I’m sure that we all have pieces of music which, if not our favourites, have meant something important, so much so, that we are transported, albeit only in our minds, to a place or time. The piece might have the power to console, I have friend who would fall back on Michael MacDonald’s ‘I Can Let Go Now’ when a relationship ended, or perhaps bring to mind the tender words of a loved one. In my case it would be Ray Charles’s ‘Hit The Road Jack!’ This concert, in the Distilled series at Howard Assembly Room, from the singers and musicians of Opera North, took a selection of music designed to reflect an episode in the composers’ lives. The people involved were Soprano, Máire Flavin and Pianist, David Cowan.
I really enjoy the intimacy that an hour-long recital can convey, especially in a venue such as this. Somehow even Dewsbury Town Hall seems to shrink during the more personal performances in their lunchtime Kirklees Chamber series of concerts.
Irish by birth, coming from Dublin, Ms Flavin has performed extensively in that country but is no stranger to the UK and Opera North especially, singing lead roles in Cosi fan tutti, The Merry Widow, Silent Night, Figaro, Alcina and La traviata.
David Cowan has been Head of Music at Opera North since 2016 and regularly plays piano in the aforementioned Kirklees Chamber concerts. He is also a conductor, having wielded the baton in several prestigious concert halls all over Europe.
The programme was a mixture of songs in English and German ranging from the 16th to the 20th Centuries. The fact that I don’t speak German, except to ask for a room with a shower, or a beer, not necessarily in that order, was no handicap in understanding what was going on because, as is customary at these events, a resume of the works was delivered by one of the artists, as well as its history and why it had been included.
Proceedings began with the song from which the performance had taken its name Music For a While by Henry Purcell. There followed pieces by John Dowland, Vincent d’Indy, Reynaldo Hahn, Robert Schumann, Franz Schubert, Gustav Mahler, ending with a traditional Irish folk song, The Star of County Down, which Máire Flavin didn’t so much sing as lived. We got the full broad accent and several dance moves. A delight.
The show was brought to a conclusion with a ‘spontaneous’encore, ‘Let the music say it for us’ from The Merry Widow by Franz Lehár and one you will all know, even if not by its title.
To see the wonderful Ms Flavin in action please have a look at this short trailer for the opera. She did dress down a bit as it was a Sunday afternoon! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TSjZTG5M0Y&list=TLPQMTcxMDIwMjRnnzmcBh5mQQ&index=9
The next Distilled performance at Howard Assembly Room is Brahms Sextet on Sunday, 17th November. https://www.operanorth.co.uk/whats-on/distilled-brahms-shaw/
To see what Opera North has in the pipeline go to https://www.operanorth.co.uk/ and for Howard Assembly Room it is https://www.operanorth.co.uk/event-tag/har/
Tyke It To The Limit 