h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

As a devotee of all things fretted stringed instrument related, I was delighted to spot a lute recital included in the lineup for this year's Saltaire festival. A free concert too, even better. And held in an interesting space, the United Reformed Church in Saltaire, a Victoran mill town and World Heritage Site full of historic interest. All round an event not to be missed in my opinion.

I arrived in Saltaire just in time for the lute recital to begin. The lutenist, Jacob Heringman, had been holding a lute playing workshop earlier so the front pews of the church were full of people carrying strange shaped cases and talking knowledgably about lute music. I sat myself just behind them and waited for the music to begin. He began with some John Dowland pieces that I know from the guitar transcriptions, but it was good to hear them played as originally intended. His repertoire quickly moved on to pieces I was less familiar with, but lovely to hear them, each with a good description given of its place in lute music history. He had two different lutes with him from different eras and used them to explore the changing fashions of early music according to time and country of origin.

The only problem was he had elected not to use amplification and an acoustic lute is a very quiet instrument. As the concert progressed, Jacob moved further away from the altar and down the aisle of the church. By the time the rock band started playing in the park just outside the church, Jacob was pretty much sitting in the middle of his audience, probably deeply regretting his amplification decision. For my strange mind, this all added to the charm and eccentricity of the performance, the highlight of my day at the festival.

[Amy P]

Did you get a chance for Q and A at the end?

Sadly no time for Q&A, I think he had more workshops to run. But he was so informative between pieces, he'd covered most of my queries anyway. I'd love a go on a lute myself sometime though.