Review on Vanessa-Mae live at the Westonbirt Arboretum

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VANESSA-MAE IN CONCERT AT THE WESTONBIRT ARBORETUM

- accompanied by the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Anthony Inglis -

- with The All Angels as support act -

- Saturday July 18, 2009 -

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CONTENTS OF THIS REVIEW (links below are bookmarked)

- The setting of the concert

- The program

- The National Symphony orchestra conducted by Anthony Inglis

- The All Angels

- Vanessa-Mae's concert

Setting of the concert
Each year during the summer months, The Forestry Commission in the UK organises a series of musical events throughout the country in the various parks and woods the commission controls and maintains. The Westonbirt Arboretum, the place of action for Vanessa-Mae's concert this evening, serves each year as venue for several of these events. The Westonbirt Arboretum is located along the A433 a few miles south of the city of Tetbury. The normal parking space of the Arboretum was extended to the adjacent grasslands.

The doors would be open at 6:00pm. I arrived at around 5:00pm, and some tenths of people were already gathered and queued at the gates of the venue. I was amazed to see groups of people, adults, families with children, elderly and middle aged people arrive packed with campaign carpets, folded chairs and cool boxes and join the constantly growing queue. In about 1 hour, the queue grew to perhaps more than 1,500 people. At 6:00pm the crowd was admitted to the venue grounds, and the people located themselves in front of the stage. The scene was amazing to me: no unorganised hurrying to get the best positions, but a relaxed walk towards the stage. In this way, the audience spread around in front of the stage. The people unpacked and seated themselves, starting one big picnic party with their own food and drinks. Eventually, the crowd came up to approximately 3,000-4,000 people.

I was anxious if I would manage to get my new Nikon D90 SLR camera with 70-300mm zoom lens in, since professional photo cameras with detachable lenses were prohibited. I was sure that I would make better photos than I did so far at Vanessa-Mae's concerts. Safety personnel was searching the luggage of all going through the gates. I saw shortly in front of me a man carrying a photo bag obviously with him, and he was allowed to go in without problems. The security man asked me what was in my bag, and I replied to him that I had only food and personal papers like passport drivers license inside, and nothing special at all. The security man took my words for granted and allowed me in. The results of my photography is shown below throughout this review. I was seated in the middle of the stage, perhaps 25-45 meters away: a perfect position since it was not too close to be noticed too easily, but close enough to get a good glimpse of Vanessa-Mae with my 300 zoom option.

At first, the weather was good, quite sunny and pleasant temperatures. But at 6:30-6:45pm, some quiet rain started to drizzle down from the clouds that had gradually formed. Looking at the skies, blue spots were never far away, so all guessed it could go either way. The temperatures went down, in the meantime as the role of the sun was diminished by the clouds. The concert was scheduled to begin at approximately 7:30pm, but the start was delayed for about 30 minutes. When the orchestra appeared on stage, rain had almost ceased, but it remained drizzling weather with recurrence of rain being constantly imminent. However, at the time Vanessa-Mae appeared on stage some 30 minutes later, conditions had become dry. After the first 2 songs, Vanessa-Mae addressed the audience, telling that the forecast were positive for the remaining of the evening. Fortunately, she was right! The 2 photos below give an impression of the audience shortly before the concert started.

The program

- Introduction by the orchestra with an unknown piece and music by Gershwin -

- The All Angels: opera medley of 4 pieces -

- Main concert Vanessa-Mae first part with the following-

- Sabre Dance -
- Havana Slide -
- Speech by Vanessa-Mae -
- Roxannes Veil -
- Bolero for violin and orchestra -
- Tango de Los Exilados -
- Solace -
- Tribal Gathering -

----- break -----

- Introduction by orchestra to part 2 with -
- intro with an unknown piece -
- Fantasy on British sea songs, including Rule Britannia -

- The All angels: Gershwin medley of 3 songs and The Sounds Of Silence -

- Main concert by Vanessa-Mae part 2 with the following -

- electric set on Zeta violin -
- Contradanza -
- Short speech by Vanessa-Mae -
- Hocus Pocus -
- Laughing Buddha -

- Short speech by Vanessa-Mae and continuing acoustically with the following -

- I Am A Doun -
- Emerald Tiger -
- Retro -
- Speech by Vanessa-Mae to introduce the final 2 songs -
- Toccata & Fugue -
- Storm, including fireworks launched from behind the stage -

The National Symphony orchestra
Besides accompanying Vanessa-Mae, The National Symphony orchestra conducted by Anthony Inglis had a role of its own in the program. The orchestra more or less served as binding tool to make the transition between the vocal part of the program provided by The All Angels, and the main concert by Vanessa-Mae smoothly, as well as to provide entertainment for the audience in order to lengthen the program till after sunset in order for the scheduled fireworks to be launched in darkness. The orchestra appeared on stage shortly after 7:00pm. The first piece was unknown to me, but was by Gershwin as Anthony Inglis explained. The orchestra then accompanied The All Angels for their first set - see below at the role of The All Angels. The photo below shows Anthony Inglis fronted towards the audience when conducting the orchestra.

The role The Notional Symphony Orchestra at the start of the second part of the evening was for entertainment. In a setting of sheer British nationalism, Anthony Inglis managed to get the audience involved with singing and hand clapping when he conducted the orchestra in parts of A Fantasy On British Sea Songs as arranged by Sir Henry Wood - Rule Britannia and another piece of which I do not know the title; a happening comparable to what takes place each year in September at the traditional last night of the proms in the Royal Albert Hall. It is amazing to see that in the audience many British flags appeared! This part of the evening certainly added to enjoyment and enthusiasm among the audience. Finally, the orchestra ended their own role in playing Land Of Hope And Glory by Sir Elgar, during which Anthony Inglis invited the audience to join in with singing. Many did so!

The All Angels
The All Angels appeared on stage after the introduction of the evening by the The National Symphony orchestra. In their first part before the break, the four All Angles provided a medley of opera songs. I had never heard them sing actually, but I was pleasantly surprised by their clear and pure voices. They all sang beautifully, well accompanied by the orchestra. The series of 6 photos below show The All Angels during the first part of their concert, all in fine red dresses. After the break, the 4 would return in silver dresses, more or less in the same style. At the 2nd part, The All Angels provided a medley of songs by Gershwin. They ended their part with an wonderful unaccompanied close harmony version of The Sound Of Silence.

In between their songs, one of them spoke about how delighted they were to be asked by Vanessa-Mae to join in this evening. The All Angels received much acclaim and ovation from the audience for their contribution to the evening.

Vanessa-Mae's concert
Vanessa-Mae did her part of the concert in 2 sets - see the program above. Her show was more or less a normal Choreography tour concert, see our reviews of her concerts in London (October 2004), Dresden (February 2005), and Hamburg (July 2007), however, lasting shorter since also the orchestra and The All Angels had their roles in the program. The consequence was that Vanessa-Mae left a few pieces out that she normally includes in her concerts, like Bach Street Prelude, Destiny, Red Hot, Picante and Pasha. All in all, it was already 2 years ago that I did see her live in concert for the last time. I felt the excitement intensely for this new opportunity in this unique open air setting with additional music by the National Symphony Orchestra and the All Angles. Looking around and having talked to several people, I was convinced that everyone was really looking forward to her appearance. I had my camera at hand and waited when she would arrive on stage.

At about 8:30 pm, The All Angels announced that their part before the break was finished and that Vanessa-Mae would now start with her main concert of the evening. Vanessa-Mae's band appeared on stage and did some short tuning of their instruments. Then, Vanessa-Mae appeared on stage and the show began. The concert was very good. Vanessa-Mae played energetically and with passion, as did her band and the accompanying orchestra. However, the cold and humid weather conditions severely hampered keeping the instruments tuned. Especially Vanessa-Mae's leading role as solo violinist was greatly influenced, as she was constantly struggling, and due to her great experience and technique, she managed well. However Vanessa-Mae got out of tune several times, on her acoustic Guadagnini, but certainly on the white Zeta violin that she used during the short electric leg immediately after the break. The audience did not blame Vanessa-Mae, as all recognised that she was working hard and was playing passionately to the best she could under these unfortunate conditions.

First about Vanessa-Mae, about her looks and physical presentation. Vanessa-Mae appeared on stage wearing a spectacular knee length crème to silver shining dress with lots of sparkling beads and ornaments embroidered on the flimsy garment. The dress had no sleeves, but strings from the shoulder part were tied to Vanessa-Mae's arm at her elbows with strings bowed. Vanessa-Mae's hair was specially styled, strongly pulled away from her face, divided in 3 parts: in the middle tied in a tail hanging on her back, and from the left and right side of her head tied together in tight strings. Because Vanessa-Mae's hair was strongly pulled out of her face, it was obvious, looking through my 300 zoom, that she was heavily made up: matt toned smooth flawless complexion with crème and powder with only a light touch of bronze blush high on the cheek bones, pinkish red lipstick, a small line of dark shadow on her upper lids that was fading towards the eye brows, and lashes so accentuated with mascara that they threw shadows underneath the eyes by the incidence of the spot lights. The 4 photos below show details of Vanessa-Mae's dress, hair style, and make-up, especially when zooming in; at least, the original full sized photos (app. 4-5 Mb) reveal these details well. The photos presented in this review have been reduced in size significantly.

Vanessa-Mae was on elegant red open shoes with high spike heels. The 3 photos below show that Vanessa-Mae was able to move and walk with litheness on these spike heeled shoes.

Then about the concert, the music. Vanessa-Mae played a program more or less equal to a regular Choreography Tour concert, though a little limited because the overall playing time for her this evening was less than at one of her own concerts. At the time Vanessa-Mae started to play, it was still daylight, though darkening because of the sombre cloudy weather. The stage was build under a roof of black canvas, which provided dark background in the photos. She started off with Sabre Dance as she did at all her Choreography Tour concerts. The quality of the sound was good, not too loud but of a pleasant volume, and the various instruments were well recognisable. The next song was Havana Slide that started immediately after the first song ended. Both pieces were played energetically and with passion.

Then Vanessa-Mae addressed the audience. She spook about the fact that it was already several years ago since she last performed in the UK, actually that was in the summer of 2005 at the Henley-On-Thames music festival. She assured all that she was delighted to play again in her own country, the UK. She then thanked the audience for showing up in such large numbers despite the cold and rainy weather. She mentioned that it was now dry and the forecasts showed it would probable stay dry during the show. Vanessa-Mae then introduced the next piece that would slow down the concert, and that was commissioned for her by the famous composer Vangelis, and that it was used in another version for the movie Alexander as well. She was, of course referring to Roxannes Veil. The 3 photos below show Vanessa-Mae at her address to the audience.

Roxannes Veil is a wonderful piece, and is so well played by Vanessa-Mae, modestly yet with so much emotions and feelings. It is a great piece, and I love hear her play it each time again.

The next series of 33 photos shown below were made throughout the concert, showing Vanessa-Mae play a various pieces. Basically, the order of the photos is chronologically.

The next series of 13 photos shown below were shot shortly after each other. The series show Vanessa-Mae at the moment her violin was silenced. notice, how she looks around and the expression on her face of concentration, then a relaxing smile towards one of her musicians, and finally a suggestion of being secretly amused. The series ends when she started playing again, finally ending the song and accepting the grateful reaction of the audience with a obvious satisfaction and enjoying herself.

The program then went forward as usual with The Bolero for violin and orchestra and Tango Des Exilados. Both are spectacular pieces, and were well played and accompanied by the orchestra. The next piece was a quiet one called Solace from the Subject To Change album. This song is always very close to my heart. I remember at the time Subject To Change was released, my mother had just died and my father was seriously ill that this particular song provided me much comfort. The violin part is so expressive, and full of emotions. I love to hear Vanessa-Mae play it each time again. She touches me always with it. Solace is one of my all time favourites.

The final piece before the break was Tribal Gathering, a fantastic piece of music of great complexity. Vanessa-Mae on solo violin combined with full orchestra made me shiver, and the tension expressed in the piece was enormously, as always. Tribal Gathering is a sheer great piece on Vanessa-Mae's repertoire.

After the break, Vanessa-Mae started with a short set of electric pieces on her electric white Zeta violin. The first song was Contradanza from The Violin Player album. It is always great again to hear one of the oldies from her first pop album! Vanessa-Mae then shortly addressed the audience with a introduction to a piece called Hocus Pocus that is on the album Storm. She mentioned that she is really fond of this piece that is so well equipped to feature all her virtuoso musicians one by one. The series of 7 photos below show Vanessa-Mae when she pointed to and named the various musicians one by one.

Then came Laughing Buddha from the album Subject To Change. During this song a particular incident took place that is shown in the series of 11 photos below. During playing Laughing Buddha, Vanessa-Mae is to activate a pedal switch a few times in order to trigger a certain distortion of her electric violin. During this concert, the switch wasn't operating well, and this caused the distortion to remain absent almost entirely. Vanessa-Mae was definitely not amused by this defect, as could be seen from the annoyed expression on her face. Once the song was ended, Vanessa-Mae apologised for the technical deficiency, saying: I stepped this pedal so often the past years that it needs repair or replacement. She then joked by saying that it was really the switch and then: I am not just a clumsy girl on high heels.

Then Vanessa-Mae spook again to the audience to introduce I Am A Doun, that is on both The Classical Album 1 and Storm. Vanessa-Mae told us that the next song was her version of the 2nd movement of a violin concerto by Bruch, a concerto that she played often and that will remain one of her all time favourites. She mentioned that the song is about a young girl longing for her love on. This version by Vanessa-Mae is a remarkable touching piece of music. The past years, Vanessa-Mae always omitted the vocal introduction as it is on the albums: she did so again this evening, but the song has it strength in the lush violin part and Vanessa-Mae expressed that adequately again.

In the meantime, it had become almost dark. After playing Retro, Vanessa-Mae introduced the final 2 pieces that would end her concert. She thanked all for coming in such big numbers, and holding through the cold weather; she thanked the All Angels for their participation in this musical program, and especially she thanked the orchestra and Anthony Inglis. She added to Anthony Inglis that she was so happy to work again with him after their first collaboration with the recording of her very first album Violin (aka Debut) in 1991 when she was aged 12. She then joked to Anthony Inglis saying: you haven't changed after all those years; it is me who has changed!

She then mentioned her next song Toccata & Fugue that is on The Violin Player album, a piece that was in the charts for her world-wide and that represents the start of her career.

After Toccata & Fugue had ceased, her blockbuster hit Storm started immediately, accompanied by spectacular fireworks launched form behind the stage. The 14 photos below show Vanessa-Mae when she played Storm with her characteristic pose towards the end, and subsequent expression of relief and happiness on her face when she received the standing ovations from the audience. Finally, she bowed with the thankful smile still showing on her face.

The final series of photos show the spectacular fireworks that were launched from behind the stage during Vanessa-Mae's performance of Storm.