Masterpieces

Talk at Charleston Farmhouse as part of the Charleston Festival bringing together art and music.  

Art was represented by the author James Hamilton who gave an interesting talk on Thomas Gainsborough based on his recent book. Using the title of the overall session he took eight pictures by the artist to take us through their life and give an overview of their work. His analysis of the pictures was fascinating and I’d love to hear him give a longer lecture. He finished with Gainsborough’s last self-portrait which was painted to give to his friend, a musician called Abell.

The second speaker, the Radio 3 presented Clemency Burton-Hill, cleverly lead into her talk on her book recommending a piece of classical music for every day of the year, by playing a piece of music by Abell. It was a wonderful spontaneous link between two slightly disjointed talks. She talked about how technology is changing how we listen to music and how now we can hear any piece of music whenever we want it is hard for someone who wants to discover classical music to start. She sees her book as a taster to this magical world.