REVIEW: Northern Chords, Laing Art Gallery
Bloxham and pals’ palette of sounds
The second of three concerts comprising this year’s returning Northern Chords chamber music festival (it had a break last year) was a sell-out at Newcastle’s Laing Art Gallery.
Paintings on all sides ensured a night of musical magic became a multi-media experience.
With the musicians only partially visible from the back rows, you could feast your eyes on the beautiful people gazing from the wall behind.
It did seem as if they were as absorbed as we were – well, apart from the sun-dappled couple taking tea under the trees, painted by Harold Knight and seemingly oblivious to all but their own company.
Northern Chords has been at the Laing once before in its 16-year history. It’s a venue that really works – no stage or raked seating but a wonderful acoustic and a beautiful setting amidst the art.
Throughout the Second World War, pianist Myra Hess and her friends gave regular morale-boosting classical concerts at the National Gallery in London. Hugely popular, they were attended by 750,000 people in all.
In wartime the pictures would have been in storage. But I can tell you that classical music with the paintings in place works brilliantly – especially, it has to be said, when the music is this good.
Up first was Benjamin Baker with a virtuosic performance of Bach’s Partita for Solo Violin No. 2 in D Minor, a dance-inspired piece concluding with the Chaconne which Yehudi Menuhin called “the greatest structure for solo violin that exists”.
Brahms, reflecting on Bach’s achievement, said: “If I imagined that I could have created, even conceived the piece, I am quite certain that the excess of excitement and earth-shattering experience would have driven me out of my mind.”
No pressure, then.
Well, none that Benjamin Baker couldn’t handle. He performs all over the world and met Northern Chords founder Jonathan Bloxham when they were 16-year-old starters at the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey.
Looking at those glamorous folk in the picture frames, I could see they were as amazed as I was that such a complexity of sound was coming from just the one instrument.
After the interval, and a refreshing glass under the Ralph Hedley canvases in the café, Jonathan Bloxham stepped forward with his cello, a rare occurrence since he started focusing on conducting.
Joined by Baker, along with fellow violinist Ruth Rogers, Benjamin Roskams on viola and Thomas Carroll, also on cello, he proved he hasn’t lost his touch.
The ensemble made the Laing sing with a fast-flowing rendition of Schubert’s String Quintet in C major.
Throughout his musical education and career, Gateshead-born Bloxham has accrued like-minded friends.
The one-time students (and teachers, for Carroll once tutored him at the Yehudi Menuhin School) have all gone on to greater things. But they take time out to do this for him – and consequently for us.
The Northern Chords tickets are cheap, to be frank, but the musicianship on offer is first class, as was demonstrated here again. The applause was long and heartfelt.
This gem of a festival opened on Friday (June 27) at St Mary’s Church, Whickham, and was to end on Sunday at St James’ and St’ Basil’s Church, Fenham, when the Voices of Hope choir was to join in a performance of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.
Job done with this excellent, morale-boosting musical feast, Jonathan will now be returning to the day job, running affairs at an opera house in Switzerland.