Lunchtime Recital
Date: Friday 9 May 2008
Thursday May 8th was the day, when amidst all the busyness of the working day, there was a chance to catch breath and enjoy half an hour of music, in the Chapel, as Spencer Payne hosted another in the 'Lunchtime Recital' series.
A small, but receptive audience - 14 in final total - just outnumbered the performers - 8! They enjoyed a concert dominated by duets. Gabby Hodnett and Rachel Crocker opened proceedings with the 'Laudamus Te' from a Vivaldi 'Gloria'. There were some very nice harmonies, but, as they confessed after the event, it was not a model of synchronicity!
Ben Preece then offered the first movement - the allegro - from Mozart's Horn Concerto in E flat. SJP's brilliant accompaniment made the most out of Preece's full-bodied playing, with its beautiful cadenza. Alex Abley and Harriet Burns then gave a superb rendition of Faure's Maria Mater Gratiae - hauntingly beautiful on the one part, calmly statuesque on the other.
Frederick White, aloft in the loft, presented a Fanfare for Organ by Leighton - crisply precise, like his History essays - before Messrs Braddy and Bungay ended events with the first movement of J S Bach's Concerto in D minor for two violins.The close interweaving of the two parts was again, and as ever, highlighted by the Payne accompaniment.
Next Thursday, Recital Hall, what we've been waiting for - Payne and Barnes - duets for Piano, bravura, no doubt! 1.45pm if you can make it!
