Classical Music Concert at Cranfield

Classical Music Concert at Cranfield – Last Saturday the Manor House String Quartet played a ‘Twelfth Night Concert’ at the church of St Peter and St Paul in Cranfield, Bedfordshire. The concert took the form of two mini concerts with an interval in between. In the first half, we finished Christmas off with a seasonal programme, but without dwelling on well-known carols that people may have heard enough of by now! So, ‘Here We Come A-Wassailing’, the ‘Sussex Carol’ and ‘Il Est N√©, Le Divin Enfant’ (accompanied by the audience) were all given spirited performances, alongside Prokofiev’s ‘Troika’ and a couple of selections from Handel’s ‘Messiah’. Leopold mozart’s ‘Sleighride’ saw a sleighbell being passed around the audience. . .in perfect time with the music of course! We finished off the half with the whole of Vivaldi’s ‘Winter’.

The interval saw many glasses of wine being handed out, as well as a Twelfth Night cake, inside of which lay ceramic bean. The person with the slice of cake became the King or Queen for the night. Fortunately no-one swallowed it, choked on it or bit of part of a molar (necessitating emergency dental treatment) but a lady stepped forward and was crowned for the evening.

In the second half we performed a miniature Viennese New Year’s (gala) Concert and kicked off with Johann Strauss’s Overture from ‘Die Fledermaus’. Other gems included the ‘Tales From The Vienna Woods’. Schrammel’s March entitled ‘Kunst und Natur’ ‘Art and Nature) and Strauss senior’s ‘Champagne Galopp’. And of course the obligatory ‘Radetzsky March’, after which, the Queen made full use of her nominal powers and asked for it to be repeated!

An excellent evening was had by all and we’re happy to be looking forward to another concert on Saturday 20th January, this time at St Nicholas Church in Cuddington. The occasion will be dedicated purely to Viennese music, so do feel free to join us then!