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This was the third time that Boston Concert Club had welcomed Laurence Perkins and the first time for John Flinders. They gave us a wonderful concert at the Grammar School on 21 March. This concert was dedicated to the memory of long-standing Concert Club member, Brenda Lane, who passed away on 10 February 2023. Brenda wrote the Reviews for the concerts for many years and she is a very hard act to follow. In his opening remarks Laurence said that he and John were proud to give this concert in memory of Brenda.

The concert began with Gabriel Pierné’s Solo de Concert for bassoon and piano. The piano began and John made it sound very dramatic and then the bassoon joined in and both of these instruments complemented each other perfectly.

Laurence is a wonderful communicator and told us that this programme of music was all about the imagination. In the next piece, Concertino by Michael Haydn, there was lyrical playing by John with the bassoon singing in the lower register and purring away like a huge cat.

In Catalonia by Paul Reade, the imagination really got going; we were at a Festival in the South of France and a very jolly one it was too with a lot of dancing.

Ravel’s Habaňera was originally written as a vocalese for a mezzo and I thought that the bassoon was the perfect instrument for this. At the end there was the lovely silence as we all came back down to earth.

Before the interval Laurence and John played Carl Maria von Weber’s Andante e Rondo Ungarese. The bassoon sang accompanied by the piano. This is a pseudo-Hungarian rondo but it is a lively piece and must be great fun to play. In fact, I loved imagining all those “Hungarians” clumping round and round! It made me laugh.

After the interval, Laurence and John played Gounod’s Funeral March of a Marionette. This was enjoyed by at least two members of the audience who bumped shoulders in time to the music! I was reminded at first of the Teddy Bears’ Picnic and then I thought that this is really “circus like”.

The Romance by Saint-Saens was a huge contrast to the previous piece, I found it very peaceful and soothing.

A further contrast followed and this was Laurence playing Alan Ridout’s Caliban and Arial on the bassoon. First, we hear Caliban, the brutish slave of Prospero, earthbound and full of anger and impotence regarding his lot in life:

“This island’s mine by Sycorax my mother,
Which thou tak’st from me. When thou cam’st first,
Thou strok’st me and made much of me… …and then I loved thee…
Cursed be I that did so…
For I am all the subjects that you have,Which first was mine own king; and here you sty me
In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
The rest o’th’island!”
In contrast we heard Arial, that airy spirit, also wanting his freedom but in a lighter way:
“All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come
To answer thy best pleasure; be’t to fly,
To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride
On the curl’d clouds; to thy strong bidding
task Ariel and all his quality.”
Laurence told us that he had given the first performance of this piece in 1975 in Canterbury.

Then there was the lovely melancholy Romance by Elgar, beautifully played by John and Laurence. Laurence is quoted in the Programme notes as ascribing its sadness as arising from the death of two of Elgar’s close friends who were featured in the Enigma Variations, A J Jaeger (Nimrod) and Basil G Nevison (BGN).

The bassoon is well suited to the three following traditional Hebridean Melodies arranged by Laurence, the beautiful ‘Mountain Shadow’, the lyrical ‘My fair-headed Mary’ and the jolly ‘The Cockle Gatherers’.
The final piece of music was Gilbert Vinter’s, “The Playful Pachyderm”. This is laugh-out loud stuff and the image of a dancing elephant was irresistible.
The audience clapped long and hard and there were bravos and cheers and then an encore. Laurence told us that John works with soloists and choirs but he “nearly fell under the table” when Laurence suggested as an encore Quenton Ashlyn’s “The Bassoon Song”. Ashlyn was a star of the Music Hall in Victorian times. Laurence sang the song and the bassoon did the bassoon bits in the song. It was wonderful. We all enjoyed every part of this final concert of the Season and we were left wanting more.

Laurence and John had earlier today visited Gipsey Bridge Primary School and on Wednesday they were to visit Sutterton Primary School. What a wonderful treat for the children.

on 21 February 2023 at Boston Grammar School

The last visit by the Passacaglia Trio to the Concert Club was on 18 December 2018, and the Trio received a very warm welcome from a capacity audience on their return to us on 21 February. The Trio specialise in Baroque Music and are Annabel Knight, recorders and flute; Robin Bigwood, harpsichord and Reiko Ichise viola da gamba.

The concert began with Handel’s Sonata in G major for flute and basso continuo. This was beautifully played with the viola da gamba growling away at the bottom, the flute dancing at the top and harpsichord singing away in the middle. I loved the sound of the viola da gamba.

Robin then played a solo on the harpsichord and this was a set of variations by C P E Bach. The variations are based on a well-known dance tune of the era, La Folia, and the harpsichord showed us all the colours and rhythms in this music.

It was sheer delight to listen to Greensleeves to a Ground from the first part of the Divisions and published by John Walsh in 1701; Divisions means variations and these were played on the recorder supported in the base line by the harpsichord and viola da gamba. Telemann’s Trio sonata for recorder, viola da gamba and basso continuo followed seamlessly and both pieces complemented each other wonderfully.

After the interval, Reiko played J S Bach’s Sonata in G major for viola da gamba and basso continuo (Robin on the harpsichord). This was beautifully played by both and I think that the singing voice of the viola da gamba has a much warmer tone than the cello, which supplanted it in the 18^th century.

Robin then played Couperin’s Les Barricades Mystėrieuses from Ordre 6ème de clavecin. This is a short piece and I was sorry when it ended, I loved the cascading sound of the harpsichord.

Robin was joined by Annabel and Reiko for C P E Bach’s Trio Sonata in F major for bass recorder and viola da gamba. The bass recorder is mighty instrument and I loved the sound it made. The concert ended with Anna bon di Venezia’s Sonata in G minor for flute and basso continuo. Anna bon di Venezia spent some time at the Court of Frederick the Great and I wonder if he played this piece of music. There is a very famous painting of Frederick the Great playing the flute at Sanssouci, his palace outside Berlin. It was a wonderful end to a very enjoyable evening and judging by the applause at the end everyone felt as I did. I hope that it won’t be too long before they make a return visit.

It is not often that the members of the Boston Concert Club give a standing ovation, but that is what happened at the end of a splendid concert given by pianist Victor Lim.

Victor began the concert with Haydn’s Piano Sonata in C major and this was a lively joyful piece of music played with dash and verve. Haydn wrote this music for a friend of his, Therese Bartolozzi, she must have been a very talented player and what a lovely present to receive.

The next three pieces were Nocturn No 3 in A flat major by Fauré, Grainger’s “Ramble on Richard Strauss’s ‘Der Rosenkavalier’” and Nocturn No 13 in B minor by Fauré. These followed seamlessly from one another and the audience paid rapt attention to Victor’s superlative playing.

After the interval Victor played J S Bach’s “Siciliano” as arranged by Wilhelm Kempff. This was a soothing and gentle beginning to the second half. Then we heard Grieg’s Holberg Suite and in the first of the dances the piano roared away at the beginning, Victor creating a very orchestral sound from the Grammar School piano. The second movement was gentler and songlike, followed by a jolly and fast-moving jig. The fourth movement was slower and the final movement was lively and fast moving with a slower section in the middle and finished in great style and at speed.

This was followed by two very contrasting mazurkas, first Chopin’s Mazurka in A minor and then Thomas Ades “Three Mazurkas”. The two pieces of music couldn’t have been more different; I think that I could have danced to Chopin’s despite there being about 50 different steps to a mazurka (and having two left feet), but Ades version was strictly for listening to. There was a section in the Ades Mazurka that was very bell like.

The highlight of the evening was Ravel’s “La Valse”, my goodness it was dramatic and Victor played with such passion, I felt quite breathless at the end. That standing ovation was justly earned.

Victor played as an encore the Prelude in B minor by Bach as arranged by Siloti. A beautiful ending to an exciting concert.

Afterwards members of the audience congratulated Victor on his wonderful performance and expressed the wish that he would come and play for us again.