Southwell Methodist Church
Southwell
NG25 0JH
Baritone Marcus Farnsworth, recorder player Ian Wilson and guitarist Mark Eden perform Stephen Dodgson’s Riley & Co at the Southwell Music Festival in a recital which pairs the set with Manuel de Falla’s Seven Spanish Songs (also with soprano Alison Rose and tenor Andrew Tortoise). Two performances of the same recital will take place on 26th and 26th August.
Dodgson’s cycle of songs, based on poems by Charles Causley, first presents two characters, the rustic Riley in his carefree life living out in wild nature and the no less rough-and-ready lad Timothy Winters. We then experience the potentially lethal Filippino Bamboo Dance which contrasts the romance of the young couple with the potential danger of putting a foot wrong, the snaps of the bamboo portrayed by sharp taps on the wood of the guitar. The final song depicts the thoughts of Saint Roche’s dog, who helped his master recover from the plague only to have to endure being banned from their quiet house while it is invaded by those looking for a miracle cures. He rounds the cycle off with an indignant ‘Bow-wow!’
Performances:
