Two minds (or sets of prejudices!) are better than one - Lammermuir Festival

Hugh and I work really well together in that we share many things but also have our own particular prejudices and enthusiasms.

The nice thing about this is that we can pursue our own enthusiasms within an overall framework.  There is nothing in this festival about which we are not both really enthusiastic.  However my own musical past gives me two particular events which I would single out.

STILE ANTICO – St Mary’s Haddington – 19 September https://www.lammermuirfestival.co.uk/event/victoria-the-immortal-glory-of-spain-2011

I was a choral scholar at King’s College Cambridge and my love for Renaissance polyphony remains very strong.  The first recording I heard of Stile Antico performing Shepherd blew my mind away.  The sheer beauty of the sound combined with the vigour and integrity of the interpretations made them a must for St Mary’s.   Having heard the Monteverdi Choir under John Eliot Gardiner in that acoustic means that IO can hardly wait for Monday evening  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYHE7vyAc4w

MOZART WIND MUSIC – Dunbar Parish Church 21 September https://www.lammermuirfestival.co.uk/event/mozart-wind-music-2011

I come from a family of three bassoonists and a double bass player.  Hugh has already blamed me for the choice of Mozart’s Wind Chamber Music and I plead guilty to the soft impeachment!  One of my five concerts of a lifetime was the Netherlands Wind Ensemble at the Freemason’s Hall in Edinburgh in 1974.  Mozart Wind Music played wel;l is imncredibly rich and charming and the programme which RSNO principal clarinet John Cushing directs will be a wonderful way of spending an evening.  Dunbar is only 20 minutes frm the head of the Edinburgh bypass so I hope to see lots of you there.  I certainly will be as, as well as being a terrific programme, it will be the first concert given by the Royal Scottish Conservatoire  since its re-naming on September 1st  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ9076mpMtI