Music for oboe and guitar Autumn Recital

It's 1pm on Saturday 12th November 2011 as I walk into a packed St. Peter Mancroft Church, Norwich for the Juliet Rickard and Ian Cooper's Music for oboe and guitar Autumn Recital.

Another Mancroft Music Recital where the people of Norwich can experience wonderful music in this historic City Centre Church. The programme consisted of Oboe Concerto - Cimarosa, Pan (from Six Metamorphoses) Op. 49 - Britten, Consolazione, Romance sans paroles Op. 25 - Coste, Les Regrets, Cantilene Op. 36 - Coste, La Montagnard, Divertissement Pastoral Op. 34 - Coste, Aaturias (from Suite Espanola Op. 47 - Albeniz, Psalm 23 (from Chichester Psalms) - Bernstein, Maria (from West Side Story) - Bernstein and Libertango - Piazzolla.

Juliet Rickard and Ian Cooper are both part of the Norfolk Music Service and were a delightful choice to play in this season's Autumn Recitals. This was Juliet Rickard's first public performance for two years while Ian Cooper performs regularly both with guitar and voice. I'm sure everyone present enjoyed their performance which took us from Domenico Cimarosa to West Side Story.

Tango time at Norwich Assembly House

Marcelo Nisinman with his bandoneon

This Friday was the last Britten Sinfonia at Lunch concert this season at Norwich Assembly House. It was tango time as we were spoilt with some Latin American treats.

The programme consisted of Hombre Tango - Marcelo Nisinman, Ciudad Triste - Tarantino arr. Marcelo Nisinman, Nanobots - Enrico Chapela and The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires - Piazzolla.

Playing on this occasion were Thomas Gould - violin, Caroline Dearnley - cello, Stephen Williams - double bass, Huw Watkins - piano and Marcelo Nisinman - bandoneon.

The opening piece Hombre Tango was composed by Marcelo Nisinman where the main theme includes a repeated B. The music was inspired by cellist Eduardo Vasallo.

Osvaldo Tarantino composed Ciudad Triste which means Sad City. Marcelo Nisinman wrote this new version for violin, bandoneon and double bass.

Nanobots composed by Enrico Chapela was on it's world premiere tour. Nanobots are microscopic machines that could be a revelation for the human race in the future. This is a very experimental piece of music based on binary code. I particularly enjoyed this composition as this was trying to be progressive and different.

The highlight of the concert had to be Astor Piazzolla's The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. This is a truly wonderful piece of music. Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring all interpreted delightfully. Piazzolla was the pioneer of Nuevo Tango adding new instruments and elements like jazz and baroque. Think of Vavaldi's The Four Seasons with an Latin temperament. 

The packed Assembly House all applauded loudly at the end and we were treated to an encore. This was a very special musical experience which will live with me for a long while. I went to Prelude Records in the afternoon and purchased a CD of Piazzolla's music that I have got on repeat play this morning.