I’m pleased to be able to announce the release, as a download CD, of “What Fools These Mortals Be” – works by composer David Stoll.
David writes “This new release combines five of the pieces from ‘The Shakespeare Suite’ with related works, including the first release of the third String Quartet, ‘Fools By Heavenly Compulsion’, based on King Lear. All this music explores the human tendency to deceive ourselves, particularly in matters of love, a major theme in Shakespeare. As the meddler Puck says, watching unnoticed: “Lord, what fools these mortals be!”
The Bingham Quartet recorded David’s third quartet for this download, and we’ve also premiered his fourth quartet.
For more details and audio examples, please visit www.creative-confidence.com.
Last Saturday saw me conducting the first Ely Sinfonia concert of the year – and the first of the orchestra’s 10th Anniversary season – in Ely Cathedral. The well attended concert was a great success; the players, as usual, putting everything into it. For me personally there were two particular points of interest in the repertoire: Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade” and Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony op.110a.
Both of these were fascinating for me as I was performing them in a very different role from normal. I have played “Scheherazade” half a dozen times over the last 20 years, but always as orchestral leader, dealing with the wonderful (and difficult) violin solos which the piece is famous for. It was great to really study the score for this performance, and be able to absorb the work as a whole, rather than be somewhat blinkered by all the impending solos! Our leader for the concert – Christina Everson – did a great job with the solos, while I was struck by how superbly crafted the piece is.
Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony op.11a, is an arrangement for string orchestra of the famous 8th String Quartet, made by conductor and instrumentalist Rudolf Barshai, with the permission of the composer, whom Barshai knew well. The 8th Quartet has been one of my favourite pieces for the genre since I was a teenager, and I had always shied away from listening to it in the Barshai arrangement: The Quartet is so powerful that I felt any rearrangement could only lessen it’s impact. The Ely Sinfonia Chairman, Robin Moore, suggested the piece for this concert and I agreed to programme it (though not without the odd misgiving). However it proved to be a piece in which the sheer emotion and quality of the writing shone through as much on a full string section as with a quartet. If the opportunity presents itself in the future I would like to perform some of Barshai’s other arrangements of Shostakovich Quartets……
If you’d like more information about Ely Sinfonia please visit their website.
