Monday, 26 May 2025
Delivering the news from Henley on Thames and South Oxfordshire for over 100 years
26 May 2025
IT’S not often that you need a pair of stout walking boots to go to a cello concert. But such was the case for the “Sacred Concerts”, Chiltern Arts Festival’s mindful mix of solo cello music, walks and poetry.
A group of 30 of so set out in warm sunshine to walk to Ellesborough parish church. We were led by local guide, Kaye Lillycrop and our first stop was to admire Beacon Hill with the first reading from founder and creative director of the festival, Naomi Taylor. This was an extract from The Hill (of course) by Max Porter, one line of which summed up the day in the glorious Chilterns environment with its distant views: “Feeling small, feeling bright, feeling grateful”.
After a steepish climb to its door, we were welcomed into the cool interior of St Peter and St Paul, originally built in the 14th century.
Here, cellist Clare O’Connell gave us the first of two concerts, interspersing JS Bach with fascinating modern pieces by Natalie Klouda, Caroline Shaw and Edmund Finnis.
The combination of 18th and 21st century music perfectly reflected this current walkers’ journey between ancient sites, over tracks used by generations.
Clare’s spirited style made for a mesmerising listening experience. She played everything with eyes shut, each piece like a spell cast, only to be broken when she opened her eyes to applause. Several pieces were inspired by, or linked to, masters of the past. Local composer Natalie Klouda had interwoven music redolent of her husband’s native India with echoes of Bach’s Prelude from Suite No. 1 in G major, which followed in the programme. The Caroline Shaw piece, involving percussive noises on both wood and strings, is based on a 16th century motet by Thomas Tallis.
Fortified by cake, a larger group then skirted Beacon Hill, traversing an ancient box tree grove and down shaded paths near Chequers, towards another church steeped in time at Great Kimble, for the second Sacred Concert.
Along the way, Naomi read, clearly and resonantly, from Rilke, Sara Teasdale, Wendell Berry and novelist Richard Powers, each extract a refraction of the countryside around us. Once again in the calm coolness of church, JS Bach formed the programme’s backbone, interleaving the grief-drenched Thrinos by John Tavener, Canzona by Ernest Bloch, Charlotte Bray’s yearning On the Other Shore and UhtCeare, again from Natalie Klouda. Bray’s piece was especially meaningful, with her father in the audience.
This combination of walking, poetry and music is a new departure for Chiltern Arts but proved to be a day of holistic joy. Hopefully, many other such events will follow.
Jane Redley
26 May 2025
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