Review by Brian Tait

Guitar@Hanger Farm

with performances by

The Eden Stell Guitar Duo

Vincent Lindsey-Clark

Tim Rushworth, John Plunkett and Fusion

(Derek Hasted, Gilly Slott, Lisa Wheadon and Claire Whiteside)

and the SCGS Guitar Orchestra

Guitar@Hanger Farm was one of a series of events to mark the 50^th Anniversary of Southampton Classical Guitar Society. It was held on Sunday, 2 October at the Hanger Farm Arts Centre near Totton, Southampton. This was a fundraising event for the Minstead Trust, a charity that supports people with learning disabilities. All the proceeds went to the Trust, and the performers were playing for free. The concert raised nearly one thousand pounds for the charity.

We started with brief introductions from our Chairman Chris Thompson, our MC for the concert, and from Mike Dutton expressing his gratitude for the money raised on behalf of the Trust.

The music started with two SCGS members playing solos.

Tim Rushworth

Misionera in particular is full of guitar effects such as rasguedo and tremolo. A very exciting way to start the concert and engage the audience!

John Plunkett

John's second piece was the well-known Julia Florida by Agustin Barrios. This was a warm and captivating performance, with extensive use of rubato and variation of dynamics.

Fusion in concert earlier this year

They played six pieces, ranging from the renaissance Padaona Venezia by Vincenzo Capirola, through Adagio by Rolf Lovland, Cavatina by Stanley Myers, Fields of Gold by Sting (based on the Eva Cassidy version) and Closest Thing to Crazy by Mike Batt, to Mr Blue Sky by Jeff Lynne of ELO. The performance was all woven together by Derek’s customary banter and jokes. This was great fun and highly entertaining.

Mark rehearses Timespan with Vincent and the SCGS orchestra

After an interval for tea, coffee and cakes, the SCGS guitar orchestra gathered on stage to play Timespan, the piece for guitar soloist and orchestra composed by Vincent Lindsey-Clark especially for the Guitar Society’s 50^th anniversary celebrations. The five movements of the piece reflect different historical musical styles and also refer to a popular song from each of the last five decades. This was the second time we had performed the piece, the first being its premier at the Turner Sims earlier this year. Mark Eden was again the conductor, and Vincent the soloist. Mark had been putting the orchestra through its paces in rehearsals over the last few weeks, and it seemed to pay off with a very good performance. We cannot thank Vincent and Mark enough for making this project such a rewarding experience for all involved.

Vincent Lindsey-Clark

The orchestra stowed away their instruments and Vincent took the stage again, this time with a set of solo pieces. He began with his ever popular La Moinerie from his Five Pictures of Sark suite. This was followed by Penguins in the Forest, a movement from his Whenua o te Manu (Land of the Birds), a set of pieces inspired by the bird life of New Zealand, full of fascinating sound effects. A first performance of In memoria di Aldo Minella was next. This work was commissioned by a student of Minella, a distinguished performer and teacher who passed away last year. The music is full of references to other works, including a Bach Loure, and music by Ponce, Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Albeniz. Vincent finished a very enjoyable set with Altitude, the title having come from a long plane journey back from New Zealand, and expressing the feelings of travelling at 36,000 feet, including the experience of turbulence and feelings of serenity.

The Eden Stell Guitar Duo

Next, we were treated to a set of duets by the Eden Stell Guitar Duo. They began with Prelude and Fugue No. 24 in C minor from Les Guitares bien tempérées  (The Well-Tempered Guitars) by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. The composer wrote a set of 24 such pieces in the manner of Bach’s Well-tempered Clavier. Three sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti followed (K475, K474 and K545). The first and last were very fast, and the middle one was, as Mark put it, more like an aria from an opera. These sonatas will be included in a new Eden-Stell CD, already recorded and soon to be released. Their final piece was Sérénade pour deux guitares  by Andre Jolivet, originally written for the famous Lagoya Presti guitar duo. The suite is, apparently, not heard very often, and was absolutely fascinating, full of varied sounds, techniques and textures.

Chris Stell, Vincent Lindsey Clark and Mark Eden in the final set at Hanger Farm

The concert finale came as a surprise, as a guitar trio of Vincent, Mark and Chris emerged from the back of the stage. As Vincent put it, the trio was formed at 2:30 that afternoon and would cease to exist about three minutes after the first note was played! They played a special version of La Danza Galopa by Vincent and ended the concert to rousing cheers and applause. Superb!

The whole concert was very enjoyable, immense fun and full of wonderful music and playing. Not only that but we helped raise funds for a very worthy cause!

Photographs by Celia Thompson, John Plunkett and from artists' websites