Ryedale District Council supports the Ryedale Festival.

Dave Robson - Darlington and Stockton Times -Friday 7th August 2009

THE triple concert at Castle Howard saw the audience moving from the long gallery to the chapel and the great hall during the course of the evening.

A violin and piano recital by and Alexsander Szram provided an excellent opening. Bartok’s 1st Rhapsody was sharply pointed and Adam Gorb’s Kletzmer for solo violin was both virtuoso and vertiginous in its execution. Mozart’s Violin Sonata in E minor, K 304 provided a fresh and engaging contrast.

From there it was on to the chapel for a more contemporary performances of Francaix’s Quatuor, full of Gallic wit, light and frothy, Rory Boyle’s A Box of Chatter, where sharp observation spelt out the varied nature of conversation, and Eugene Bozza’s brief 3 pièces pour une musique de nuit, offering yet more fun.

This was offset by the more serious Adagio and Allegro K 594, written for a musical clock, by Mozart.

Finally, in the Great Hall, there was a song recital by soprano Jeni Bern and her fortepiano accompanist, Anthony Kraus. Schumann’s 3 Songs by Robert Burns and Songs by Schubert were all nicely secure, well-served by the use of fortepiano rather than modern piano. Joseph Haydn’s cantata, Ariadne auf Naxos, was projected with a dramatic power that reinforced its operatic potential – an option Haydn did not follow.

Photograph by Joanne Turner