Blog Archives
13 BIG PROJECT: ZULU VOYAGE
It’s inspiring to stand on the Fife Coast and visualise the thousands of journeys that have started in its harbours over the centuries. Ships left to work the fishing grounds, to pursue trade routes and to visit the many far distant countries we know to have had strong connections to this place. At different times, different types of boat have held sway, but few capture the imagination more potently than the Zulu. Invented around the time of the Zulu wars (hence the name) they could be stronger, larger and faster than previous boats, but they enjoyed only a brief half-century of dominance before petrol and war ended their usefulness: carcases of these beautiful boats were left to rot on beaches all the way up the East Coast.
Harpist/composer Esther Swift has been inspired by this tale to create a new piece for a grand coming together of Fife musicians of all ages from St Andrews Music Project, Fife Youth Jazz Orchestra and East Fife Community Ensemble and tells it through sound and story, matched by visuals by artist Esme McIntyre. Come hear the story!
12 BEETHOVEN LATE QUARTETS 4 [ELIAS QUARTET]
Beamish: Epilogue
Beethoven: Quartet in Am, Op.132
Elias Quartet
Sally Beamish, viola
There is nowhere in Beethoven’s music where you are brought more intimately into contact with the man himself than in his Op.132. At its heart lies the Heiliger Dankgesang, a hymn of thanks for deliverance from suffering: Beethoven’s later years were plagued by illnesses which would ultimately overwhelm him: given his frailty, it is amazing his last masterpieces were ever written. His gratitude for whatever relief he enjoyed is the sunlight in this piece, which explores a profound and intimate inner world. No less a figure than T.S. Eliot grasped this: ‘There is a sort of heavenly, or at least more than human gaiety, about some of his later things which one imagines might come to oneself as the fruit of reconciliation and relief after immense suffering; I should like to get something of that into verse before I die.’
The Elias Quartet is joined by composer/violist Sally Beamish in another work rooted in prayer. Her Epilogue is inspired both by the quiet Quaker gathering sometimes held at the close of day – the epilogue of the title – and a theme by Tudor composer Thomas Tallis. Perverse though it may sound to open a concert with an epilogue, this short work sets the scene beautifully for Beethoven’s immense quartet.
11 SHIBE TRAIL 1: LUTE [SOLD OUT]
One of the truly exciting things about following Sean Shibe’s career over the past decade has been to join him as he delves right back into the past to explore pre-guitar music with lute and also bring things bang up to date with electric guitar. So, over the course of today, he plays music of 5 centuries on lute, guitar and electric guitar in 3 intimate Anstruther venues; close up music. To close the day we’ve invited Nizar Rohana, a master of an instrument that predates them all – the Oud – to end this journey with music that is both contemporary and ancient. Each of Shibe’s concerts lasts around 40 minutes, allowing time between them to enjoy Anstruther, grab a bag of chips…
First off: Lute! Music written down 5 centuries ago in Scotland in the Rowallen and Straloch manuscripts, paired with French dances from Pierre Attaignant’s collection from a century earlier.
10 TOM SMITH SEPTET
Rising stars come no brighter than saxophonist Tom Smith, praised by such jazz supremos as Django Bates (‘So passionate, punchy and joyful’), Jason Yarde (‘fantastic sound’) and Soweto Kinch (‘technically outstanding … and punchy, soulful tone’). He’s played venues as different as the Royal Albert Hall and Pizza Express, and having sold out multiple shows at Ronnie Scott’s, there is quite a buzz around him and his various line-ups: we love his septet which brings together some of the most talented young jazz musicians in the UK to play a bluesy, joyful, exciting and super-entertaining set.They’ll be playing the music from his new big band album ‘A Year In The Life’ (Fey Moose Records), described by Jazzwise as ‘A triumph of musical ambition and individual artistry…bursting with collective energy and vitality.’
[To avoid confusion, please note that Tom Smith is not Tommy Smith of the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra]
9 BEETHOVEN LATE QUARTETS 3 [BELCEA QUARTET]
Mozart: Quintet in C, K.515
Beethoven: Quartet in C#m, Op.131
Belcea Quartet
Diyang Mei, viola
In this concert, we reach the heart of Beethoven’s late quartets, both numerically (it is the third of five) and in stature. It was reputedly Beethoven’s own favourite, and a work that left all who heard it in awe. Figures of the stature of Wagner, T.S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf are among the many who were both inspired and intimidated by its astounding achievement. Schubert reputedly said ‘After this, what is left for us to write?’ Certainly, it is unlike anything they would have heard before. The Belcea Quartet are joined by Diyang Mei to open the concert with Mozart’s sublime Quintet in C.
8 SCHUBERT 1827 [PADMORE & MIDDLETON]
Schubert: Winterreise, D.911
Mark Padmore, tenor
Joseph Middleton, piano
In high summer, we leave for a chilling, winter journey. Through some of the most memorable songs he ever wrote, Schubert tells the story of a young man, disappointed in love, leaving home and losing himself in the winter landscape. Walking further and further from home – physically and mentally – he encounters strange characters and creatures and ominous landmarks. There is probably no other song cycle in which the piano is so much the dramatist as this, reflecting both the inner turmoil of the singer as well as setting the scenes in this icy world. Both Mark Padmore and Joseph Middleton have lived with this music for decades and performed it with many different partners: they bring a profound knowledge and insight, but above all their own intense interpretation of this wonderful music.
7 ONE MIDSUMMER’S DAY [MARK COCKER]
Writer and naturalist Mark Cocker came to ENF years ago to give a deeply memorable talk about his immense book about British birds (Birds Britannica). He is a matchless observer and thinker about nature – birds especially – and humanity’s relationship and impact upon it. He is fascinating on specific creatures but also tackles the biggest of big pictures: his recent ‘One Midsummer’s Day’ is subtitled ‘Swifts and the Story of Life on Earth’. We have asked him to return to read and discuss the book in a book club-ish format – why not read it in advance and come primed to discuss?
6 BEETHOVEN LATE QUARTETS 2 [CASTALIAN QUARTET]
Adès: Arcadiana, Op.12
Beethoven: Quartet in B-flat, Op.130 [Grosse Fuge]
Castalian Quartet
Beethoven was famously plagued with second thoughts and might mull on his ideas for years before finding their final form. The second of his late quartets is one of the most famous examples. Its original finale (the Grosse Fuge of its title) was so profoundly challenging to contemporary listeners and players alike that it divided even his most loyal and trusted supporters. Years later, Beethoven offered an alternative, but he never relinquished his belief in the original and it is this that the Castalian Quartet profoundly believe is the right way to end an astounding piece.
The Castalian Quartet have been living with Op.130 – and with Ades’ music – for many years and have inspired high praise for both. They came to ENF first in 2017 and were immediately reinvited having thrilled one critic to write ‘The revelation … was the silvery playing of the Castalians’ (The Arts Desk).
5 BEETHOVEN LATE QUARTETS I [SOLD OUT]
Mozart: Quintet in Gm, K.516
Beethoven: Quartet in E-flat, Op.127
Elias Quartet
Gary Pomeroy, viola
The big journey that runs through ENF 2025 begins here: four of the finest string quartets in the world come together to perform five of the greatest pieces ever written for this line-up. Beethoven’s late quartets are simply without equal. Written around 200 years ago, they take you into his wonderful inner world of deep thought, jokes, reflections, and not a few surprises. Transporting, absorbing, poignant and hilarious by turns, there are many passages of utterly arresting beauty. Each piece is totally different from the others but as a group they offer an incomparable listening experience, especially live, and especially when performed by these ensembles.
Most of the concerts pair Beethoven with a contrasting work – here, it is Mozart‘s G minor quintet: like all his works in that key, it has its brooding side, but also infectious humour and vitality.
The four string quartets involved in this cycle are those that have made the greatest impact at ENF over the past two decades. The Elias came first in 2010, and were such a hit that they returned in 2011, when The Scotsman wrote: ‘While it is unusual for an ensemble to feature at the East Neuk Festival in consecutive years, no-one was going to be disappointed that the exception would be a return visit by the young Elias Quartet.’ Since then, they have undertaken their own huge Beethoven project which you can read about at http://thebeethovenproject.com
