Raindrops, speckling the canvas of the great umbrellas intended to shield the precious audience from the elements, made for prelude and accompaniment to the opening salvo of Thomas Kelly’s Summer Picnic Concert at Fairlight Hall last Sunday. And they were welcome not least because, as a mere, if insistent, patter, they fell short, as it were, of the torrent threatened by the glowering nimbus of the morning, but also, on account of their aural resemblance to the faintest crackle of well-worn vinyl.

But this was playing that was fresh, considered, controlled and emotive. First, four Scarlatti sonatas – meditative, sanguine, a kind of push-me, pull-you conversation between the baroque and the romantic.

He (Kelly) began with K.531 – tender cascades of crystalline notes – and ended with K.96, by which time, we were nicely settled into our garden seats, hearing aids adjusted, and precipitation almost entirely eased.

Thus, an easy target for the battery of pathos from Schumann’s Kinderszenen Opus.15 (Scenes from Childhood) sounded familiar, evocative, nostalgic, and was played with great warmth by Kelly, who himself performed a Mozart Concerto at the age of 9. Being born in 1998, he has only recently parted from that stage of his life, if any of us ever do.

THE INTIMACY OF THE OPEN AIR 

The set up at Fairlight is a curious one, but it works: Kelly and the Bluthner on a covered stage with some of the audience seated at the sides and the back, and the rest of us seated facing him, beneath the aforementioned brollies. This, inside/outside approach has a pronounced effect on the sound, carried in the warm, damp Sussex air, peppered with birdsong (which was a lovely effect), further colour provided by the occasional grinding of fidgety heels in the gravel, and even a brief burst of cricket commentary from Headingley, courtesy of a dropped mobile phone. It all made for an intimacy different to that of the salon or concert hall, but stirring nevertheless.

The interval was all queues for the loo, for coffee and for cream teas. Those that had paid for picnics in the rain-soaked grounds were, one hopes for their own sakes, sufficiently unaffected by the cost-of-living crisis to take the hit without a grumble, and no doubt, by the time they’d returned to their seats to hear Busoni’s riffing Fantasia da Camera super Carmen had laughed it off (for, after all, if you’re going to pay £75 for al fresco munching in this country, you’ve got be game for a gamble.)

I’d never heard the Busoni before. It was clever, fun, and multi-hued – always exciting to hear new takes on classic tunes. But to my ear, the last piece was the big gun of the programme. Pure, lush, signature Rachmaninov, a long and enveloping, sound swirl of broad rivers, rolling landscapes and drama – a serious sign-off from Kelly (and of course, Sergei) – before a jaunty encore in the form of a dose of Paganini, girding our loins for the return journey to the carpark and beyond.

FINALLY …

As a rule, the notion of paying money to admire the living quarters of the super-rich is a rather topsy-turvy one. It seems to send the wrong messages to all concerned. But I know when deference is due, and if a concert of such quality is included with a stroll around the grounds, the terraces with their vistas across to Winchelsea and France, the walled garden bursting with sweet peas and other horticultural lovelies, then due it is. 

Thomas Kelly, 2022 prize winner of the Hastings International Piano Competition, returns for a summer picnic recital at beautiful Fairlight Hall. He will play four bright Scarlatti sonatas, Schumann’s evocative Kinderszenen Op. 15, and Liszt’s incredible virtuoso representations of Italy, its gondoliers, its songs, its dances, Venezia e Napoli. After the interval he will play a work by the extraordinary, brilliant 20th century composer Busoni, and finish the recital with a glorious Rachmaninoff Sonata. This is an astounding programme of some of the most difficult and impassioned piano pieces ever written, and I would urge you to go, listen, and marvel in the summer sunshine.

9 July 2023 at Fairlight Hall. Tickets, £25 obtainable at hastingsinternationalpiano.org, under-16s free with a full-paying adult. Interval cream tea is also available. To book the picnic lunch tickets at £75 email info@hastingsinternationalpiano.org

Clannad Reconfigured

Moya Brennan, founder member of her own long-running and revered family band Clannad, is to launch a solo career after 50 years. Her live solo shows are always rich and moving, and she has received awards and accolades for her ability to “sing from the heart of music, to reach the essence, and to make the ordinary extraordinary”. 

Tickets have gone on sale for her concert (next year!) at the De La Warr Pavilion, 28 March 2024, 7 p.m. Buy now to avoid disappointment!

Djuna O’Neill at the De La Warr

Flatland Projects will present The ground is kind, black butter, a first solo exhibition by young Irish artist Djuna O’Neill (b. 1998). It will showcase moving image and sculptural works. O’Neill investigates the peat as a communal archive, digesting bogland habitats as sites of alterity, borderlands, and ‘wastelands’, sites of refuge in histories of colonial dispossession, taking her title from Seamus Heaney’s 1969 poem Bogland. 

1 July to 6 August 2023 at Flatland Projects, Unit 7, Beeching Road Studios, Beeching Road, Bexhill on Sea TN34 3IJ, Sat-Sun 12-4 p.m. or email flatlandprojectshastings@gmail.com to arrange a weekday visit.

St Leonards Festival

Immerse yourself in a joyful day at St. Leonards Festival, taking place on 1 July. The day will start with a drumming circle, followed by a Carnival Parade themed People of the Coast. The parade route will follow the seafront from Hastings Pier to Warrior Square Gardens. The event starts at 1.00 pm and will feature an extraordinary aerial show, African music from Zong Zing All Stars, and a disco from Glass House Dance. Aretha George-Tooley, chair of the Festival Committee, is thrilled to be bringing the festival back to celebrate the vibrant local community.

Saturday 1 July, 1 p.m. For more information visit stleonardsfestival.org.

Ex Voto

Rachel Williams & Jude Montague are printmakers living in Hastings. They specialise in one-off creative prints, using printmaking in a painterly way. They have been planning to exhibit together for over two years and their theme Ex Voto [Votive Offering] is taken from their shared interests in the Ancients, creatures of the tomb, museum artefacts, the loss of animals and objects, and prayer. Both printmakers have a connection to Italy, exploring Latin history and pre-Roman archaeology.

Private View/Open Evening Friday 7 July 6pm-9pm. Exhibition 6-9 July, Electro Studios Project Space, St Leonards TN38 OAL