Nordic and Baroque Music at St Mary's

 The Hay Music concert was brilliant!

Erik Rydvall on the nyckelharpa, (from Sweden) and Olav Mjelva on hardanger fiddle (from Norway) are both folk music stars, and they were joined by Max Baillie on the classical violin.

There were times when the nyckelharpa sounded like more than one instrument - it looks very complex, but Erik said it was quite easy really (!).  It's an instrument which has been evolving since medieval times, when nyckelharpas were included in wall paintings of medieval musical angels.  He said he chose his current one because he can play Bach on it (and proceeded to demonstrate).

It's played with a bow, over four groups of four strings, and then each individual string has a peg to sound the note. 

By contrast, the classical violin hasn't really changed in 400 years.

The Hardanger fiddle has several differences from the classical violin, too.  Olav said that he comes from a mining area of Norway, and in the 19th century German mining engineers wanted to hear the latest European fashions in music, like the polka and the waltz, so sent local folk fiddlers off to places like Copenhagen to learn the new styles, which got incorporated with the local traditions.

On Friday, they went into the school to give a workshop, and several of the children turned up for the concert with their families - they seemed to be really enjoying it.

As well as Nordic folk music and baroque music, they have started to branch out into Eastern European music from composers like Dvorak - who themselves went off into the countryside to collect folk music to incorporate into their music.  And they played pieces that they had written themselves.

They have made a CD, Bach to Folk, so I had to buy a copy.  They said that, if anyone took the CD home and didn't like it, they could send it to Olav - and he would send them back a CD that he didn't like!  There was a warning that it would probably include accordion music!  They added that some people had actually taken the offer seriously....
 

At the beginning of the second half, Janice Day took the mic to advertise the upcoming concert Rhapsody in Green, which features her husband Martin Litton and Mike Hatchard sharing one piano, with Janice performing some musical comedy. The concert will be at St Mary's on Thursday 29th January, from 7pm.  Early bird tickets are £13 each, and can be booked via the website www.vintagebythewye.com