Boxgrove Priory Church, Wednesday 11 February 2026
The rain held off long enough for the audience to make its way down the dark, unlit lane to Boxgrove Priory or the Church of St Mary and St Blaise, phone light torches bobbing in the darkness like will-o’-the-wisps. Inside, beneath ceiling murals of floral paintings, was a simple raised stage with four chairs and a background of simple lighting washes against the beautiful church structures.
What followed was an evening showcasing the versatility of the cello through virtuoso performances from Christopher Allan, Ian Burdge, Adrian Bradbury and local boy, Ben Rogerson. Christopher and Ben largely introduced the different music, often with little nuggets of information, such as how young Purcell was when he was composing these pieces, or a morsel about four-hundred-year-old graffiti in the Boxgrove chapel, or sometimes with a single word – ‘Puccini’. Enough said. Somehow, the evening managed to straddle a tone that was both professionally impressive and affably unpretentious.
Composer and audience member, Roderick Elms, kicked things off by introducing his fascinating ‘Divertimento Diversions for Cello Quartet’. We were then treated to a wide range of work from Purcell to Puccini, as well as folk tunes composed by William Alwyn to Edward Harris-Bown’s playful interpretation of Henry Mancini’s ‘Pink Panther’ in the jazzy ‘Not Now, Cato’.
The cello playing was, as expected, stunning but, for me at least, it was the astonishing range of sounds the quartet managed to coax from their instruments that was mesmerising: sometimes the cellos became percussive; sometimes ethereal in barely perceptible notes; at other times, the strings became almost electronic in the sounds emanating from them; on occasion, they were superb substitutes for vocal or choral music; and several numbers flirted on the borders of the discordant to be resolved into something harmonious. Combine this with a bit of handclapping, as well as foot-stomping, and a Cellophonics concert – although I have a feeling they would prefer the more down-to-earth term ‘gig’ – is witnessing expert musicians employing their instruments to their fullest extent.
My favourites were the two Irish Tunes by William Alwyn and Guy Barker’s ‘Wood on the Tracks’, which allowed the cellists to spin two separate musical narratives about two very different types of trains as they cross the States.
An evening with Cellophonics is no uptight formal chamber music recital but a relaxed evening in the company of four gifted men who seem determined for the cello to step out of the ranks of the orchestra and ensembles, flex its versatility and invite their audience to experience an established instrument embarking on musical journeys both familiar and unfamiliar.
Justin Bulpet
