It was a particularly cold and damp December evening last Friday, December 2, but over in the Church of St Thomas the Martyr, Winchelsea a superb trio performed a unique blend of compositions which beautifully complemented the majestic surroundings and provided a wealth of musical warmth.
Gigspanner is Peter Knight’s creative project since leaving folk-rock veterans Steeleye Span in 2013. It features Peter at the helm providing violin along with vocals, Roger Flack on guitar and Vincent Salzfaas on congas and djembe. Both Roger and Vincent are fine musicians and also provide backing vocals.
Since their debut album “Lipreading the Poet” was released in 2009 they have gained a loyal following and much admiration of their finely woven musical craft. Their music takes its influences from many styles and sources and to pigeonhole them would be pointless and probably inaccurate. They are masters of their instruments and work seamlessly as a trio providing the audience with a unique personal performance which is exciting but definitely not over-rehearsed, leaving room for spontaneity.
Combined with the gorgeous acoustics of the church, aided only by a small PA system, the trio sounded fabulous. Peter’s violin playing soared up throughout the rafters rather like a bird hovering effortlessly. His own composition entitled Seagull perfectly reminded me of this as did Bows of London which also featured Peter on vocals.
A track introduced by Peter entitled Dave Roberts was a particularly splendid and moving piece. It has previously been described as a French waltz and was based on a tune often played by Dave, a good friend of Roger’s who has now sadly passed on. It is not known whether or not Mr Roberts actually wrote the original melody line but he will always be remembered in this superb tribute.
Louisiana Flack is an instrumental that features Roger (hence the title) not actually playing his guitar but holding two sticks, one in each hand, standing opposite Peter and bouncing them off the violin strings whilst Peter is playing in a percussive manner rather like a drummer would, say, play a tom-tom. The result is a combination of the violin and tapped percussive sounds which work well together and it is also visually very unusual. Combined with Vincent’s excellent percussion you can imagine just how dynamic this really was.
The evening ended all too quickly but Gigspanner had actually performed 13 songs over two sets but I know I could have listened to many more without any fear of repetition. It was indeed a very warm magical night in Winchelsea.
Picture: Alan Cole/Music Festival Photos
A wonderful evening. Peter Knight’s violin playing is the best you will ever hear. Combined with the wondrous atmospheric setting of St Thomas’ Winchelsea, we were so thankful to the Winchelsea Bonfire Boyes for enabling this concert. It was perfect. Thank you.