averilburystedmunds: Harpsichord Concert by Petra Hajduchova

Petra Hajduchova

Inside Box H.
The bare floorboards made little concession
to modern standards!

A great pleasure this afternoon to go to a concert, a rare pleasure since leaving Brugge. There are concerts in Bury St Edmunds, of course, but I have chosen to stop going out in the evenings when I am normally too tired to make the effort, SO a delightful chance to hear music has arrived with three afternoon concerts in the Theatre Royal. There was a fourth which was the first concert of the quartet and which I did not discover in time. The theatre is a delight; first built in 18!9 and restored to its original Regency design in 2007. It is Grade 1 Listed, the only theatre in the National Trust portfolio and the last working Regency theatre in the country. I sat in Box H in a wide circle of boxes with six seats in each box, each seat hinged on one side to allow entry, rather like a small square ‘door’. Such a charming period touch. The Boxes are, most conveniently, situated on the ground floor, a nice reversal of the norm! Predictably, a lady in ‘my’ box grumbled about the fire risk!!

Henry Purcell 1659-1695

Today’s harpsichord concert by Petra Hajduchova was wonderfully surprising and beautifully judged. I warmed immediately to Petra, a specialist in harpsichord, piano, organ and early music, when she introduced herself to us: “I, from Bohemia ….” and then gave an informative preamble to each piece both to set the musical scene historically but also to add personal details. During Lockdown, she had experimented with musician friends, and gradually discovered a real appreciation of more modern music, particularly, electronic, which she explored and with which she experimented and continues to experiment.

Francois Couperin 1668-1733

Alessandro Scarlatti 1660-1725

The last four pieces she played, by Scarlatti, Purcell, Croft and Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer, were each accompanied by what Petra described as 'sound effects', i.e. electronic music. The first, Toccata d’Ottava Stesa, had a very spirited electronic beat in the background, totally unconventional and strangely beautiful. Certainly purists might well have been outraged, but the whole sound was different and exciting to the audience! Her final rendition of Chaconne in F from Musicus Parnassus, slightly differently, had only the tiny but familiar sound of a musical box as accompaniment, ethereal but charming.

Jean Phillipe Rameau 1683-1764

In addition to performing, [she is a prize-winning harpsichordist] at a variety of notable establishments like the Royal Festival Hall, St Martin’s in the Fields, St John’s, Smith Square and St James, Piccadilly, she has also appeared with the Royal Philharmonic, London Mozart Players, National Symphony Orchestra, the European Union Chamber Orchestra, the Piccadilly Sinfonietta, to name but a few, Petra also teaches harpsichord to students at Canterbury Christ Church University and at the London Performing Academy of Music. She has participated in several educational projects for children across England and teaches piano at various schools and musical establishments. She has appeared live on BBC Radio 3 and in the recording of the soundtrack for Wolf Hall and ITV’s Victoria. She has also featured recently on a C.D. of music by the Moravian composer, Gottfried Finger with the Harmonious Society of Tickle-Fiddle Gentlemen.

Stephen Montague b. 1943

Petra has a CV to die for! But it is her innovative ear, coupled with the extraordinary musical width and depth of her talent, which makes her performance so compelling.