CHARLTON FINE ARTS   

Kindly sponsored by Cloke Scaffolding, FF Harvey, Dover Priory Dental, Rebecca Jackson, Citronex, Jasmine Colman...
  You can now book your tickets for Charlton Fine Arts via this link! https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/st-peter-and-st-pauls-charlton-church-dover

MORE MUSIC AT CHARLTON...  (CFA = CHARLTON FINE ARTS)

17 November, 3pm   CFA	“Mainly Bach for Christmas!” Seasonal works played on Charlton’s prize-winning 1870 Bevington organ   Richard Davies organ   Mulled wine & mince pies
21 December, 6pm	Sound Waves Choir
9 March, 3pm   CFA	Kokila Gillett-Khan with the Orsay Ensemble
31 March, 6pm	Christian Grosselfinger: CELLOOP! The one-man orchestra with his electric cello show
6 April, 5pm	Bradstow Chamber Orchestra & Chorus,  conductor:  Jacob Bride A concert for children...and adults!
13 April, 3pm   CFA	Butterfly Paterson, Helen Crayford cello, piano
4 May 3pm   CFA	Walter Reiter baroque violin
18 May 3pm   CFA	Greg Tassell tenor
Saturday 21 June 7pm   CFA	Helen Vincent & Richard Davies soprano/organ
13 July 3pm   CFA	Helen Crayford piano: Ragtime with Bucks Fizz!

CHARLTON FINE ARTS RETURNS ON SUNDAY, 9 MARCH, 2025   with a recital by THE ORSAY ENSEMBLE!
 

Two of the most magnificent works of chamber music ever written will be performed.
 
The stirring “American Quartet” in F Major by Czech composer Antonin Dvorak, was written 1893 while on vacation from his New York home, shortly after the New World Symphony (and before that work was premiered).
 
Influences of Black American and Native American music have been detected. In fact, Dvorak wrote of the quartet and of all his works written in America,
 
“I think that the influence of this country is to be seen, and that this and all other works differ very much from my other works as well as in couleur as in character,..."
 
"As for my new Symphony, the F major String Quartet and the Quintet, I should never have written these works 'just so' if I hadn't seen America.”
 
With the exciting viola tune at the opening, the melancholy violin theme of the slow movement, the quirky tune of the Vivace and the vigorous Finale with its rhythms inspired by the Dvorak’s train travel, the American Quartet is a splendid work, not to be missed in live performance!
 

 
Also on the programme will be the rapturously beautiful Clarinet Quintet in B Minor by another giant of the 19^th century, Johannes Brahms. 
 
When the Orsay Ensemble suggested this for their programme, we jumped at the chance! Not only is this a marvellous piece of music, but it will give our Charlton Fine Arts audience an opportunity to hear the beautiful sound of the clarinet filling the church!
Brahms had announced his retirement, aged 57, in 1890, but then he visited Meiningen to hear the famous orchestra and heard the playing of the principal clarinettist, Richard Mühlfeld: all plans of retirement were instantly forgotten!

He was so inspired by Mühlfeld’s beguiling playing that he was soon working at full stretch again, and in a very short time he had composed two major chamber works for Mühlfeld, including this gorgeous Clarinet Quintet.

The clarinet can soar high and sing out elegantly in its bright soprano register, while its dark, chocolate-toned lower register is one of its most appealing features, and it adds to this music’s autumnal, shadowy character.

Like Dvorak, Brahms was inspired by folk music, this time from Hungary.

Words that have been used about this work include intimate, lyrical, direct, anger, protest, wry humour, sad serenity, tenderness, playfulness, something cherished and lost...

There is an eloquent, readable article on Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet in the BBC Classical Music Magazine, to which I am indebted. You can read the whole article using this link:
https://www.classical-music.com/features/recordings/brahms-clarinet-quintet-guide-best-recordings
THE ORSAY ENSEMBLE AT CHARLTON CHURCH, 9^th March 2025 – SAVE THE DATE!


 THE 2nd SEASON CONTINUED...

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Charlton Fine Arts No. 2 began on September 1^st with the marvellous Muzika Lyra performing Ukrainian music and other music from across the Slavic world. The ensemble was led by the superb Philharmonia Orchestra violinist and composer, Julian Milone, with fabulous pianist and composer Nadia Giliova and gifted singer and songwriter Lila Milone. An audience of 60 was transfixed by the intense, entertaining and virtuosic performances given by these engaging artists. What a privilege to have musicians of this calibre at Charlton!

October 6^th, we welcomed international operatic bass Alan Ewing and virtuosic pianist Helen Crayford, for In The Lowest Deep, a concert of beautiful songs for bass. The programme included works of Handel, Brahms, Ireland and Tchaikovsky. Alan's tremendous voice, thrilling in its size, quality and expressiveness, was perfectly matched by Helen's skilful and inituitive accompanying. Alan's informative and highly amusing introductions to the songs delighted the audience. We are immensely grateful that these astonishing musicians, who have graced concert halls and opera houses around the world, come to a (hitherto) unknown venue in Dover to give people a wonderful afternoon of music. 

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THE FIRST SEASON, SEPTEMBER '23 - MAY '24
On Sunday 5^th May, an audience of about 60 was treated to a performance that would have earned accolades in the West End or Broadway.  The superb duo performed music of Kurt Weill and his contemporaries (1920s -1950s) with enormous skill and panache. Crayford’s technical virtuosity and Turner’s compelling voice and dramatic skill made this a thrilling show that commanded one’s attention from start to finish.

Cheers rang out after their first number, Cabaret, and often thereafter. Mack the Knife, September and Youkali were perhaps the most familiar to the audience, but less known numbers  - for example, Tell me the Truth about Love (Auden/Britten) and Hotel (Apollinaire/Poulenc) were greeted enthusiastically.  Crayford’s spectacular solo items, The Man I Love, I Got Rhythm and Tango Ballade, gave us the chance to enjoy the piano at its best, with lid raised, and to appreciate her astonishing skill as a performer. It was hard to believe that the duo had rehearsed for the first time only the day before.

 

The audience were welcomed with a drink to take to their tables (Charlton Church was temporarily transformed into a Continental cafe or nightclub, with red and white check table cloths, fresh flowers on the tables and atmospheric lighting). The era was set by a few well-chosen props: a Tiffany lamp and a fern on an elegant stand. Into this convivial atmosphere, the two glamorous performers, suitably attired for the 1920s, sequins and feathers included, brought an air of sophistication that transported us to a different time and place.  Refreshments followed the performance and people stayed for at least another hour to enjoy each other’s company.
 
Enormous thanks to Penelope and Helen for coming to perform in the Charlton Fine Arts Series, to Penelope’s husband James, to Chris and Maggie Tyler and to Shane and Vicki, for their stalwart support. Thanks also to Jonathan Eddolls from St Mary’s Church for taking photographs and to Simon Partridge of Dover Community Radio for attending and interviewing Penelope.

 

CHARLTON FINE ARTS SERIES

Superb young countertenor, Richard Decker, accompanied at the piano by Charles Spanner, gave a wonderful recital on Sunday, March 3^rd.  The varied programme showed off the wide range of expression of which this young artist is capable. We are most grateful to the performers for this excellent concert and wish Richard the very best of luck in his future career.

RECITAL FOR CELLO AND PIANO by ERIC BOSSHARD AND CHARLES SPANNER
Charlton Church was delighted to welcome about 50 people on Sunday 28^th January for a beautiful recital of music for cello and piano. The duo played Elegie by Gabriel Faure, Sonata no. 2 by Ludwig van Beethoven and Variations Concertantes by Felix Mendelssohn. Their encore was The Swan by Saint-Saens. The discriminating audience, including all generations, from babes in arms to the elderly, listened attentively as the music resounded in the fabulous acoustic of the church. It seems that the building is particularly suited to the sound of the cello. We are very grateful to the artists for donating a proportion of the proceeds to the church. Mr Bosshard accepted no fee. Most of the audience stayed afterwards for refreshments and there was a pleasant, convivial atmosphere.

On 29th October, Oliver Poole, virtuoso international pianist, gave the second recital in the Charlton Fine Arts series with the following programme, dazzling the audience with his technique and panache.
 
Scenes from the Ring Cycle     (including the Ride of the Valkyries)
                                                Richard Wagner (arr. Louis Brassin)
 
Celestial                               Yerkesh Shakeyev (arr. John Lenehan)
 
Improvisation on themes suggested by the audience 
 
Rhapsody in Blue              George Gershwin  

FINE ARTS SERIES LAUNCHED! September 2023

For the inaugural recital of our new Fine Arts Series, the duo Charlie Brookes (violin) and Charles Spanner (piano) gave a delightful and absorbing programme of Mozart, Beethoven and Elgar. The duo played these demanding and beautiful works with great skill and feeling, and the concert was altogether a most enjoyable occasion. Charlie Brookes freelances as a professional orchestral player here and abroad, and is the founder of the Elgar Ensemble.