Jane Austen’s 250th Birthday Concert at Hatchlands. Tuesday December 16th
The 12-noon concert having sold out, we offered a second concert at 3pm on the same day. Radio 3’s In Tune broadcast an interview with Professor Richard Jenkyns, Jane Austen’s great-great-great-great-nephew, in which he set out the argument that an anonymous piano sonata in Jane’s collection was composed by the novelist herself. I then played the finale of the sonata. Segment starts 1 hour 20 minutes in: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002nb6z
Radio 3 put together a feature: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DSVXReNEcbq/ And I wished Jane Austen a Happy Birthday in her own style.
I recently had the privilege of playing Jane Austen’s music in the house in Winchester where she died in 1817 – a great experience. https://www.continuoconnect.com/features/jane-austen-at-250
Candlelight Concert in Salisbury Cathedral. Friday 9th January at 8pm. Music by Gibbons, Parry, Vaughan Williams & Billy Mayerl, along with my transcription of The Scene of the Cold Genius from Purcell’s Fairy Queen, and my restored version of Elgar’s mighty Concert Allegro, which was published only after his death, in a sadly truncated version.
BBC Radio 3 Record Review Building a Library: Elgar’s Cello Concerto. Saturday 17th January at 2pm.
I’m especially pleased to Build this Library, since I’ve spent much of this year demonstrating my realization of Elgar’s Piano Concerto, which he was working on until just two days before he hallucinated the Cello Concerto theme as he came round from a general anaesthetic after an operation. I have ‘elaborated’ not only the manuscript sketches, but also material from Elgar’s recorded piano improvisations of 1929, which I have been able to show are closely linked in his mind with the Piano Concerto. I’ve demonstrated the piece to delighted Elgarians in London, Oxford, Cambridge, York, Manchester and at the Elgar Birthplace. I shall record it commercially next year, and I’m discussing performances with a number of orchestras.
Soon after Building a Library, I’ll be returning to the UAE and Saudi Arabia for more recitals especially designed for the starry desert night. On my last trip, a desert fox ran across the stage!
