12th November – Clarinet Fest
Some readers may actually have heard Hannah Shilvock and her wonderful throaty bass clarinet in July last year at one of the Highgate Society’s lunchtime concerts. I was totally sold on its sound: a personality entirely of its own. (If you would like to hear a snatch check in to this post where Hannah is playing with pianist Viola Lenzi.)
So when she told me that her throaty base could be paired with a more conventional clarinet, played by her long term Bulgarian British playing partner Boyan Ivanov, I could not resist.
Bass clarinets are regulary used in band music, less frequently in orchestral compositions. But, not surprisingly given their wonderful rich earthy tones, they are often used in jazz, are popular with Spanish and South American composers and are increasingly used in contemporary compositions. Hannah and Boyan’s programme for November 12th will give us a taste of all three.
To showcase her instrument, Hannah also does some innovative arranging – Debussy’s cello Sonata and Erik Satie’s Gymnopedie No 1 for starters.
Boyan performs regularly as a solo, chamber and orchestral clarinettist and is Orchestral Manager of the Hastings Philharmonic. He also spends a significant amount of time jetting round the world giving international master classes.
Book here for 12th November – 6.30pm
£30 to include wine on tap and a buffet supper after the concert.
Nathaniel at Copped Hall
Last Saturday we sallied forth into the depths of Epping Forest to listen to Nathaniel Mander and his beautiful harpsichord. As always, Nathaniel was a delight in a programme which started with Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier and worked its way, via Messers Couperin, Corrette and Croft into a splendid Handelian finale – the Chaconne in G Major.
Those who missed the concert – and wished they hadn’t – have plenty more chances to hear Nathaniel play – just check out his website here. Or you can save it for a new year treat as he will be back with us in Hampstead Lane on February 26th.
And what a perfect – and indeed extraordinary – setting for an eighteenth century harpsichord concert.
Copped Hall as it stands today is a grand, if somewhat battered, Palladian mansion. It was built in the 1730s over the ruins of an earlier Elizabethan hall and then greatly enlarged during the late 19th century by the railway magnate George Wythes. But it was George’s younger son, Ernest, who really got to work, extensively remodelling the house inside and out, and filling it with an important collection of paintings, furniture and objets d’art. A grand Italianate garden was laid out and a glass winter garden was added. By 1900 there were at least 31 gardeners and 27 house servants working at the hall.
But in 1917 a massive fire swept through the house. Although the gardens and conservatory were untouched, the family never moved back and when the last of them died in 1951 the estate was sold. What remained of the house was stripped of roofing, timberwork, stone staircases – anything that could be removed was removed. The conservatory was dynamited and then, in the 1970s, the M25 was driven through a corner of the parkland.
With the M25 on its doorstep, developers swarmed in but were thwarted by a vigorous local campaign which, in 1995, became the Copped Hill Trust. Meanwhile, in 1992, the City of London had bought the parkland and, together with the trust, committed themselves to the restoration of the parkland as a wildlife habitat.
Since then, under the architectural guidance of the extraordinary Alan Cox, an army of volunteers have been slowly rebuilding the house and clearing and restoring the grdens.
There is still a very long way to go but when you consider that only 30 years ago this was a burnt out, roofless shell with trees growing up through these saloons, it is quite mind boggling, what they have done – and continue to do.
To learn more about the house, the gardens, the monumental task of restoring them both – and how you can visit and/or use the building, check in to the Copped Hall website.
Meanwhile…….
Have you booked for Sol Grimshaw’s jazz at the Highgate Society on Sunday 28th? Book here.
And…..
Have you booked for the Trio Notturno in the Salons of Vienna on Sunday October 5th?
Guitar mania Viennese style with Jamie Akers, Eva Caballero and Rachel Stott.
For more details and to book for 5th October, go here.
And do not forget to look at our Upcoming Events page for other concerts not listed in this post.
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