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Welcome to the Cantilena Festival on Islay Website 
Cantilena Festival on Islay |
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| As June
creeps on to July, each year we wonder what new delights and what old
favourites will captivate us. Will there be any disappointments ? This year, Betty and I anticipated the Festival by attending a concert given by Cantilena in Angus Ramsay's backyard, Lanark. This was a sort of rehearsal for the following week and enabled us to acquaint Respighi and Ursula Bernhard-Füri's astonishing voice for the first time. Could this really be a Sieglinde and a Kundry in the flesh ? Well the way the doors at the back of the hall flew open when she hit the high "C" plainly said, "yes". From there it was off to the delights of the Greenock Premier Inn and, the following morning, the ferry on to and off the Isle of Bute, another ferry to Tarbert and then to Islay. Sunday On Sunday evening, there was an anxious entry to the Columba Centre. Would anyone else come ? Would anyone buy a programme ? Would anyone buy a cd ? The answers were yes, yes and just a few. Havilland Willshire was pacing the floor like a tamed tiger. Had he practised enough ? Was the programme right ? The first notes of the Beethoven Opus 54 Piano Sonata soon answered the questions. Scene from Childhood by Schumann took everyone back to their piano lessons. Chopin's four Impromptus made us marvel and ask, "should impromptus be written down" ? The final Prelude, Chorale and Fugue by Cesar Franck made us realise what a great composer Franck was; as well as being possibly the first itinerant organ soloist. Many of the other players attended this concert; possibly to experience the accoustics of this wonderful venue. There is nowhere, absolutely nowhere, where you can experience the intimacy of small group classical music at such close quarters. This feeling was felt in bucket loads on Monday evening where a full house was on hand. Monday Mozart Flute Quartet No 1 K285 Angus Ramsay (violin), Paul Livingston (viola), Andrew Hugean (cello), Yvonne Paterson (flute). The first ever strains of a woodwind at a Cantilena Festival sent tingles down the spine as the quartet launched into one of the major compositions for this combination. Respighi Il Tramonto Ursula Bernhard-Füri (mezzo-soprano), Angus Ramsay, Daniel Rainey (violins), Paul Livingston (viola), Sarah Harrington (cello) No-one was quite ready for the superb volume of sound in this next work. One wonders sometimes how certain works ever came to be written. A poem by Shelley, translated into Italian and set for a voice and string quartet. Amazing ! And we all found it so too. And especially the astonishing voice of Ursula Bernhard-Füri, surely one of the most extrovert performer yet at the festival which, all week resounded to whoops and squeels from the Swiss prima donna. Schumann Piano Quintet Scott Mitchell (piano), Angus Ramsay, Daniel Rainey (violins), Hector Scott (viola), Sarah Harrington (cello) Cantilena don't normally play requests but, for a few services willingly done, Adrian said that he would see if a Piano Quintet could be put on the menu. This was the result and what a result ! From the first striding notes of this first Piano Quintet, one appreciated what a happy thought it was, on the part of Schumann to write a work for this combination which was to see so many great works written over the next 80 years culminating in the wonderful Elgar Quartet with which Cantilena bewitched us a few years ago.. Daniel Rainey was superb as the second violin. Is it too much to hope for another piano quintet next year ? Go on – indulge us ! Tuesday Our annual visit to Lagavulin Distillery Hall saw a large number of musicians and an even larger number of enthusiastic music lovers squeezed into the microscopic venue. Fiddlers had to stand up. Only the cellos and Paul Marion, who had brought his own stool, were allowed to sit down. Mozart String Trio K563 Angus Ramsay (violin), Hector Scott (viola), Sarah Harrington (cello) A trip back in time and one of Mozart's longest chamber works brought personal astonishment at a work which was not familiar but shortly will be. Bach Suite in B minor All players A flight of imagination took one back to Bach's day when an introduction and seven dances brought visions of people dancing to Bach's wonderful melodies as they must surely have done. As the symphony developed from the suite, the dances were more and more truncated until just the minuet and trio remained in Haydn's day. Then even the minuet disappeared to be replaced by the scherzo which, my wife informs me, is the Italian for "joke". Some joke. Bach Brandenburg Concerto No 5 All players I hadn't listened to this piece for over forty years. After this evening, the only question was – why ? What a wonderful work and Scott did it full justice with the brilliant harpsichord cadenza towards the end of the first movement which builds and builds the tension until the full ensemble crashes back in with the initial theme. Wonderful stuff and rightly appreciated by the capacity audience well fortified by a dram of Lagavulin at half time. Wednesday A long voyage to the Outback Gallery on Wednesday afternoon was rewarded with the sight of Angus Ramsay, Fiona Blumenberg-Cheyne (violins), Paul Livingston (viola), Paul Marion (double bass) and, occasionally, Thomas Füri (violin and harmonica) tuning up for an hour of light, but not lightweight, music. The group started with Scott Joplin, a composer well suited for arrangement for string quartet, and finished with the Strauss Radetzsky March with percussive accompaniment from the audience (clapping). In between there was an exploration of the charming musical backwaters of Switzerland and Vienna with Ursula singing some Swiss songs. The evening at the Columba Centre saw a step back in time to the music of Vivaldi and Haydn Vivaldi Concerto for four violins All players Vivaldi Concerto for two cellos All players Vivaldi Concerto for flute All players and Yvonne Paterson (flute) The first of these works utilised the whole violin section as solos while the second did for the cello department. What an eye opener for me ! If Vivaldi wrote over 600 all as inventive as these works, well, what a treasure store Haydn Arianna a Naxos Ursula Bernhard-Füri (mezzo soprano), Scott Mitchell (piano) It is difficult to know what to call this work. Plainly as it contains two recitatives and two arias, it is more than a song but hardly an opera. Even Strauss had to flesh out the rather thin plot with one of the quirkiest opera first acts ever written. Cantilena tried a bold experiment with this work as it was written in two forms one for piano accompaniment and the other with string quartet, which they performed on Thursday. This was not to everyone's taste but I found it fascinating and the string quartet won on points. Ursula was, as usual, in fine voice which, amongst other things meant that Angus' recording machine had to be turned down a notch or two. But then, a voice which can comfortably fill an opera house is bound to sound pretty impressive in the Columba Centre ! Haydn Divertimento Opus 2 No 5 All players. This work finished off a fascinating evening in an arrangement for string orchestra rather than the usual string quartet Thursday The concert at Ardbeg was an experiment. Thomas Füri, in his capacity as the leader of a Swiss piano quintet, I Salonisti, played the music for the film, "Titanic" and related some of the amusing things that took place. This was interspersed with various works some of which appeared in the film and some of which did not, The experiment was not to everyone's taste but passed a happy evening. Friday Earlier in the year, Angus Ramsay posed the question as to whether the audience minded Cantilena performing the Mendeslssohn Octet every year. He added that it was such a useful piece for young professionals to play. I replied that I was absolutely the wrong person to ask that question. Who can possibly object to hearing possibly the greatest piece of chamber music ever written once a year ? And Cantilena were absolutely on top form for this. My wife Betty feels that the final movement should be just on the right side of being out of control. And it was real edge-of-the-seat stuff. Yes, we don't mind if you play it next year. The second half again explored some musical backwaters. The highlight in dexterity if not virtuosity was Thomas accompanying himself on violin with a harmonica. My father could only play one tune on a harmonica which happed to be a piece also played in the film, the Barcarole from The Tales of Hoffmann. This explains why, ever after, this piece was known in our family as "Blow, suck, suck, blow, blow suck, suck etc" ! After some Swiss songs, the week ended with a lovely Scottish song, sung by Ursula, a Strathspey and Scott Joplin's famous piece The Entertainer. What a joy this music is when played slowly and not at 500mph as some pianists do. In conclusion This was, yet again, a wonderful week. Surely the standard of playing, including the young professionals, Daniel, Fiona, Paul and Andrew, was superb; possibly never bettered here. The first concert next year should be on Sunday, 1st July. See you there. |
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| Click here for the 2011 programme, dates and venues | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Cantilena Festival
CD's |
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| These CD's recorded LIVE on
Islay, feature an attractive selection of the music played at each
festival. Available Now 2009 Festival CD - £10 + £1.50 p&p 2010 Festival CD - £10 + £1.50 p&p To order, contact |
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Cantilena Festival on Islay - Achieving Excellence Through a Co-operation Between Cantilena Professionals, Young Musicians and the People of Islay |
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| Cantilena Festival on Islay is a registered charity 33071 | |||||||||||||||||||||
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