As well as the opening night Magnificats, an airing of the ‘Evening Hymn’ from ‘Tis Almost One by the Holst Singers and the final-night Trumpet Concerto performed by Imogen Whitehead, the Barnes Music Festival also celebrated Stephen Dodgson’s centenary in concerts from oboist Nick Daniel and friends, and guitarist Jack Hancher.
Flood and The Old Cigarette Lighter (11th March)
Nicholas Daniel – oboe | Thomas Hancox – flute | Joy Farrall – clarinet | Ben Goldscheider – horn | Sarah Burnett – bassoon | Huw Watkins – piano | Allie Daniel – narrator
In a concert that might well have been entitled ‘Fairy Tale and Whimsy’ Nick Daniel and friends drew upon their number to perform a multiple chamber works for varied forces bringing together fairy-tale themes and works with childish appeal – which certainly appealed to the inner child within many of the adult audience too – the warm laughter amid the narrated pieces a testament to their mirth.
Dodgson aside, the programme also included Imogen Holst’s delightful Suite for Wind Quartet and arrangements by Iain Farrington of Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite (originally for four hands at one piano and replete with charming movements such as ‘Little Tom Thumb Laideronette’, ‘Conversation of Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘The Enchanted Garden’) and of Dukas’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice. The music of the latter depicts the apprentice in question trying to use his master’s magic to do the cleaning up for him, but the magic getting completely out of hand and creating chaos – as famously portrayed by Mickey Mouse in the 1940 animated musical anthology film Fantasia.
Interspersed between these were three pieces with superlative narration by Allie Daniel, who delivered the texts with wry arch-dryness and was not afraid to raise the occasional knowing eyebrow where a little naughty insinuation was appropriate.
The first of these was Stephen Dodgson’s wind quintet Flood setting the John Heath-Stubbs poem about Noah’s ark, which the narrator kicked off with a shocking, loud ‘Bang! Bang!’ (which turned out to be the nails in the ark). The piece brings to life the individual personalities of the animals concerned and their sometimes lack of willingness to conform to the rules on board the ark – the raven absconding and the cats and rabbits producing huge litters, while the dove – returning from discovering the olive tree finally peeking out above the surface of the water – dreams of settling back down in her nest away from the roving life and making love. A quirky piece with much humour and an occasional hint of sauce (and even some dressing-up by the players), I loved Allie Daniel’s’s delivery, but it was nevertheless a shame that the group chose not to perform the narration as per Dodgson’s score, which passes the text between the five players themselves and very deliberately brings them all together for strong unison passages at certain points. Next time perhaps!
The second narrated piece was Dodgson’s The Old Cigarette Lighter, this version (1984) for narrator and wind quintet: the original (1961) was for narrator, flute, oboe and piano and a later version still redubbed Tinderbox (1998) was for narrator and pianist or pianist-narrator. The David Reynolds text adapts Hans Christen Andersen’s The Old Tinderbox and tells of on an on-the-make footloose soldier discovering a fortune and what turns out to be a enchanted lighter underneath the roots of a tree. Complete with a requisite fairy-tale princess plus nanny, magic giant dog and a brief but dramatic court scene with a death sentence, the charming, whimsical and sometimes un-PC tale was again delivered brilliantly by Allie Daniel, and the five wind players brought out all of the musical storytelling and fun – such as the musical portrayal of the soldier sliding down the hole between the tree roots – amid their tight musicianship.
The last narrated piece was Martin Butler’s deliciously gruesome Dirty Beasts, which set three Roald Dahl poems, The Pig, The Tummy Beast and The Crocodile. I can do no better than quote the programme notes: ‘The witty and grotesque events depicted in the poems are admirably complemented by the eccentric humour of Butler’s music.’
Overall a delightful evening. Wonderful playing from a crack team, and superb storytelling by musicians and narrator alike.
Leonora Dawson-Bowling
