This was the fifth concert of the season given at the Boston Grammar School. Eira told us that the title of her programme is “Mosaics” and that the title means a pattern of small pieces of music and the mortar is her journey as a musician. Together Eira and the audience went on that journey – and what a great journey it was.
Eira is a very talented and accomplished harpist and this evening she had brought two harps a pedal harp and a Clarsach. All of the music was new to me and our journey began with “Au Jardin – Venise-Ping Pong” from “Pour les Enfants by Alexandre Tansman. This was followed by Debussy’s “La fille aux cheveux de lin”. Then followed “Lindsey Dances” by Martin Ellerby and this piece really resonated with the audience. It is in five parts and these are Steep Hill; Bolingbroke; Gibralter Point; Tattershall; The Stump and I am sure that everyone saw in their mind’s eye (as I did) each part of our County. There then followed the Interlude from Britten’s “A Ceremony of Carols”.
Then Eira played Esther Swift’s “Time Spinner”. This was commissioned by Eira in memory of one her students, Helen MacLeod.
After the interval Eira changed to the Clarsach harp for the traditional Scottish tune “Glenlivet” and continued with Mary Ann Kennedy’s “Cruit Gun Chéis, Ceall Gun Aba”, this translates as “A harp without a tuning key, a Church without an Abbot” and I think refers to Iona. Mary Ann Kennedy was Eira’s first student at the Royal Northern College of Music.
We were then fortunate to hear the World Premier of Martin Ellerby’s Epitaph XVIII “Aberfan”. The audience for the most part, was of an age to remember the Aberfan disaster and so it had great meaning for us all, I think.
Next, on the concert harp we heard a piece written for the harpist, Sidonie Goossens – “Twilight” from William Alwyn’s “Crépuscle”, this was followed by Anna Appleby’s “Knocking” and yes, we heard knocking!
Reverting to the Clarsach, Eira then played Catriona McKay’s “Swan LK243”. This was a beautiful piece and was, my favourite of the evening. The composer wrote this on a Scottish fishing boat that took part in the Cutty Sark’s Tall Ships’ Race in 1999. LK243 is the fishing boat’s number (Lewis 243), the boat was built in 1900 and Catriona was aboard her as she sailed from Shetland to join the Tall Ships’ Race..
Our journey with Eira ended with Pearl Chertock’s “Harpicide at Midnight” from her “Around the Clock” suite and this was played on the pedal harp. This is a jazzy piece of music with a strong beat and who knew that a harp could sound like this? The dance began and the rhythm grew more and more insistent until the melody was lost and finally all we could hear was the dancing feet.
Judging by the warm comments afterwards this was a concert that was really enjoyed and it is hoped that Eira will come and play for us again.
CM