I love Christmas. I love the excitement and the build up, the lights, the decorations, the food. In a household of young children the excitement as December approaches is infectious! I don’t even mind the mince pies in shops in August, and I certainly don’t refer to ‘C*******s’ on social media when talking about the festive season too early!
Most interesting for me at Christmastime however is the quieter, more intimate aspects of the season. The familiarity, the warmth, the traditions, the stories. The nostalgia of Christmases past and the anticipation of Christmases to come.
We all have our own Christmas traditions, based around religious beliefs or family values, the food we eat or the places we visit. Perhaps the most important traditions of all however come in the stories we tell. The stories we share with our children. I have my own favourite stories linked to Christmas (the Night Before Christmas and The Snowman being obvious choices), and I believe everyone across the world has a story to tell at this time of year, whether directly linked to the Christian holiday, winter solstice or other numerous seasonal festivities.
I have a love of storytelling in music and in performing the music that others don’t often get to hear. I have wanted to put together a programme of musical stories at Christmas for years - and finally I have the opportunity to share my programme with audiences across the south west.
I have sourced a number of piano works written by composers across Europe, telling Christmastime traditions and stories from their respective countries. These stories are perhaps not so well-known in this country, but they are fascinating to explore and beautifully told in these poignant, jubilant musical works.
I will perform a Ukrainian shchedrivka, a New Year's song that tells the story of a swallow flying into a household to sing of the wealth and happiness that will come with the spring (‘Shchedryk’ by Sadie Harrison - a wonderful composer who has written this arrangement specially for the concert).
The oldest piece on the programme dates from 1756 - Domenico Scarlatti bases his ‘Sonata in C Major’ on the popular Italian carol ‘Tu scendi Dalle Stelle’ (roughly translated as ‘you come down from the stars’), and French composer Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht depicts the whole Christmas story in a suite of seven movements, discreetly re-working a number of the most well-known traditional French Christmas song tunes. Bartok’s ‘Romanian Christmas Carols’ are based not on carols rooted in Christian festivities, but in the folk melodies of Romanian ‘Colinde’ - customs associated with the pagan winter solstice.
A little closer to home - ‘O Dame Get Up And Bake Your Pies’ (by Arnold Bax) is based on a North country carol with the refrain ‘Dame, get up and bake your pies on Christmas Day in the morning’, whilst the ‘Sussex Mummers’ Christmas Carol’ (arranged here for piano by Percy Grainger) was sung by ‘Tipteers’ in Sussex - this solemn carol was sung by actors (or ‘Mummers’) at the close of their annual play ‘St George and the Turk’, whilst wearing dresses of coloured calico and old ‘chimney pot’ hats trimmed with ribbon and assorted ornaments…
I hope that audiences at my concerts will experience the warmth and cosiness of the more intimate side of Christmas. Please come and take a colourful journey across Europe by candlelight, experience the finest seasonal stories told in the most expressive way. Sample the mince pies, drink a cup of something hot and wrap up warm!
Most interesting for me at Christmastime however is the quieter, more intimate aspects of the season. The familiarity, the warmth, the traditions, the stories. The nostalgia of Christmases past and the anticipation of Christmases to come.
We all have our own Christmas traditions, based around religious beliefs or family values, the food we eat or the places we visit. Perhaps the most important traditions of all however come in the stories we tell. The stories we share with our children. I have my own favourite stories linked to Christmas (the Night Before Christmas and The Snowman being obvious choices), and I believe everyone across the world has a story to tell at this time of year, whether directly linked to the Christian holiday, winter solstice or other numerous seasonal festivities.
I have a love of storytelling in music and in performing the music that others don’t often get to hear. I have wanted to put together a programme of musical stories at Christmas for years - and finally I have the opportunity to share my programme with audiences across the south west.
I have sourced a number of piano works written by composers across Europe, telling Christmastime traditions and stories from their respective countries. These stories are perhaps not so well-known in this country, but they are fascinating to explore and beautifully told in these poignant, jubilant musical works.
I will perform a Ukrainian shchedrivka, a New Year's song that tells the story of a swallow flying into a household to sing of the wealth and happiness that will come with the spring (‘Shchedryk’ by Sadie Harrison - a wonderful composer who has written this arrangement specially for the concert).
The oldest piece on the programme dates from 1756 - Domenico Scarlatti bases his ‘Sonata in C Major’ on the popular Italian carol ‘Tu scendi Dalle Stelle’ (roughly translated as ‘you come down from the stars’), and French composer Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht depicts the whole Christmas story in a suite of seven movements, discreetly re-working a number of the most well-known traditional French Christmas song tunes. Bartok’s ‘Romanian Christmas Carols’ are based not on carols rooted in Christian festivities, but in the folk melodies of Romanian ‘Colinde’ - customs associated with the pagan winter solstice.
A little closer to home - ‘O Dame Get Up And Bake Your Pies’ (by Arnold Bax) is based on a North country carol with the refrain ‘Dame, get up and bake your pies on Christmas Day in the morning’, whilst the ‘Sussex Mummers’ Christmas Carol’ (arranged here for piano by Percy Grainger) was sung by ‘Tipteers’ in Sussex - this solemn carol was sung by actors (or ‘Mummers’) at the close of their annual play ‘St George and the Turk’, whilst wearing dresses of coloured calico and old ‘chimney pot’ hats trimmed with ribbon and assorted ornaments…
I hope that audiences at my concerts will experience the warmth and cosiness of the more intimate side of Christmas. Please come and take a colourful journey across Europe by candlelight, experience the finest seasonal stories told in the most expressive way. Sample the mince pies, drink a cup of something hot and wrap up warm!