“It’s the crack of dawn for us,” explained Piccadilly Dance Orchestra founder and bandleader Michael Law mid-afternoon on Sunday. And indeed, it did seem odd to be stepping into the Newbury Corn Exchange to listen to music once played in grand hotel ballrooms much later in the day. But the mood was soon set — against a backcloth of twinkling stars, the ten members of the PDO were arrayed in full evening dress as they dispensed numbers made famous by Ambrose, Sid Phillips, Duke Ellington, Ted Heath, Harry Roy, and many others.
Law’s love affair with the dance music of the 1920s, 30s and 40s, began at the age of seven, when he was presented with a pile of old 78s. He obviously studied them hard, for several unjustly neglected rarities were played, and his humorous introductions contained a mine of information. Performances were immaculate, with Tracey Stewart-Fry adding polished vocals. Above all, nothing outstayed its welcome, each number left you wanting more.
The same could be said about Haydn’s string quartets, each movement also leaves you wanting more. In my second Newbury Spring Festival concert of the day, the Modigliani Quartet played two Haydn quartets in the sparklingly restored St Mary’s Church, Kintbury. The Modiglianis (Phillipe Bernhard, Loic Rio, Laurent Marfaing, and François Kieffer) play a matched set of instruments called The Evangelists – all the wood comes from the same tree.
As a result, the bright, light sound of the cello matches the other instruments unusually well. The players, too, matched seamlessly, with Opus 77 No 1 setting off in jaunty style, followed by a flowing Adagio, and a fiery – but not gratingly fierce – Menuetto. The fine melding of instruments, players, and composer continued in the Opus 76, No 4 quartet, nicknamed Sunrise. The Modiglianis rounded off with Debussy’s only quartet, distinctly making the point that its final movement, marked très modéré, must have sounded très moderne to its premiere audience in 1893.
lThe Newbury Spring Festival continues until May 23. Full details online at newburyspringfestival.org.uk. Box office: 01635 522733.
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