Music
More than a yard of tickets to the Proms!
The Bartók quartet was the heart of this programme; written a century ago, it sounds a technical challenge to perform with the wide variety of playing techniques encompassed. The youthful Isla String Quartet gave the Keswick Music Society audience a bright, lively and precise interpretation. Some lovely playing of the solo melodies, especially from the cello. My recent exposure at the festival in La Grave to the music of Olivier Messiaen was good preparation for Béla Bartók’s composition of half a century earlier! Much of this music seemed almost visual, the melodic figures and their counterparts evoking shapes and maybe colours. Then resolving with almost the inevitability of a Bach fugue. An interesting musical experience.
I visited the Keswick Oxfam shop on my way to buy local bread and milk. Keswick’s charity shops have beguiled me on many occasions and have provided pretty things to gather dust as well as useful stuff. Sometimes called Keswick’s department stores, they are famous as places to browse, especially on a wet afternoon when it’s not worth hiking any more: the shop is dry and their stock is generally good quality and interesting. This time I got “caught” by new stock of classical CDs. Here are my thoughts on trawling through some other music collector’s trove.
Quatuor pour la fin du Temp, Olivier Messiaen - Église de La Grave, Festival Messiaen 2026
An extraordinary concert, marked by the extreme commitment of both the musicians and the audience, resulting in an exceptional partnership for the performance. La Grave isn’t easy to get to so everyone had made effort to be at the concert.
Standing ovation for Patrick Geel’s dynamic performance of the Bach Toccata & Fugue in D minor BWV 565
AUDITIONS DU MARCHÉ 2025-2026
Grand Orgue de Notre-Dame du Mont, Marseille
Standing ovations for Patrick Geel at the end of his performance of JS Bach’s D minor Toccata and Fugue, then again after Widor’s well-known Toccata from his Fifth organ symphony, the final piece in his programme at the Grand Orgue de Notre-Dame du Mont, Marseille; the organ was built (1847-49) by Pierre-Alexandre Ducroquet.
Read more: Patrick Geel at the organ of Notre-Dame du Mont, Marseille
Tonight’s First Night of Siegfried had to be one of the most fantastic staging and singing ever of Siegfried’s forging song. Andreas Schager’s characterisation of the wild boy Siegfried smelting and forging using machines that look Heath-Robinson but appear convincing in their metalworking functions was utterly compelling. He gave us muscular singing, sparks from the anvil, juggling with forging hammers and joyous characterisation with the vitality of the youth who knows no fear. One of the great Siegfrieds and a highlight of the whole cycle.
