Have Your Say - Music In The Round

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Chris Ramsden

Thursday 19th January 2012 10:16:59 AM

PARAMPARA AT THE NEW VIC FROM MY BLOG NOTES FROM MIDDLE ENGLAND

PARAMPARA SPREADS TH...E WORD

So what does Parampara say to you? I expected a trumpet and a trombone and several fanfares, at the very least.
But no; instead of representing the sound of a brass flourish, it is apparently an ancient Sanskrit term used in musical circles to describe ways of spreading the word (it says here I'm not actually sure I understand what that means even now, and my Sanskrit is a little rusty.) There's not a valve to be seen. Parampara combines Kuljit Bhamra MBE on tabla Indian tuned bongos Jacqueline Shave on violin and John Paricelli on guitar. These talented musicians in such different fields were apparently put together by Music in the Round, the Sheffield based organisation which brings chamber music concerts to the New Vic every year, here combined with the first concert of the New Year in the Concerts at Keele series.
It was nice to see a large turnout of young people; Kuljit Bhamra apparently has a mission to demystify Indian music, and he's been busy Parampara-ing spreading the word -- in North Staffordshire schools all week. They seemed to be repaying his work with rapt attention.
So how did it sound? Well, given the line-up, there were inevitably bits that sounded like the Hot Club de France -- Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli with a Bhangra backing. I don't know how much of was improvised, but there was certainly an impression that some of it was, and for me they were the weakest moments with rather tentative playing. In fact, the numbers twelve individual quite short items occasionally started strongly but ran out of steam somewhere in the middle.
Nevertheless, it made for fascinating live listening, with some unexpected moments. Jacqueline Shave is a respected classical violinist, leader of the Britten Sinfonia, and her background is bound to show. Did I detect some Fauré in Parc Floral which after all was written by jazz guitarist John Parricelli after a month in Paris? And the Highland fiddle tune which opened Machair to Myrrh could have escaped from Bruch's Scottish Fantasy until it went into an Eastern spin.
For me, two of the finest pieces were the final one, Dervish Dancer, and the un-named encore, both of which seemed to be operating on a higher level of musical excitement.
Music in the Round's next appearance at the New Vic in March is Intimate Letters, featuring music by Schubert and Janacek, while the New Vic's season continues at Keele next Wednesday with the Vanbrugh Quartet. Neither is likely to be as thought-provoking as Parampara.
In fact, Kuljit Bhamra declared we were quite courageous to have come to see them, such an unknown quantity (and it's such a good idea to flatter your audience. We love it.) I think these three musicians are also pretty courageous to have headed off in this new direction. It'll be interesting to see where the journey takes them, and it's nice to have been around when they set off.
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Daphne Moody

Thursday 5th January 2012 11:39:13 AM

I came to a most wonderful concert at the Bradford-on-Avon music centre. To say I was knocked sidewa...
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Philip Priest

Monday 12th December 2011 10:00:08 AM

As always a superb concert; your programmes are always so interesting as well as the expressive and ...
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David Abdi

Sunday 11th December 2011 08:30:46 PM

Schoenberg String Quartet in F# Minor - The Crucible, 8/12/11

My soul leapt out of my...
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Steven Ayckbourn

Thursday 1st December 2011 01:57:25 PM

Schubert / Janacek Programme.
Having attended the evening with high expectations for the Qui...
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