March’s lunchtime offering in the Kirklees Concert Season was a set played by Blair Sinclair on trombone and Darius Battiwalla, piano. Not your normal combination, but you know by now that I don’t do normal. The other thing which was not quite conventional was that Guilmant’s Morceau Symphonique, refered to in the title of the event, was not in the programme. Duly bewildered I prepared for the bill of fare on the sheet issued to us and took a seat in the balcony. I normally sit in the stalls but the stage is fairly high so taking the odd photograph is a bit of a challenge as there is usually a music stand or other piece of equipment obliterating someone’s face.
Blair Sinclair is originally from New Zealand but came to UK in 2005 to study at the Royal Academy of Music where he obtained a Masters degree with a DipRAM, the highest accolade awarded to performers. He moved to Norway, finally coming to his senses in 2012 when he came to God’s Own County to take up the position of Principal Trombonist of Opera North.
Darius Battiwalla studied organ and piano at the University of Leeds. He is an orchestral pianist and organist with the Hallé Orchestra and BBC Philharmonic. He has recently taken up the post of Leeds City Organist.
Blair Sinclair
Mr Sinclair explained that the pieces selected had a common theme of being unexpected, so I wondered whether the omission of one of the featured composers was a playful ploy to get us in the mood, although it was a bit early for an April Fool prank. The surprises came either in the name of the composer, in that the surname might be familiar but it wasn’t the writer with whom we were well acquainted. The Strauss, for example, was Franz, rather than Richard or Johann, or the music being in the style of someone else. Jean-Michel Dafaye seems to have been the musical equivalent of Rory Bremner as he had two impersonations included; one as Bach and the other as Schumann.
I don’t know about you, but I can never take a trombone seriously when played as a solo instrument, or even in a duo as here. The expectation of the exponent breaking into a comedy routine is overpowering, a thought shared by Mr Sinclair in one of his explanatory interjections between pieces where he referred to it being played in circuses by clowns. I remember a jazz musician named George Chisholm who developed a comedy routine around his playing style.
After the second item, a rendition of Von ewiger Liebe, a song by Johannes Brahms arr. Mark Lawrence, I was converted. It was about a boy and girl walking through the woods, the former asking the latter whether she was ashamed to be seen in his company as they always went somewhere secluded. She replied that she wasn’t and that she just wanted to be by his side forever with no distractions. The full gamut of playing was covered to convey the emotions involved, from the staccato insecurity at the beginning to the romantic melody at the end. More Glenn Miller’ Moonlight Serenade than a Coco the Clown raspberry.
Darius Cattiwalla with page turner.
As usual, this was a superb way to pass a lunchtime at Dewsbury Town Hall, with two superb performers, the aforementioned Mr Sinclair and his piano accompanist, Mr Cattiwalla, whose keyboard prowess, was highlighted on several occasions. For both quality and variety, I cannot recommend this series of concerts highly enough, and that is without mentioning the lunch spread available beforehand.
The next one is on Wednesday, 17th April at 12.30pm and is a performance of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No.3 with additional pieces. For full details and to book please go to https://www.operanorth.co.uk/whats-on/brandenburg-concerto/
For information about lunchtime events in the Kirklees Concert Season 2023/24 at Dewsbury Town Hall it is https://www.operanorth.co.uk/event-tag/kirklees-concert-season/
For all things Opera North, including the recently announced 2024/25 season see https://www.operanorth.co.uk/
All photographs by Stan Graham
Tyke It To The Limit 