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Last week I went up to Hertford, the attractive county town of Hertfordshire, to attend an inaugural concert and reception, ahead of this year’s Hertfordshire Festival of Music (HFoM) which runs from 7 to 14 June.

I have been involved in the Festival since its founding by conductor Tom Hammond (who tragically died in 2021) and composer James Francis Brown, initially in an ad hoc way by sharing details of the festival here and on my social networks, and since 2020 as the Festival’s publicist.

Now in its ninth year, the festival has grown from a weekend to a full week of concerts and related events/activities. The ethos and aims of the festival have remained largely the same – presenting world class classical music and musicians in the heart of Hertfordshire alongside education and outreach projects within the local community – and each year sees a different Principal Artist (Emma Johnson, Ben Goldscheider, Steven Isserlis and Stephen Hough to name a few) and Featured Living Composer (e.g. Judith Weir, CBE, David Matthews), as well as musicians who live and/or come from Hertfordshire (flautist Emma Halnan, pianist Florian Mitrea). The concert programmes are varied and imaginative, and the range of artists is impressive. Previous performers/ensembles have included ZRI, the Rosetti Ensemble, pianists Katya Apekisheva and Charles Owen, violinists Litsa Tunnah, Mathilde Milwidsky and Chloe Hanslip, cellist Guy Johnson, and guitarist Jack Hancher.

Potential audiences (and reviewers) who live in London are often reluctant to journey too far out of the metropolis to experience live music (it was via an online discussion about this issue that I first met Tom Hammond, back in 2015), yet the ease with which one can travel to Hertfordshire was quite evident when, after having lunch with my father near Kings Cross, I took the Circle Line a few stops to Moorgate and thence a train to Hertford North station (Hertford has 2 railway stations; trains from Hertford East go to Liverpool Street). The journey was less than an hour, comfortable and pleasant, and my hotel was an easy 10-minute stroll from the station to the attractive historic centre of town. Hertford is also easily accessible by road, again less than an hour’s drive from London.

HFoM concerts take place in the town’s two main churches, St Andrew’s and All Saints, both of which are within walking distance of the town centre. Other events take place at the Hertford Quaker Meeting House (the oldest meeting house built by Friends that has remained in unbroken use since 1670), and other local venues.

If you were to make a mini break or weekend visit to Hertford, or even just a day trip, you’ll find the town has a good range of independent shops, cafes, restaurants and pubs. Ahead of the evening event, I enjoyed a stroll around the town in unexpectedly mild sunshine.

This year’s festival runs from 7 to 14 June. I can’t reveal the full programme yet but I can tell you that this year’s Festival theme, ‘Shadows to Light: Musical Journeys in Conflicts and Peace’, which celebrates the universal language of music through times of adversity and peace, and touches on the 80th anniversary of VE Day alongside contemporary global conflicts. From young musicians to established international artists, jazz music, the Hertford Community Concert Band, and even a special Festival Church Service, this year’s Festival offers something for everyone and features over 30 events across music and outreach activities, of which 50% are free, with concessions applied to ticketed events.

You can enjoy early access to Festival news by signing up to the HFoM newsletter or by following the festival on social media.

Hertfordshire Festival of Music website

Hertfordshire Festival of Music is built on the involvement, support and encouragement of Hertford and the county’s communities who help build a thriving and rich Festival for the communities HFoM wishes to serve.

The Hertford hart
Artistic Director/pianist James Francis Brown & volist Sarah-Jane Bradley

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ABSOLUTE

J.S. Bach: Lute Suites BWV 996-998 – Transcribed for piano and performed by Eleonor Bindman

All my transcriptions are motivated by the desire to play my favourite music on the piano. – Eleonor Bindman

A lifelong love of J S Bach has led pianist Eleonor Bindman to produce a number of important transcriptions for solo piano and piano duo of his music for other instruments, including the evergreen Cello Suites and the Brandenberg Concertos.

In addition to recordings demonstrating ‘Bach playing of the highest order’ (Pianodao), Eleonor has also produced sheet music and anthologies of her transcriptions, primarily aimed at amateur pianists and piano teachers. Her two-volume ‘Stepping Stones to Bach’ features intermediate piano arrangements of the Baroque master’s most famous tunes, including the Gavotte from the Violin Partita, No.3, and the Badinerie from the Orchestral Suite, No. 2. In making these transcriptions, she is following in the footsteps of the master himself: Bach regularly transcribed his own and other composers’ music and created different instrumental versions of the same piece.

The resulting musical statement may be a faithful reproduction …, a transformation beyond recognition or something in between. Regardless of the outcome, the original source is of such exceptional depth and appeal that for the past three centuries it attracted a steady stream of pilgrims, ready to sacrifice their time and energy for the joy of communion.

Eleonor Bindman

In her latest project, she has turned her attention to works originally composed for the lautenwerk or lautenwerck (lute-harpsichord), one of Bach’s favourite instruments, similar to the harpsichord, but with gut (or nylon today) rather than metal strings, which results in a more mellow tone. Generally performed on harpsichord, lute, and guitar, Eleonor’s new recording of the Lute Suites brings a fresh perspective on these rarely-explored masterpieces, showcasing their intricate structures, rich textures, and emotive character on the modern piano.

Eleonor Bindman’s Bach pianism is all about clarity and order. Her strong and assertive fingerwork complements her firmly centred rhythm

Gramophone magazine

Highlights include BWV 997 and 998, featuring stunning fugues with ornate middle sections unlike typical keyboard fugues, and a heartfelt arrangement of “Betrachte, meine Seele” from St. John’s Passion, which serves as a moving conclusion to the album.

Fans of Eleonor Bindman’s previous transcriptions – such as The Brandenburg Duets and The Cello Suites – will appreciate this latest addition to the pianist’s catalogue, recorded on a Bösendorfer piano which truly captures the remarkable richness of Bach’s writing.

Eleonor Bindman writes, ‘Transcriptions can revive interest in original compositions, and I am hoping that a piano version of Bach’s Suites BWV 996, 997, and 998 will increase their popularity. Just like Bach’s other solo collections, these suites present a technical and musical tour de force for their performers and deserve their rightful place alongside Bach’s suites for keyboard, violin, and cello.’

Eleonor Bindman celebrates J S Bach’s 340th birthday and launches her new CD with a special concert at the 1901 Arts Club, London’s most stylish small venue, on Sunday 23 March at 3pm. Tickets/info here

ABSOLUTE is released on Friday 7th March on the Orchid Classics label. Available on CD and via streaming. Pre-order here

eleonorbindman.com

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A Senior Lecturer in Piano at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire says she’s “delighted” that a new work of music by Frédéric Chopin has been unearthed nearly 200 years after it was written.

The unknown waltz has been dated between 1830-1835 and was found in New York.

Pianist Katharine Lam says it’s an exciting opportunity for generations of Chopin’s fans to hear new music from the Polish composer centuries after his death.

“It’s a noteworthy and precious find, as several waltzes that Chopin original wrote are believed to have been entirely lost or destroyed,” said Ms Lam. “Finding lost works of any great composer reminds us of their unique, musical fingerprint and gives us, no matter how small of fleeting, a fresh and treasured glimpse of their voice and genius.

Like any artist, or even a popstar putting out a new single, it’s really exciting to experience hearing a piece of music for the first time, especially one that you never expected.

In a mere 80 seconds, the waltz captures the listener with Chopin’s beloved and haunting gift for melody, his distinctive harmonies and the opening turbulent outburst which points to the drama and passion infused through so much of his work.”

Listen to Lang Lang playing the waltz here

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‘….simply beautiful choral writing by someone who knows, from a singer’s perspective, how to compose music which every choir will want to sing.’ Sir John Rutter CBE, composer

Following Heaven to Earth, Joanna Forbes L’Estrange’s first album on Signum Classics, Winter Light is an album of works (complete with some world premiere recordings and new arrangements) celebrating the season of Winter, as well as Christmas and Advent. The common themes linking all 19 tracks are of light triumphing over darkness, good overcoming evil and, ultimately, love conquering all.

The first 12 tracks tell the familiar Christmas story, from the eager anticipation of the saviour’s birth (Advent ‘O’ Carol, track 1) and its foretelling by the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah’s Prophecy, track 2) to the Annunciation (I Will Hold Him, track 3, and O Virgo Virginum, track 4), to the birth itself (Carol of the Crib, track 5 and Jesus Christ is Born Today, track 7) and its significance for humankind (In the Bleak Midwinter, track 8, and Love Came Down, track 9). Thereafter, the visitation from the shepherds (Song of the Shepherds, track 10) and the arrival of the magi at Epiphany (A Present for the Future, track 12) remind us that we, like the shepherds and wise men, need also to follow the light (A Story of Light, track 11). In the midst of this nativity narrative sits the title track (Winter Light, track 6) whose words mark the transition from darkness to light.

The second part of the album takes on an altogether different tone to reflect secular winter themes. As a professional singer Joanna Forbes L’Estrange is known for performing in a wide variety of styles and this is reflected in her compositions. Whereas the first half of this album is stylistically largely within the familiar realms of the sacred choral music tradition, the latter leans towards jazz and folk. The Three Wise Women (track 13) was written in response to a commission from St Swithun’s School in Winchester. ‘There are numerous pieces in the Christmas choral repertoire
about the three wise men so it was about time for the women to have their own song,’ says the composer. The remaining six tracks explore various winter themes. Winter Songs (tracks 14-16) was composed for the 60th anniversary of Finchley Children’s Music Group. Though conceived for children’s voices, the songs’ themes of hibernation, homelessness and human kindness are relevant to all ages. Green Christmas (track 17) was written during the first covid lockdown and is a subtle play on Irving Berlin’s classic, White Christmas. Track 18, Spring Will Come Again, is a folk-style song about the cyclical nature of the seasons. The album concludes with an arrangement of Auld Lang Syne (track 19) which Joanna wrote many years ago when she was Musical Director of The Swingle Singers.

Joanna Forbes L’Estrange says, ‘The impetus for recording this album sprang from my desire to present choirs with some contemporary yet singable Winter/Christmas-themed pieces which they might like to add to their repertoire.’

Praise for Joanna Forbes L’Estrange
‘Joanna has an amazing understanding of both the human voice and the human heart. The result: quality music making effective use of the voice, with tunes and harmonies and a wonderful storytelling quality to the songs which lift the hearts of singer and listener heavenward. These will surely be part of the Christmas choral canon for centuries’ – Ken Burton, conductor, composer & arranger

‘…an album of fresh new gems, full of Christmas warmth and great tunes’ – Louise Clare Marshall, singer

‘Forbes L’Estrange seems to have been born with catchy melodies coursing through her veins’ – BBC Music Magazine

Winter Light is released on 18 October on the Signum Classics label on CD and streaming.
Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, composer
London Voices
Ben Parry, conductor
Richard Gowers, organ
Olivia Jageurs, harp
Harry Baker, piano