Author: Robert Bridge

There was Beethoven 9; there was some piece by Brahms; but all this threatens to be eclipsed on Thursday night when our very own lovely/tall/noisy* tenor, Andrew Bain will be treading the boards – and possible the tables if things get a little loose – at Leonardo’s Wine Bar to give a whistlestop tour of musical show stoppers: from South Pacific to West Side Story, from Les Mis to Hamilton, with more than enough Andrew Lloyd Webber in between, this promises to be an evening to remember – if indeed you remember anything at all the next morning after a bottle or two of Leonardo’s vino. Spaces are going fast…

(*delete as applicable)

As I mentioned at the end of tonight’s rehearsal I am giving a recital at Putney Library this Thursday at 6.30 to both celebrate the life and music of a former pupil, Alan Rushton, who sadly died last year and, at the same time, to celebrate the arrival of his piano, donated by his widow, to begin a new life as a community instrument for anyone, or any group, who wants to use it.

If you want to find out a bit more about Alan you can read a lovely obituary that his widow, Andrée, wrote for the Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/sep/17/alan-rushton-obituary

The programme is based around pieces that he played to me, with a few contributions of my own. I’ve attached the programme and the info about the concert below.

Robert

As mentioned at the rehearsal last Tuesday I’m involved in a concert on Sunday at All Saints Putney with the 1885 Singers, under their new MD Chris Langworthy, which is well worth coming to because (a) I’m playing a shedload of notes, because (b) the programme begins with the searingly beautiful “O, Radiant Dawn” by James Macmillan and especially because (c) I’m not playing for the Macmillan which is unaccompanied. Elsewhere you will hear some very fine baritone singing from Ambrose Connolly, the familiar and rousing strains of Vaughan Williams’ Antiphon which is the last of the Five Mystical Songs, some thigh-slapping music from Elgar (think Elgar meets the Sound of Music and you’re in the zone) and some very jolly nautical stuff from Stanford including the following tantalising lyrics: “there are queer things that only come to sailormen; they’re true but never understood; and I know one thing about the Admiral, that I can’t tell rightly as I should…”

Well if you want to know more you’ll be there on Sunday night. 7.30 kick-off. Medals may be worn.

Late call for this but if you are free tonight this promises to be an interesting evening of music, poetry and interviews about the church and its rich artistic history. All Saints is celebrating its 150th anniversary and both William Morris and Burne-Jones were involved in its original design with Burne-Jones contributing designs for the windows whilst William Morris created the tapestry ceilings. I’ll be teaming up with singers Hannah Cox and Chris Stevens for some songs broadly linked with the Pre-Raphaelite movement, including some gems by some neglected women composers Adele Maddison and Clara Kathleen Rogers, and I’ll also contribute some piano solos by Elgar, Debussy and Liszt.

Dear all

If you can snatch an hour or two away from your feverish study of the Creation on either or both of the next two Sunday evenings, there are a couple of concerts in Putney that I would commend to your attention – not least because I have a starring role in both…

This coming Sunday, June 11th, I’m giving a piano recital at 6pm at All Saints’ Church, Putney Common. Music by Schumann, Janacek and Liszt. Free admission and free wine with a retiring collection to try and recoup some of the bar bill. This is a “knitting concert” so feel free to bring something (preferably silent) to do whilst you listen, if you want to.

And a week later on Sunday 18th at 7.30, also at All Saints’ Church, I’ll be joining the 1885 Singers under the baton of Alison Hunka for one of their final concerts before Alison retires at the end of this year. They will be singing Puccini’s Messa di Gloria, which SGC performed a couple of years ago, along with a piece that Howard Goodall wrote for the choir back in 2005. I will be joining them for Constant Lambert’s riotous Rio Grande, a mini-concerto for piano, percussion and choir, to a wonderful text by Sacheverell Sitwell – think a fusion of Walton’s Facade and Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and you’re in the zone. Also in the programme is Mendelssohn’s Richte mich, Gott and Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto. Quite a bonanza evening.

Robert Bridge

As mentioned in the rehearsal this week I’m giving a short recital on Sunday 19th at 12 noon in All Saints’ Church, Putney Common as part of their Tunes @ Noon series.

I’ll be playing some whimsical and futuristic piano pieces by Schumann called Papillons, and a set of 1920’s jazz-age waltzes by Ravel called Valses Nobles et Sentimentales. Clap for more than a couple of seconds and I’ll reward you with an outrageous encore.

Admission is free with a retiring donation to support the music at All Saints. If you would like to experience the full bedlam of the Mothering Sunday service arrive at 10.30. Otherwise I’d suggest you sneak in furtively at 11.45 and make a beeline for the coffee and biscuits.

Hope to see you there!

Robert

Anyone not flying off to the pistes this weekend, and who feels that they can wrench themselves away from important study time on the Creation, might like to pop along to the very beautiful St.Mary’s Church on the river in Battersea for an hour of piano music on Sunday afternoon: Ravel’s timeless Pavane pour une Infante défunte, the two Chopin Nocturnes I played at your last concert (so time to pop for a quick fag at that point) and the eight pieces by Brahms that make up his Op.76 piano pieces. Free admission and you get a cup of tea at the end!

Robert

For any of you who found Xmas insufficiently intellectually demanding, and to any closet cruciverbalists amongst us (and you will know who you are), here is a puzzle to tease the brain cells.

Each year I compile a crossword for my long-suffering family. Clues are hopefully at a similar level to the Times Concise Cryptic but, as a devotee of the Listener Crossword, there is always a little more to be done than filling the grid.

This is this year’s offering. If you’d prefer a word.doc version send me your email, and If you’d like to have a go and get stuck feel free to ask for a nudge.

Just wanted to let you all know that I’m doing a concert on Monday 27th July. For those of us who have now forgotten what this means it basically involves getting a bunch of musicians together and performing some pieces of music. In my case I’ll be joining cellist Jonathan Stallick and violinist Liz Baldey to play a Haydn Trio. I’m not sure what our trio is called, as we’ve yet to meet, but as he’s balder than me I’m going for The Three Baldeys. We are going to livestream from the Great Hall at Fulham Palace, reputedly the most haunted room in London, so there may be a few unexpected guests. We’re starting at about 7.15pm when Jonathan will play the opening movement of Bach’s G major Cello Suite, then I’ll join him for The Swan by Saint-Saens and then all three of us will rip through the G major Piano trio by Haydn, known as the Gypsy Rondo trio. It will be seat of the pants stuff as our first rehearsal will be at 6pm that night but I think it will be a lot of fun.

We’re live streaming on FaceBook Live and here is the link – https://www.facebook.com/jstallick/posts/10159324498344625

for which I suspect you will need access to a FaceBook account. I appreciate this may be an obstacle for some of you but if you can join please do. It would be nice to have a decent virtual crowd. We have to finish by 8pm because that’s when the ghosties have their Bingo evening so it will be short and hopefully sweet.

Robert