Family memorial that became music festival

A MUSIC event that was first held as a family memorial will be held in Hambleden for a second year.

West Wycombe Chamber Music Festival was founded by internationally acclaimed viola player Lawrence Power, who grew up in High Wycombe. In 2023, the festival moved from the Church of St Lawrence in West Wycombe to the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Hambleden.

Lawrence, 47, who lives in London, says: “We started it in 2011 and it started as a very small thing that I wanted to do, as a memorial concert for my grandmother who lived in the area.

“We had such an amazing response that I just thought that I’d just love to do this once a year. I was really lucky to bring some amazing musicians, friends and colleagues along to the special Church of St Lawrence. We have kept doing it every middle weekend of September and this is our 14th year. In the last few years, it’s just grown and it’s become a really special part of the year for me.

“Essentially, I grew up in the area and it was a way just to invite these amazing people that I’m lucky to work with all over the world to this beautiful part of the world where I grew up. So it’s a nice way to connect with where I grew up and where my family still are.

“The Church of St Lawrence is closed at the moment and there are many ongoing discussions there but we were really welcomed so warmly by Hambleden that we’re very much back this year and for the foreseeable future.

“I can imagine really making it our home and maybe one day going back for a few concerts at St Lawrence, but more importantly I think it’s just that kind of part of the Chilterns where I grew up and where there are so many beautiful things to see.

“It’s always a lovely part of the year to welcome these amazing musicians there and put on these five concerts, which have started to become really popular.”

During the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the festival, which is not-for-profit, was paused and Lawrence, together with film-maker Jessie Rodger, made two festival films, Fermata 1 and Fermata 2, both of which can be viewed on YouTube. The 2021 concert was given glowing reviews by Fiona Maddocks in the Observer.

“The films we made during lockdown became quite successful, you know, lots of people follow us through that and the musicians that come really,” says Lawrence. “So that’s where we’re at now, we’ve got a lovely following and enjoy it.”

The theme for the 2024 West Wycombe Chamber Music Festival at Hambleden is “Enchanted”. “Having grown up in a non-musical family, I was really wanting in this festival to put together just a fun, interesting programme to attract people, whether they’re into classical or not,” says Lawrence. We have these themes every year and that’s been a really lovely part of the festival and this year, for the theme of ‘Enchanted’, there’s a rich vein of music running through the five concerts, of folklore, folk music, magical fairytale music and that’s been a really lovely theme to explore.

“For one of the concerts, we’ve got the wonderful actress Anna Madeley, who’s going to narrate some of these fairy tales that relate to those pieces of music, which should be really interesting.”

The programme starts on Thursday, September 19 at 7.30pm, with “Mysterious barricades”, which includes Mozart’s Overture to the Magic Flute (arranged for quartet), Mozart’s Piano Concerto K 414, Couperin’s Les Barricades Mystérieuses and Brahms’s Quintet for Piano and Strings Op 34.

Musicians Charlotte Spruit and Annabelle Meare (violins) will join Lawrence Power (viola), John Myerscough (cello) and Ryan Wigglesworth (piano).

On Friday, September 20 at 1pm, in “Double, double, toil and trouble”, actress Anna Madeley from All Creatures Great and Small will narrate an afternoon of Janácek’s Pohadka (Fairytale), Beethoven’s Piano Trio Op 70 no 1 The Ghost – Largo and Stravinsky’s Divertimento from The Fairy’s Kiss, which took inspiration from three magical stories by Shakespeare, Zhukovsky and Hans Christian Andersen.

Anna will be joined by Lawrence Power and Charlotte Spruit (violins), John Myerscough (cello) and Simon Crawford-Phillips (piano).

On Friday, September 20 at 7.30pm, for “Inner voices”, five works inspired by introspection will be played: Hermann’s Suite from Psycho (arranged for string quartet), Arvo Pärt’s Spiegl im Spiegl, Berio’s Naturale for Viola and Percussion, Bach’s Prelude in B minor (arranged by Siloti) and Schumann’s Quintet for Piano and Strings Op 44.

The music will be played by Charlotte Spruit and Annabelle Meare (violins), Lawrence Power (viola), John Myerscough (cello), Simon Crawford-Phillips (piano) and Paul Stoneman (percussion).

On Saturday, September 21 at 11.30am, “Gulliver’s Travels” will feature Prokofiev’s Dance of the Knights (arranged for viola), Dvorak’s Quartet no 2 for Piano and Strings Op 87 — Allegro con fuoco, Telemann’s Gulliver Suite for two violins, Fauré’s Quintet for Piano and Strings Op 89 — Molto moderato and Ravel’s Tzigane.

The musicians playing are Charlotte Spruit, Maya Broman Crawford-Phillips and Annabelle Meare (violins), Lawrence Power (viola), John Myerscough (cello), Gabriel Power and Simon Crawford-Phillips (piano).

The festival finale takes place on Saturday, September 21 at 8pm, with “Fairytale dances”. The pieces will be Thomas Ades’s Märchentänze for violin and piano, Britten’s Young Apollo for Piano and Strings, Mozart’s Piano Concerto K 488 and Dvorak’s Quintet for Piano and Strings Op 81.

Musicians playing are Charlotte Spruit and Annabelle Meare (violins), Lawrence Power (viola), John Myerscough and Wallis Power (celli) and Simon Crawford-Phillips (piano).

“I think anyone coming along this year will find a sort of somewhat of an enchanted edge to hold on to in all the programmes,” adds Lawrence, whose son, Gabriel, plays piano and whose niece, Wallis Power, plays the cello. “Whether it’s music from the Psycho soundtrack or whether it’s Robert Schumann’s fairytale pictures, there is all of this beautiful, music that’s inspired by folklore, legend and all of that. So that’s what we’re doing this year.

“It’s one time a year where I get to bring all these wonderful friends and colleagues and also my family together, my son’s playing piano now and it’s nice to highlight these amazing young players, which is something we’ve done that since the start with a masterclass every year.”

• West Wycombe Chamber Music Festival at Hambleden is at the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Hambleden, from Thursday, September 19 to Saturday, September 21. Tickets cost £18 each for the Friday and Saturday daytime concerts, £22 each for the Thursday and Friday evening concerts and £25 for the Saturday evening concert, with a festival pass available at a cost of £90. Student tickets cost £5 and under-18s are free with a paying adult. For more information and to book, call 01494 528569 or 07948 897148, email tickets@westwycombe
music.org.uk or visit www.westwycombemusic.org.uk