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claSSical
round-up
Sir John Tomlinson et al
An opportunity to hear Sir John
Tomlinson in recital doesn’t
come along every day. Some
Southover residents are treated
at Christmastime to a recording
of his voice booming out
Good King Wenceslas outside
their homes, but this month
the Nicholas Yonge Society
presents him for real at Sussex
Downs College. And they don’t
suffer just any old singer. Sir
John’s programme consists of
works relating to Michelangelo.
He begins with Britten’s Seven
Sonnets of Michelangelo, followed
by Hugo Wolf’s Drei Gedichte
von Michelangelo and ending
with Shostakovich’s Suite on
Verses of Michelangelo Buonarroti,
opus 145.
Britten’s Seven Sonnets was composed
in 1940 for the tenor (and
his partner) Peter Pears. It was
the first of several such song cycles
Britten would write for him,
and the recording of it was also
the first of many that Britten
and Pears would make together.
Modelled on the great melodic
arcs of Italian art songs, they are
nonetheless distinctly English
in nature, perhaps even echoing
the works of Hubert Parry.
Wolf’s three Michelangelo
Lieder were actually written for
the bass voice and were the last
songs to be completed by the
www.vivaLewes.CoM
composer just six months before
his mental breakdown and
terminal illness due to syphilis.
One of the greatest writers of
German Lied, Wolf was terribly
depressed to be considered just
a lowly songwriter. In 1974,
Shostakovich too was in the
last year of his life when he
wrote the Michelangelo Suite,
originally scored for bass and
piano. In one of his final letters,
Shostakovich wrote, ‘By
the essence of these sonnets, I
had in mind: Wisdom, Love,
Creativity, Death, Immortality.’
Sir Tomlinson’s pianist will be
David Owen Norris.
23rd, 7.45pm, Sussex Downs
College. Single tickets £14 from
Lewes Travel, localboxoffice.com
or on the door.
For more 20th century masterworks
but of the French choral
church variety, one would do
well to navigate over to nearby
Ringmer to hear the Esterhazy
Chamber Choir perform
Duruflé’s Requiem along with
that composer’s Quatre Motets.
The concert will also feature
the Langlais Messe Solennelle,
Messiaen’s motet O Sacrum
Convivium! and Villette’s bestknown
work, the Hymn à la Vierge.
The Esterhazy’s conductor
is Sandy Chenery.
24th, 7.30pm, Church of St Mary
CLassiCaL MusiC
the Virgin, Church Hill, Ringmer.
£10 via esterhazy.org.uk or
on the door (under 16s free).
Back in Lewes, the Corelli Ensemble
will perform the Stabat
Mater of Pergolesi. Written in
1736 for male soprano, male
alto, string orchestra and basso
continuo, it is Pergolesi’s bestknown
sacred composition. This
meditation on the Virgin Mary
was commissioned to replace
Alessandro Scarlatti’s Stabat
Mater. After only nine years
of service, Scarlatti’s Baroque
work was already viewed as
old-fashioned, while Pergolesi’s
looked ahead to the more modern
Classical style of composition.
Also on the bill for this
evening will be two of Corelli’s
Concerti grossi, numbers 1 and 8
and Vivaldi’s ever-famous Four
Seasons featuring violin soloist
Nathaniel Anderson-Frank.
11th, 4pm St Pancras Church.
Tickets £12, children free.
Reserve tickets at reduced cost of
£10 for adults by emailing corelliensemble@hotmail.com.
Paul Austin Kelly
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