{"id":820,"date":"2013-08-21T11:26:54","date_gmt":"2013-08-21T10:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.geraldgarcia.com\/Wordpress\/?p=820"},"modified":"2013-08-21T11:26:54","modified_gmt":"2013-08-21T10:26:54","slug":"west-dean-2013-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/geraldgarcia.com\/?p=820","title":{"rendered":"West Dean 2013 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

West Dean – the name conjures up well appointed gardens, a flint covered manor in the middle of the rolling Sussex countryside, sheep, cream teas, Surrealists, the eccentric Edward James and a lively yet dignified community of craftsmen and women, engaged in furniture making, restoration, stained glass, tapestry, blacksmithing, and crafts we only read about in books.
\n\"W<\/a><\/p>\n


\nSo here we are, a classical guitar course with Xue Fei Yang<\/a>, Fabio Zanon<\/a>, Johannes Moller<\/a>, the Vida Quartet<\/a>, Arne Brattland<\/a>, Alison Bendy<\/a> and this year’s new organiser Andrew Gough<\/a> amongst the sheep and chillis.
\nThe open day \u00a0was a festival in itself, with guitars makers, concerts (including our NYGE<\/a> concert and one by Young Musician of the Yeqr finalist Jadran Duncomb) a masterclass by Fei and some nice cups of tea. NYGE’s performance with Belinda Evans was truyl moving and a fitting tribute to Chris Susans, who bowed out after 12 years as MD, organiser, Head of Pastoral Care, conductor and arranger with a fine performance of Britten’s Simple Symphony. There is no video of this, but you can watch us at Easter in the Villa Lobos<\/a> and Hebridean Songs<\/a>.
\nI had just arrived hotfoot from the Menuhin Hall (where NYGE had their course) to the interval of Fei’s concert – a masterly second half with Bach’s Chaconne (I have now heard this 6 times this summer), Henze’s Drei Tentos and a fiery Libra Sonatine by Roland Dyens (which she described as the lighter part of the programme!). Unfortunately I had missed Britten’s Nocturnal and Fei’s daring solo arrangement of the Gloriana suite.
\nAs an encore, she kindly played my arrangement of “Spring Breeze” a popular Taiwanese song, which I think was used in a soap opera.
\nHere is a previous performance she did:
\n