Classical and Jazz: Latest News > January 27
Published: 27 January, 2011
by SEBASTIAN TAYLOR
A FUNDRAISER for the Arbours Crisis Centre in Hornsey is being held at Lauderdale House, Highgate, next Thursday. Kilburn baritone Richard Arundel is taking on the huge challenge of singing Schubert’s Winterreise, perhaps the greatest of all song-cycles, accompanied by pianist Julian Barber. Some may regard the storyline as highly appropriate for the fundraiser. It’s about a young man’s lonely journey to harrowing self-knowledge.
The Winterreise is not just a collection of 24 songs on the single theme of unrequited love, it’s a single dramatic monologue lasting for more than an hour. Richard Arundel sang his first Winterreise at Holy Innocents, Hammersmith, last July amid a busy schedule of operas and recitals.
The Arbours Crisis Centre itself was set up nearly 40 years ago to provide immediate and intensive psychotherapeutic support for people threatened by sudden mental and social breakdown.
On February 5, there’s another fundraiser being held at Hampstead Parish Church. The young Florin Ensemble, or the “chamber ensemble with a trio at its heart,” is playing an interesting concert to raise funds for the North London Hospice based in North Finchley. The performance will include Beethoven’s string trio in E flat; Howard Skempton’s Winter Sunrise for string trio; and Arensky’s Quartet in A minor.
The Florin Ensemble, including Highbury baroque and classical cellist Catherine Rimmer, was formed in 2008 by three musicians after they played together at a music festival in Scotland.