Frolics and solid pleasures

Rodney Mihies

With foreign tour operators Prophesying death and disaster, this year's British Festival Promoters may well find themselves living off the fdte of the land. As if to anticipate a year When holiday-makers might Choose to stay at home, Programme planners have come PP with as diverse and satisfying a collection of atttractions as I can remember over not a few years of festival spotting. Edinburgh, after a slightly muted though undoubtedly worthy Central European 1973, offers more sparkling fare for 1974, and has firmly re-established Its claim to be not just the leading British, but indeed European international get-together. With London, Ludlow, Cheltenham, and Bath busy keeping up with big brother, I for one would happily spend the summer buzzing around these islands like some culturethirsty bee. It all comes down to the matter of holidays. No one in their right Mind is going to spend a British fortnight on the beach getting a rain-tan, so it's a question of selecting your city — and I supPose there may be those who will Prefer Bath to Birmingham, or Harrogate to Nottingham, but they should not overlook the Charms of the Stour Valley or Battle — checking that it offers the right combination of string quartets and ecclesiastical embroidery, consulting the Good Food and Beer Guides, and booking, fairly, under the circumstances, swiftly. Accommodation Will be no problem in Cheltenham; everyone must have a retired uncle in Cheltenham. I have two,

and have yet to decide which one will have the dubious honour of feeding and watering me in between all that Mozart and Hoist.

Beaches and art can be combined at Brighton, where the Sussex punsters have freaked out this year (see below). The sea theme has crept winsomely into the concert programmes: Elgar's Sea Pictures, The Flying Dutchman (paper bags provided?), Kachaturian's Spartacus adagio (Onedin Line to you and me), MendeIssohn's Fingal's Cave and Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage overtures, Debussy's La Mer and Cathedrale engloutie, Barber's Dover Beach, Ravel's Barquesur l'ocean, I3orlioz's Le Corsaid, and Liszt's St Francois de Paule marchant sur les flots. Clever stuff, but just in case you are swept away with maritime euphoria, I should mention that the festival ends less cheerfully with a minatory performance of the Brahms Requim for those who didn't quite make it.

In addition to the solid pleasures of Bath, the management there have always had a keen eye for excursions. In addition to the memorable churches and gardens that abound in the neighbouring counties, there is a guided tour of the remains of the Somersetshire Coal Canal, an early morning (at least, I call 9.30 early) Hot Air Balloon Launphing, a Pioneer Picnic Supper Party at which fancy dress is encouraged (as at Glynebourne), bands will play and the very best rot-gut served in authentic saloons. Would that other planners were so solicitous of their guests' more frivolous appetites. Festivals always celebrate anniversaries — they can afford to. This year is the Hoist centenary, which means a busy summer for Imogen Hoist and an airing for many choral, stage and orchestral works. 1974 is also the centenary of the Verdi Requem (see Edingburgh and Tees-side) and the 150th anniversary of Bruckner's birth. To judge from festival programmes, other well-travelled artists will be Misses Janet Baker and Jessye Norman, Mr Stomu Yanash'ta, and the members of the King's Singers and Royal Liverpool Phil. A petrol shortage combined with a rail strike could bring the whole national festival structure tumbling down.

Back to Edinburgh. One feature that has become increasingly worrying has been the mutually exclusive apartheid between of.ficial festival and fringe. Both are eminently worth while (and so is the continuously intriguing film festival) and the average visitor can scarcely hope to do justice to both. I once tried, handing back my seat for one of the longer Bruckner symphonies and climbing down into a cellar (or was it up into an attic?) to see a play called Blow Job.lt turned out to be about opening safes, so maybe there is justice in this world after all.

This year I have a secret plan for massive sabotage on the ticket distribution, with the intention of forcing the Morningside bluerinsers to spend a perfectly shocking four-letter week on the fringe, and the bed-roll hairies suffering a stiff crash course in Brahms. Both, I am convinced, would benefit hugely, so the Festival Office had best check its locks. The hairies will have to be banned from the festival club of course: the unsullied innocence of those rosy-cheeked, lilting-voiced, silken-haired waitresses must be protected at all costs. Still, they might welcome a change from those dreadful Edinburgh fairies.

Aldeburgh, June 7-24. The English Opera Group presents the world

premiere of The Voice of Ariadne, a n-,w opera by Thea Musgrave, and the Hoist double bill of The Wandering Scholar and Savitri also to be seen at Cheltenham. There will also be a semi-staged performance of Dido and Aeneas with Janet Baker and Peter Pears. Pears will sing the first performances of new song cy .les by Lennox Berkeley, Elizabeth Maconchie and David Bedford, and take part in a Schumann programme with Murray Perahia. Richter will give two concerts, the first of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov, the second of Beethoven. The Borodin Quartet gives tie first UK performance of Schostakovich"s 14th quartet, and bearing' in mind both Byron year and the previous success with Schumann's Scenes from Goethe's Faust, the ECO'S concert of the same composer's incidental music to Manfred is a natural follow-up. Imogen Hoist lectures and presides over concerts devoted to her father's music.

Bath, June 21-30. Sir Michael Tippett's last festival as artistic director (Sir William Glock is to take over) opens with a notable ' first ', the European debut of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra — a body founded in 1968 and directed by our very own Neville Marriner. Their two concerts combine the well-loved and the unfamiliar much after the fashion of his Academy. There are five young Performer concerts, two by the Smetana Quartet, and solo recitals by Jessye Norman and Alicia de Larrocha. Handel in Bath Abbey (Dixit Dominus and Apollo e Dafne) and the festival closes with Sir Michael conducting his own Ritual Dances with the LSO.

Bach in London, June 22-30. The Tilford Festival comes to London, both to Handel's church in Hanover Square (complete performance of Solomon, and much Bach over the week) and to the Elizabeth Hall (new Stabat Mater by Byran Kelly). The conductor is Denys Darlow and the soloists include Norma Burrowes, April Cantelo, Ian Partridge and John Angela Messana.

Battle, July 19-28. A children's event with Captain Pugwash, Sir Prancelot and friends, an audiovisual project devised by Sir George Pollock, an evening of Chopin with Derek HammondStroud and Robert Weatherburn, and Amaryllis Fleming and Geoffrey Parsons talk about 'cellos and 'cellists. Exhibitions of ceramics, printmakers and early postcards — in other words, something for everyone.

Belfast, November 10-24. The annual festivals are promoted, administered and housed by the university, and clocked up record attendances last year despite obvious and tragic counter-disturbances. This year's programme embraces chamber, choral and orchestral concerts (including the Allegri Quartet), a return visit from the Traverse Theatre company, and two operas: Hansel and Gretel and a Menotti double bill of The Medium and The Telephone. City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Proms, July 2-20 Popular programmes, with a guest appearance by the London Mozart Players under Harry Blech. Soloists include Iona Brown, John Lill, Leo Witoszynskyj (guitar), and Richter-Haase. The new CBSO Chorus will perform in The Creation, and a further innovation is the introduction of Family proms on Friday evenings of special interest to younger listeners.

Brighton, May 7-19. The theme is the sea, and I regret to have to report that the title of the Art Gallery exhibition is "All Things Brighton Beautiful " and that it features the pre-Raphaelite painter Frederick Sandys (Sandys and Sea — get it?). John Hopkins's new National Theatre play Next of Kin is at the Theatre Royal, and so is a well cast La Vie Parisienne mounted by Phoenix Opera. John Williams, Cleo Laine and John Dankworth, Claudio Arrau and Anna Reynolds are amongst this year's soloists.

Cheltenham, July 5-14. An outstanding programme . The Hoist centenary is marked by the opening performance of Savitri and The Wandering Scholar (shared with Aldeburgh) and by his St Paul's Suite in the closing concert by the St Martin's Academy. In between comes a series of five morning concerts devoted to the quartets and quintets of Mozart by the Allegri Quartet with Cecil Aronowitz, Antony Halstead and Neil Black. The King's Sisters premiere newly commissioned

works by Elisabeth Lutyens, Anthony Gilbert, Richard Rodney Bennet and others under the umbrella title of The Seven Deadly Sins, and there is a performance of dramatic madrigals by a companY of actor-singers. Solo recitals by Ralph Kirkpatrick, Sandra Browne and Stomu Yamash'ta, and three master classes by Henryk Szeryng.

City of London, July 1-13. Another good programme. LSO, LPO, ECO, Monteverdi Choir, Academy and Aeolian Quartet form a massive backbone to the musical events. The Hoist "Hymn of Jesus" and Bruckner F Minor Mass (LSO) nod politely in the direction of anniversaries; a new song cycle by Anthony Milner, for Janet Baker and the Academy; a new guitar concerto by Lennox Berkeley for Bream and the ECO; Bruckner 9 with the LPO — these are just some of the musical highlights. There is a Cole Porter entertainment at the Mermaid devised by Benny Green and Alan Strachan, and jousting at the Tower. Opera is provided by Alan Kitching's Unicorn company from Abingdon with Handel's Tolomeo, and by Kent Opera with a new production of Poppea in which every role will be sung at the original pitch

Edinburgh, August 18-September 7. Centenary Verdi Requiem conducted by Giulini, with the LPO, Festival Chorus and soloists Arroyo, Cossotto, Pavarotti and Arie. Scottish Opera presents a new Alceste with Janet Baker, the Stockholm Royal Opera brings Elektra with Nilsson, and Jenufa

Spectator opectator May 11, 1974 With SOderstrom and Kerstin Meyer directed by GOtz Friedrich (he who is about to embark on the .new Covent Garden Ring). There Is.a revival of last year's Don Giovanni, nicely cast, conducted by Barenboim and directed by Ustinov. Composers in attendance are Tippett) conducting his third Symphony — see also SNO Proms), Krenek and Petrassi. Soloists include Jessye Norman, John Williams, Fischer-Dieskau and Barenboim. The Kathakali dance troup will perform, and the Abbey Theatre brings its Cacoyannis production of Oedipus Tyrannos from Dublin. Featured Composers are Bruckner, Schoenberg and Ives. A decidedly meaty Programme.

English Bach Festival, until May 12. Lina Lalandi's mammoth twocentre marathon nears its end, but there is still time to hear countertenor Rodney Hardesty tackling castrato numbers from Rossini, a concert of Byzantine and Mozarabic Chant, and the St Matthew Passion in Oxford (Saturday) or London (Sunday).

Gloucester, August 18-23. The 247th meeting of the Three Choirs.The Hymn of Jesus and Choral Fantasia for Hoist, with a lecture by his daughter. A new overture by Wilfred Josephs, and new choral work commissioned from Philip Cannon. Performances of Puccini's little known Messa di Gloria and Tippett's A Child of our Time. A concert in Tewkesbury Abbey includes Weber's second Clarinet concerto played by Jack Brymer.

Glyndebourne, May 23-August 5. Strauss's domestic comedy Intermezzo will be given in a new translation by Andrey Porter, and it looks as though the originallanguage flotilla is fighting a rearguard action at last. A new production of Idomeneo (from May 24), revivals of Peter Hall's Calisto and Figaro, and of that much musicologically-maligned but vastly entertaining The Visit of the Old Lady by Einem out of DUrrenmatt.

Harrogate, August 4-17. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Scottish National, and English Chamber Orchestras participate, with soloists Jessye Norman (Mahler), Karl Richter, Alfred Brendel, Peter pears and Murray Perahia (see also Aldeburgh). The London Sinfonietta and Schutz Choir between them do honour to Schoenberg (another anniversary boy), and to Walton and Bruckner. There is an exhibition of over 400 originals by Gerard Hoffnung, and another demonstrating the relationship between Physics and Music. Help.

Haslemere, July 20-27. Early music festival presided over by the Dolmetsch family and their Consorts of Viols and Recorders, featuring some composers I'll bet you have never heard of, like Coperario, Ferrabosco, Merci, Mace and Finger.

International Festival of Youth Orehestras, August 5-18. For the first time, choirs too will be included, and there are contributions from the London Opera Centre and international ballet groups. The first twelve nights are based on the University of Aberdeen, and the whole caboodle moves to London on August 17 for multifarious activities in the parks and for a gala at Sadler's Wells on August 18.

King's Lynn, July 26-August 3. Orchestras engaged include The Royal Philharmonic (conducted by John Pritchard and with Janet Baker singing Mahler) and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (conducted by Sir Charles Groves with Alan Civil playing Mozart). Solo recitals by Maria Korchinska and Raphael Orozco, a session of BBC 2's Face the Music, Glyn Daniel on the Pleasures of Archaeology, and the George Eliot entertainment devised by Jill Balcon and Gabriel Woolf.

Lake District Festival, until May 18. Recitals and chamber music in churches and halls: Allegro Quartet, Hadyn Trio of Vienna, Ralph Kirkpatrick, Walter Klien, Helen Watts, plus the Geraint Jones Orchestra.

Llandaff, June 5-15. Based on the Norman Cathedral, with choral and orchestral concerts, and recitals. David Jones's new Ninth Symphony will be given its first Performance by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic under Groves, and this programme also includes Geza Anda playing the Brahms second concerto. Anda also gives a solo recital. Concerts by the Purcell Consort, and by the newly appointed organist Dr Michael Smith. The Cardiff Polyphonic Choir will perform Mendelssohn's Elijah.

Ludlow, June 22-July 7. An entrancing programme. Othello in the castle, piano duets in magnificent Millichope House, the Smetana Quartet, and Mary Wilson (yes, the Mrs Wilson) in an evening of poetry and song with counter-tenor James Bowman. Also a midnight evenement in the castle devised by John Bowen and to be called 'A Night of Horror '. And so it should be.

Nottingham, June 15-30. The LSO under Gaetano Delogu, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic under Groves (with the phenomenal Julian Lloyd-Webber playing the Elgar 'cello concerto), the RPO (David Atherton) and the ECO (Andrew Davis) bear the brunt of the orchestral concerts, and the first two conductors will bravely discuss their concerts with the Public afterwards. George Melly, Julian Bream, Spike Milligan, Stomu Yamash'ta, Adrian Henri and Donald Swann contribute, and there will be concerts by the King's Singers and The Allegri Quartet. With Newstead Abbey so close at hand, a Byron Anniversary Evening is de rigueur.

Ochtertyre Theatre, until September 28. This Perthshire theatre Proudly dubs itself 'Scotland's most versatile unsubsidised theatre '. The summer repertory consists of plays on the theme of Love and Marriage: Private Lives, Arbuzov's The Promise, Ghosts, Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park, and Ayckbourn's Relatively Speaking are amongst them.

Oxford, Festival of English Song, May 18-June 2. A Hoist centenary concert, with his Wandering Scholar, a recital by John ShirleyQuirk and Martin Isepp (Butterworth's Shropshire Lad and Britten's Blake Proverbs) and an evening of Victorian Songs and Duets, which we have all got to start learning to take seriously. (they also play The Merry Widow for Scottish Opera, but let that pass), the King's Singers, performances of Noye's Fludde in St Ninian's Cathedral, a Pernod Prom by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and a new play by William Watson entitled The Larch.

Pitlochry, until September 29. The festival theatre repertory includes James Bridie's Doctor Angelus, Blithe Spirit, Rebecca, and the world premieres of Tom Gallagher's Personal Effects and a new translation by Michael Meyer of Alfred Werner's Hero for a Father, based on Gide's Theseus.

Scottish National Orchestra Proms, June 15-29. At the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, and launched with a bang by Mahler's Symphony of a Thousand. John Ogden plays TchaikovskY's first concerto, Sandra Browne sings Mahler's Wayfarer, and Stomu Yamash'ta percusses. As at Edinburgh later in the year, Sir Michael Tippett conducts his third symphony. Solihull, July 12-August 3. A popular bias, with pop concerts, youth choirs, and a Bavarian Gala Night with the Birmingham Bavarian Band and Singers. The Halle and James Loughran gave a Viennese evening, and there is a recital of Vivaldi and Brahms by Campoli and Valerie Tryon.

Stour Music, June 23-30. Mostly baroque music, based on churches at Wye and Boughton Aluph amidst some of the loveliest country in Kent. The Deller Consort presides.

Tees-side International Eisteddford, July 27-August 3. Not only competitions in every conceivable class of music making, but also Elisabeth Schwarzkopf making , her only festival appearance this year. Plus a well-cast centenniel Verdi Requiem with the Royal Liverpool Phil (this year's most overworked band) and Sir Charles Groves' the King's Singers (ditto, ditto), and the Oboade Drummers from Ghana.