WELCOME
Welcome to a new Music in Pinner Series
(October 2021 update)
Our planned MPS 21-22 season has begun,
featuring many of the musicians whom we had to cancel in our planned 20-21
season, due to Covid-19. Please download our updated Covid Safety Advice here,
or visit the Tickets page to read it online.
We have four more Saturday evening
concerts, two jazz and two classical – but at least one of each should appeal
to enthusiasts for the other genre. It will all be great music and
entertainment. You can hear my interview with Radio Harrow here, talking about
the season to come.
A mini survey of our Mailing List some
months ago showed much enthusiasm for a resumption of MPS. Also, Pinner Music
Festival went very well in early June, with good audiences even with
constraints on numbers. Musicians and audiences really appreciated the feel of
live music once more, and the effect was palpable; people were very comfortable
with the venue configuration.
With even less constraint expected at this
stage, but with some continuing precautions, we think that this MPS season will
be viable. We have somewhat reduced capacity, with spaces between household
groups. We would like people to wear masks, unless exempt. People who feel ill
should not attend, but inform us, and we will provide refunds. We will have
usual length concerts, with short intervals but no refreshments.
All concerts except January will be at
Pinner Parish Church starting at 7.30pm. The concert in January will be at
Pinner United Synagogue and starting at 8.00pm. Keep a look-out at this website
for updates – in case we have to make any changes due to the pandemic and its
consequences.
Tickets are available online for £16-00 per
concert. If not sold out, we will offer At-Door sales too, at £18. There's free
entry for anyone under 19 who accompanies a paying adult.
The first concert, on October 16th,
featured the Mark Crooks Quartet, with Mark on clarinet & tenor sax,
Gabriel Latchin piano, Jeremy Brown bass, and Steve Brown drums. They gave a
superb performance, with great range, and improvisatory skill revealed by all
four musicians, who were on stunning form – and evidently thriving with
presence of a very live(ly) audience, and wallowing in the church’s glorious
acoustic. Read Peter Vacher's review here.
Our most recent recital was on November
6th, when we were delighted to host The Gould Piano Trio, an outstanding and
internationally celebrated ensemble, who were on superb form. They performed a
glorious late piano trio by Mozart (K564), the dramatic and passionate piano
trio by Harrow-born Rebecca Clarke, and Dvorak’s marvellous and popular
folk-infused final Dumky trio. These three very distinctive and different works
were brilliantly played by Lucy Gould, Richard Lester and Benjamin Frith to a
spellbound audience. The Mozart was delightful, the Rebecca Clarke – with its
powerful echoes of the Great War – very compelling, and the Dvorak wonderfully
varied. They gave a lovely encore with the slow movement from a Haydn Trio,
which brought us gently back to earth.
The December 4th concert marks a welcome
return to Pinner of members of the Fibonacci Sequence, with Kathron Sturrock
(piano) and Yuko Inoue (viola) – who played Rebecca Clarke’s Viola Sonata at
PMF-2016 – joined by acclaimed clarinettist, Andrew Marriner (until recently
Principal Clarinet of the LSO), in the delightful Kegelstatt (skittle-alley)
Trio by Mozart, and a really lovely trio by Bruch, written for his son. Brahms
wrote two superb late sonatas for clarinet or viola, and we shall have the
opportunity to hear both – one on each instrument. This will be an exceptional
recital featuring three very fine performers in repertoire from the three
composers’ maturity, each with their trademark style and craft, and each
inspired by a particular performer of their day.
The New Year sees, on January 15th (at 8pm
at Pinner United Synagogue), the return of the Scott Hamilton Quartet, with
Scott on tenor sax, John Pearce keyboard, Dave Green bass and Steve Brown
drums. Scott and his superb UK rhythm section will bring us once more his very
particular mix of jazz standards and ballads, explored and embellished with
glorious tone – always a very popular concert in MPS and Pinner Jazz.
The Kaleidoscope Saxophone Quartet (Sally
MacTaggart, Guy Passey, Jenni Watson & Alastair Penman) perform for us on
February 19th in a super mixed programme including Debussy, Grieg, Gershwin,
Palestrina, Piazzolla, Rameau, C. Schumann and more. Here we shall hear four
saxophones in contrasting repertoire to that of our jazz concerts – expect
fantastic sonorities, intriguing arrangements and skilful ensemble.
On March 12th, our final concert of the
season features the Misha Mullov-Abbado Band, with Misha on bass, James Davison
trumpet, Matthew Herd alto sax, Sam Rapley tenor sax, Liam Dunachie piano and
Scott Chapman drums. The band’s repertoire is influenced by a broad spectrum of
music in classical, jazz and pop genres, as well as folk traditions. Misha
brings a wonderfully inventive approach both to his own compositions and to the
dynamic of the jazz band and, with this fantastic group of players, guarantees
us a splendid evening of entertainment.
Overall, MPS 21-22 offers quite a line-up
of superb musicians. Do book early.
See you soon.