The David le Page Ensemble's Beethoven Bowie concert hailed success

A beautiful concert led by acclaimed violinist, composer, arranger David Le Page took place inside the Grade One listed building on Saturday, February 3.

Author, music critic and journalist Paul Morley narrated the concert.

David le Page explained why he decided to combine the works of Beethoven's classical pieces with David Bowie's iconic rock tunes.

Beethoven Bowie with The David le Page Ensemble featuring Paul Morley inside Malmesbury Abbey (Image: Gary Walsh)

He said: "The interest lies, I believe, in exploring the respective cultural caches of, on the one hand, a colossus of 19th century European art music and, on the other, a chameleon-like folk hero who achieved enormous popularity during the latter decades of the 20th century.

"In these days of cultural fluidity - when the lines between ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture are constantly being erased, in an age where all recorded music is instantly available and when history, since the advent of film, photography and sound recording, seems like it happened yesterday and not 100 years ago - it is hard to know what or how to think about art, or sometimes to even care.

"The upside is that we do have the opportunity to make up our own minds without resorting to tribalism and esprit de corps.

"In a time where pop borrows freely from classical and vice versa we can place David Bowie alongside Beethoven and just see what happens."

Janinka Diverio and Gary Walsh, from Malmesbury Live Arts who organised the event, said: "We were in discussion with the artists about bringing this to Malmesbury two years ago and so it was a great pleasure to finally realise it and the feedback has been amazing. 

"Thank you to all who came. 
 
"With grateful and huge thanks to all of the artists, crew, volunteers and management team for donating endless hours of time and physical energy in bringing world class works to Malmesbury."

A free live recording of the event is available on tinyurl.com/mrx9r2ek