TWO GLORIOUS DAYS
AT THE PETWORTH FESTIVAL
Preamble
It
all began with my longtime piano-playing, chorus-singing and fellow Lyric Opera
board-member Neil Franks retired and headed back to the home countries. Having
served his due in Singapore for the previous thirty years, it was a glorious
retirement to being a piano student once again, and amongst many other things
becoming the Chairman of the Petworth Festival.
 |
| Neil Franks in his Aston Martin, James Bond mobile without the red button! |
“You
must come!” he almost pleaded and the summer of 2018, which coincided with the
festival’s 40th anniversary, seemed the most opportune moment for
me. A trip combining the BBC Proms, several concerts at Wigmore Hall and a
weekend in the rolling downs of West Sussex was eminently do-able, and so I
came. The Petworth Festival is a two-and-a-half week long summer music
festival, held in various historical
venues of a typically English town. The bright lights of London are far away,
and there are no McDonalds or Starbucks (or tall buildings for that matter) to
be found for miles, it was an ideal setting for great music and the arts within
an intimate setting.
For
the record, within two all-too-short days, I attended more concerts in the
Petworth Festival than in five years of the music-impoverished Singapore Arts
Festival or whatever its called these days.
FRIDAY
20 JULY 2018
 |
| Parkhurst House, near Lurgashall. |
Its
only an hour on British southwest rail from Wimbledon to Haslemere, Surrey
which was my entry-point into West Sussex. Met by Neil in his James Bond
convertible, we made to Parkhurst House, his manor home near Lurgashall,
overlooking miles of undulating countryside – and flocks of sheep! Before long,
it was time for the first concert, a lunchtime gig held at the 160-seat
Leconfield Hall (the old town hall) in
the old market square of Petworth itself.
 |
| Leconfield Hall is at the heart of Petworth town itself. |
Bloomsbury
Quartet
12
noon, Leconfield Hall
Four
young ladies in bright crimson gowns could not have given a more serious
programme of music, something that would quite at home at Wigmore Hall itself.
Beginning with Beethoven’s Quartet in F major (Op.95), nicknamed “Serioso”,
that set the tone for the rest of the hour-long concert. They produced a robust
tone and exhibited an immaculate togetherness. This was Beethoven with passion,
oozing from every muscle and sinew. Then it switched to Stravinsky’s Three
Pieces, alternating rhythmic vigour with strident discords, modernism
without apology and a refreshing palate-cleanser from conventional Beethoven.
My
first live encounter with Benjamin Britten’s Second String Quartet was
an illuminating experience. Whoever thought that the master of dissonance and
grit himself could accomodate his idiom to yield music that felt vulnerable and
so touchingly human? First on the to do list: listen it on recording again. My
last encounter with Britten’s quartets dated to the late 1980s: Quartet No.3
with the Chiligirian Quartet at Victoria Concert Hall, an unforgettable
performance. This one came pretty close.
The
quartet’s second violinist looked Asian, and she turned out to be Singapore’s
Janell Yeo, some ten years after winning the $200K HSBC Youth Excellence Award.
I had written about her in these pages ages ago and had wondered what happened
with her. As her obviously proud mother regaled, Janell has since graduated
from the Royal Academy of Music (the quartet was formed by its alumni) and gone
on to philanthropic work alongside a busy music career. Giving back to society
is something to be truly proud about.
 |
| Stained glass and altar piece at St Mary The Virgin |
Steven
Isserlis and Tom Poster
7.30
pm, St Mary’s Church
The
parish church of St.Mary the Virgin stands as the consecrated centre of
Petworth, just beside the sprawling grounds of Petworth House. Its history date
back to the 14th century, and the faded gravestones littering its
yard attest to its antiquity. It is over these gravestones that modern visitors
traipse and enjoy drinks before the concert proper, one of the highlights of
this festival.
Cellist
Steven Isserlis needs no introduction having played many times in Singapore,
his salt-and-pepper Rattlesque curls and their movements being almost as
memorable as his performances themselves. The Canadian pianist Connie Shih had
been replaced by young Briton Tom Poster but that made little difference. The
programme of German and French music, headlined by Schumann, Faure and Franck,
was to be a enjoyable and melody-filled one.
Notably,
the music of two women composers – Clara Schumann and Augusta Holmes – were
included. These are, of course, less familiar than those of their male
counterparts (and main squeezes) but does gender make them any less worthy? The
performances by Isserlis and Poster proved that there is no such thing as male
or female music, only good music matters. The programme’s longest work was the
Cesar Franck Sonata in A major, and it received a throroughly
accomplished reading, not least in its ever-busy piano part. Reminded to self:
better start practising!
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