Presteigne pulls in crowds with a packed programme

10:48am Thursday 4th September 2008

THIS year’s Presteigne Festival was a resounding success with audience capacity running at 87%.

George Vass, the festival director, devised a full schedule of concerts, talks and exhibitions, which felt like a month’s worth of events condensed into just six days.

Audiences sometimes had to manage to get to three different concerts in three different locations, all within a few hours.

The festival programme interwove a number of themes. Michael Berkeley reached 60 and there was a survey of his music from the 1970s to the present day.

It was fascinating to observe the development and refinement of a distinctive voice.

The 100th anniversary of the birth of Olivier Messiaen brought a film and several chamber works.

It is now 50 years since the death of Ralph Vaughan Williams and he was represented by his violin concerto as well as his second string quartet and some choral songs. The high point of this Vaughan Williams commemoration was a talk by Stephen Johnson re-assessing the composer as a genuine revolutionary in 20th century music. Johnson spoke with a captivating eloquence and passion.

The young composer Joe Duddell was featured several times, including a newly commissioned piece. His music has a cogency and warmth which spoke to audiences.

George Vass has a remarkable gift for finding and bringing forward young soloists. 2008 produced a rich crop – the clarinet player Catriona Scott, the violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen, the harp and flute duo of Sally Pryce and Adam Walker.

The pianist Helen Reid played a wide repertoire, memorablye partnering the Canadian soprano Gillian Keith in a selection of songs from Messiaen’s Poemes pour Mi, the Kungsbacka Trio and the Dante Quartet played two dark masterpieces by Shostakovich with a real intensity.The Festival Orchestra responded enthusiastically to George Vass as conductor, ending the final concert with a fizzing performance of the Britten Sinfonietta.

The Presteigne Festival takes its responsibilities to the music of our time seriously. It never takes the easy option of pretty music in pretty places.

Of the specially commissioned pieces, the strongest impression was made by the orchestral work Maelienydd by Adrian Williams. Yet a vein of rather cosy ‘anti-modernism’ runs through so much of the contemporary repertoire. Of course audiences must not be alienated, but they are often very ready to respond to challenge and discovery. The festival needs a wider spectrum of new music.

With that qualification, we can look forward eagerly to the 2009 festival.

Barrie Gavin

Around Herefordshire