I thought the programme was very well thought out -- almost as if to prove a point to the naysayers at TOP, they interspersed "real" folk tunes with classical composers' versions of those same tunes. The unstated point being, listen, it's perfectly valid music. If Bartok listened to this, why shouldn't you?

And to be perfecty honest, I found the original versions more enjoyable in every case.

But I'm probably atypical 

I listened for 20 seconds too and decided it is not for me. May be I could be in the mood if I had more time. It sounds like traditional music here in Ireland (nothing is bad about it, but if I know one song I know them all).

May be I should be more delicate in what I say (English is not my best language). May be I am have to pick to what I listen to too much because of time limitation.
May be if I listened more I would find somethings interesting, it just did not hold my interest.
I am glad IRF likes the concert.

Well, that's a judicious reccomendation, so i'll give it a go on la (no need for the modest small print there Ron!)

The Bellowhead set irresistible, as you say, Bee-Zee: the RAH Arena pretty much under the same spell as it was last year with Soweto Buskaid and the Venezuelans.

VW fun?  For a piece that is supposed to a cornerstone of the british wind repertoire, it's pretty boring.  I think in part this isn't the music's fault - it sounds like it should be played as chamber music, but the scoring (both by VW and inflation by Booseys) prevents this.  If only there was a version that worked with a band of 25 or fewer.  And the RNCM put in a distinctly average performace.  Some good sounds were marred by poor woodwind intonation, a very insecure solo cornet and a 1st trombone whose rushing affected both march movements.

I can understand why their hearts might not have been in it though, since it's a long coach journey for 11 minutes of brown music.  Why were the Grainger pieces not also played in the wind versions?  Or at least Shepherd's Hey, which certainly does sound better on wind.  (not that I disliked the Sinfonietta's playing, it was very fine and I particularly enjoyed Green Bushes)

Some of the juxtapositions certainly were interesting.  I wonder what the RNCM felt after hearing "Seventeen come Sunday" sung as a lament, before having to play it as a jaunty march?  And a confusing piece of programming then showcasing "Green Bushes", since a variant of the tune had already been used in the VW.

With Muzsikas I was fascinated by the instruments.  Leaving aside cheap gags about the merits of the cello as a percussion instrument, was the tone of the bass at all distinctive?  The chap was playing an old fashioned three-stringer with a very short bow.  Seeing this and remembering the orchestration books I could convince myself that it was a heavier, rougher sound than normal, but did this come across to anybody else?


I felt Bella was generally flat on her own, and in tune with the trio.  It could be that the 'out of tune' was more authentic folk singing and playing with tuned instruments involved a compromise.  Or it could be otherwise.  Oh, and it took me some while to work out that she wasn't singing about maltesers.  (seriously, it did)

Agree about Martin Simpson and Bellowhead.

Just found this very familiar looking style of website - http://forums.spiersandboden.com/index.php?topic=152.0

NB

Which suggests that Bella Hardy has a tendency to present almost everything as a lament, since Seventeen Come Sunday was also collected and arranged by Grainger, who was most fastidious about capturing the atmosphere of each song as he heard it: his setting of it is a rumbustious rollick which makes the RVW sound decidedly four-square by comparison. And rather than a confusing piece of programming, couldn't the two versions of Green Bushes be seen as a missed opportunity to show how different composers approached the same material? (Especially as there's a third well-known arrangement with a decidedly different feel to it to be found in George Butterworth's The Banks of Green Willow?)