This was the first of ten breakfast concerts, with coffee and muffins at the end, held in the Princes Room on the second floor of the Royal Overseas League at 100 Princes Street. Now in its eleventh year, their concerts in previous years have been consistently sold out.
What better than a really talented recorder player accompanied by an equally talented pianist to start this venue's season. Playing several instruments in turn Jill Kemp started with two Bach sonatas before telling us some of the background for the Telemann which followed. In his time Telemann was more highly regarded than Bach, his contemporary. In those days Bach’s music was seen to be too complicated and Telemann’s much preferred. When they both competed for a job it was Telemann who was offered it.
Jill Kemp played with such confidence, without music, and was a delight to watch. She went on to play a piece from an earlier composer, Jacon van Eyck, and then to Handel’s Sonata in F. The concert finished with Ernst Krämer’s Variations Brilllantes written for the csakan, a slightly more sophisticated recorder - not quite a flute - that was popular for about seventy years. Next month Jill Kemp and the higly qualified pianist, Aleksander Szram, join together again to record 20th century recorder works.
A great start to a Monday morning.
Show times
Till 27 August (not 21, 22, 24, 26), 9.30am
Ticket Prices
£12 (£10)