 several radio interviews  Marty /Arena




Béla Bartók (1881- 1945)
Romanian Folk Dances
Jocul cu Bâtă | Brâul | Pe Loc | Buciumeana | Poarga Românească | Mărunţel


Manuel de Falla (1876–1946)
From “Siete Canzoni Popolari Spagnole”
6 Canzoni Popolari Spagnole
El Paño Moruno | Asturiana | Jota | Nana | Canción | Polo


J. S. Bach (1685 - 1750)
Partita BWV 1004 in D minor / Chaconne
Fritz Kreisler (1875 - 1962)
Prelude and Allegro
Ian Wilson
Spilliaert's Beach

Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998)
Revis Fairytale
1. Chichikov’s Childhood 2. Officials 3. Waltz 4. Polka

Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)
Histoire du Tango
Café 1930 | Night-club 1960

Nikolai Budashkin (1910-1988)

Concerto in A mino

Finale 

Remembering Elizabeth Downey.

Elizabeth Downey

Thursday 16th April is a very special occasion in the Waterford Music calendar. The Downey family mark their unique association with the Waterford Music Chamber series with their support for a recital in memory of one of the founder members. Elizabeth Downey was herself a renowned teacher and performer. More detail on this important figure in the musical life of the city is here in this piece by Charlotte de Cloet Downey composed in 2013 on the occasion of the first Elizabeth Downey memorial recital,

'Singing and voice production were the main teaching subjects, according to her name plate, of renowned Waterford music teacher Elizabeth Downey. Born in London in 1895, she was to be the youngest daughter of the Irish literary publisher and writer, historian and journalist Edmund Downey (1856-1937). In 1906 the family moved back to Ireland, where her father bought The Waterford News and The Evening News, the daily newspapers of which he would be managing director and editor till his death.

Elizabeth, after graduating from the Royal College of Music London as pianist and mezzo-soprano, set up a teaching practice for private pupils in Newtown, Waterford and taught music at the local Ursuline School. Training young singers to compete in annual Feis Ceoil, she achieved a high level of success, with several pupils as prize winner each year. As a teacher in Voice Production she instructed many members of the local clergy in the proper use of their voice in their public ministry.
At many concerts all over the country, she also performed herself as a mezzo soprano, and she was a frequent guest performer on Radio Eireann.
As classical music correspondent she contributed frequently to her father’s newspaper The Waterford News.
Her passion for quality classical music drove her to become one of the four founding members of the Waterford Music Club. In her house in Waterford’s Newtown, in the summer of 1942, the inaugural committee meeting took place, with the other founding members Ida Starkie-O’Reilly, William F Watt and T F H Bayly. Nowadays, 72 years later, the (inter)national chamber music concert society, renamed as Waterford~Music, is still going strong, after having presented over 570 concerts, mainly in the Large Room.
There and in all her other musical activities she always insisted on the highest professional standards, standards which she herself nourished by continuing to take  courses at the RCM in London each summer, the war years excepted.
In 1965, after many years of persuasion, she agreed at an advanced age, to move to Dublin to teach singing at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. She rapidly built up a substantial number of pupils. Unfortunately, she was killed in a road accident in 1967, before her work as a model music teacher had gained the national recognition it merits.'

Waterford Music also remember the late Maurice Downey, half brother of Elizabeth who passed away last November.


More on the guest artists, Máire Flavin and Gary Matthewman in my next post

On Thursday 16th April , supported by the Downey family, Waterford Music will commemorate Elizabeth Downey, this great Waterford music teacher.

Máire Flavin (oprano) and Gary Matthewman (piano) will present a special song and lieder recital with Schumann's ‘Widnung'Lieder’, Strauss, Hahn and Chausson . Specially for this event, songs by William Vincent Wallace are included

Thursday 16th April @8pm, Large Room, City Hall, Waterford


Door tickets: €18/€5 (students). Talk to us about great value season tickets for next year. All tickets include free interval soft drinks. http://www.waterford-music.com