22nd November 2022 : Open Forum / BYO
A good selection of music was played from a variety of genres, vocal,with Janet Baker, Russell Watson. and Elvis. There was Orchestral music from Mozart,Gershwin and Korngold , not forgetting a rousing start with pieces from two famous Brass Bands . Members all left smiling ,
Playlist
Desford Colliery Band : St Louis Blues
Brighouse and Rastrick Band : Radetzky March by Johann StraussII
Two Italian songs , “O Sole Mio “and ” Volare ” played by Andre Rieu and his orchestra
” Valse triste” by Oscar Nedhal played by the RLPO c, Libor Pesek
” You raise me up” sung by Russell Watson
” Where Corals lie” and ” The swimmer” from ” Sea Pictures” by Elgar Sung by Janet Baker wit the LSO c Sir John Barbirolli
” Shall we dance? ” by George Gershwin from the ” Gershwin in Hollywood ” Prom concert by John Wilson and his orchestra
“Marietta’s Lied ” by Korngold , played by Nichola Bernedetti and the Bournemouth S.O. c Kiril Karabits
“Clarinet Concerto – Adagio ” by Mozart played by Michael Whight and the Royal Philharmonic c Nicolas Cleobury
” Silver Bells” sung by Elvis Presley , 1971 recording of Christmas songs ” Christmas Peace”
24th October 2022: “Music inspired by the works of Shakespeare “
John Appleton gave this interesting presentation, illustrated with a wide variety of music written from the Elizabethan age up to the current day. From the theatre to the concert hall to film. Some familiar pieces, others less well-known and all obviously enjoyed by those present.
Playlist
1 “Brush up your Shakespeare” from ‘Kiss me Kate’ by Cole Porter. RSC Cast 1987.
2 “It was a lover and his Lass.” by Thomas Morley. Elizabethan lute songs Julian Bream and Sir Peter Piers
3 “Where the bee sucks there lurk I” – by Robert Johnson (Shakespeares lutenist.) from ” The Tempest” Emma, Kirby David, Thomas, Anthony Rooley.
4 Charge and Battle from “Henry Vth Suite.” by William Walton. James de Priest Oregon Symphony Orchestra
5 “Forest of Arden.” by Patrick Arthur Doyle. From the film “As you like it “Kenneth Branagh’s film.
6 “Sigh no more.” by Patrick Doyle From “Much ado about nothing” – Kenneth Branagh’s film
7 “West Side Story – Prologue.” by Leonard Bernstein .- Steven Speilburg film
8 “Fantasy Overture Romeo and Juliet.” by Tchaikovsky. New York Philharmonic
9 “Who is Sylvia” by Franz. Schubert – The King’s Singers
10 ” Overture to a Midsummer Night’s Dream” by Felix Mendelssohn. London Symphony Orchestra
- Scherzo. ii Wedding March.
11 “Overture to Julius Caesar.” by Robert Schumann. London Symphony Orchestra
12 “Overture to The Tempest” .by Sibelius – Finish radio Symphony Orchestra
13 Overture to Othello Dvorak. Berlin Philharmonic
27th September 2022 : “One-hit Classical Wonders ? – Part 1
Due to a technical problem, the scheduled presentation by Janice and John Appleton was postponed until the October meeting .
Instead , David Sunderland questioned whether the composers of two familiar pieces deserve to be regarded as ” one-hit wonders. The ” Dance of the hours” by Amilcar Ponchielli and ” The Procession of the Sardar” by Michail Ippolitov- Ivanov are familiar, even if their composer’s names are not and other music by them is rarely heard. However both these pieces are part of larger works, The Opera “La Giaconda ” and ” Caucasian Sketches ” respectively.
A short biography of each composer was given with examples from other musical works by them. Both composers were famous and honoured in their lifetime but most of their music did not survive them for long.
Playlist
AMILCARE PONCHELLI
” Dance of the Hours ” From the opera “ La Gioconda” Played by the Berlin Philharmonic c. Herbert von Karajan
“Il Convegno” arr. 2 clarinets and piano Soloists : Javier Olmeda Nopuerta and Rafel Nevarro Berzoxa
Concerto for Euphonium – end Played by David Werner
La Gioconda – Overture (part) Ponchiello ” Cielo e mar” ( “Sky and sea” from La Gioconda) Sung there by the tenor Franco Corelli
“Elegia per Grand Opera” Played by the Minsk Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Silvano Frontini
Symphony No 2 Played by the Minsk Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Silvano Frontini
MIKHAIL MIKHAYLOVICH IPPOLITOV-IVANOV
Caucasian sketches Suite No 1 – part IV “The Procession of the Sardar “ Played by the Taiwanese Soloists orchestra
Yar – kmel” Spring overture Played by the Slovak Radio S.O. c Donald Johanos
Armenian Rhapsody on National themes Played by the Armenian Philharmonic c, Loris Tjeknavorian
Symphony No 1 – 4th movement Played by the Bamberg S.O. c Gary Bryan
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23rd August 2022 : British Light Music
What is “ light music” ? These days it could be called “ easy listening “ music .
The composer , arranger and conductor Ernest Tomlinson described it as:
“Music where the melody matters more than what you do to it”
There certainly is a lot of good tunes around , some by “Serious” composers like Sir Malcolm Arnold , Sir Richard Rodney Bennett ,William Alwyn and others who do not mind “letting their hair down” in the most delightful way
However today’s presentation by David Sunderland celebrated composers mainly known for their light music compositions . Some well-known like Eric Coates , others whose names are unfamiliar but whose tunes are instantly recognisable like Vivian Ellis with his ” Coronation Scott” for the series ” Paul Temple ” .
Many of their compositions introduced early Radio or television programmes so this presentation was a trip down memory lane for most of the listeners .
PLAYLIST
CHARLES WILLIAMS
1 “ The Devil’s Galop “
2 “ The Old Clockmaker “ Queens Hall Light Orchestra c. Ernest Tomlinson
3 “ The Dream of Olwen” Philip Fowke (piano) RTE Orchestra c. Proinnsias Duin
RONALD BINGE
4 “ Elizabethan Serenade “ Slovak Radio Symphony OrchestrErnest Tomlinson
5 “Sailing by “ Perry – Gardner Orchestra
6 Concerto for Alto Sax III Rondo Allegro giososo Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra c. Ernest Tomlinson
VIVIAN ELLIS
7 “ Spread a little Happiness” From the musical ” Mr Cinders ”
8 “Alpine Pastures “ Queens Hall Light Orchestra c. Sydney Torch
9 “ Coronation Scott” Played by the Northern Sinfonia c John Wilson
ERIC COATES
10 “ By the Sleepy Lagoon” Northern Sinfonia c. John Wilson
11 “ The Three Elizabeths Suite – I “ Halcyon Days” Queen Elizabeth Played by the City of Birmingham S.O. c Reginald Kirby
12 “ Calling all Workers” Played by the New London Orchestra c Ronald Corp
13 “ Knightsbridge! ( from “ London Suite” )
14 “ The Three Elizabeths Suite – II “Elizabeth of Glamis “ Played by the City of Birmingham S.O. c Reginald Kirby
15 “ The Dambusters March” BBC Symphony Orchestra c, David Parry
26th July 2022 : Open forum / BYO
A varied selection of music and some friendly banter made sure that everybody went home smiling .
Playlist :
1 Rachmaninov – “Vocalise” arranged for flute and played by James Galway with the national Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Charles Gerhard
2 “ I can’t get started” by Vernon Drake and Ira Gershwin
– sung by Barry Manilow with the Duke Ellington Orchestra (1994)
3 Mozart “ The Magic Flute “ – 2 bass arias sung by Roland Bracht
“ O Isis and Osiris” and “ In dieser Heil ……..“
4 Max Bruch – Violin Concerto No 1 – 3rd movement
Played by Tasmin Little (v) with the RLPO c by Vernon Handley (1990)
5 “ Your feet’s too big” sung by “The Inkspots” (1935 recording )
Produced many smiles but probably not PC these days !
6 J.S. Bach : Brandenburg Concerto No 3 – 1st movement – played by the Festival Strings , Lucerne c. Rudolf Baumgartner.( The original introductory music for “the Antiques Road Show”.)
7 Schubert : Impromptu No 2 in A flat played by Alfred Brendel (p)
8 “ Rhyadu” from the album “The Snow Goose” by the group “ Camel”
9 Chopin : Ballade No 1 played by Tamas Vasary (p)
10 Albinoni : Oboe Concerto Op9 No 2 – 2nd movement (Adagio)
Played by Anthony Camden (Oboe) with The London Virtuosi
11 Improvisations by the “ Trio Gitan”
On Paganini Caprice No 24 and Brahms Hungarian Dance No 5
12 “ Maggie May” sung by A.L. Lloyd – a more traditional version of this well-known song .
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June 28th 2022 : “ Franz Schubert ( 1797 – 1828) – his life and music”
Rosemary Fletcher presented a biography of the Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras, Illustrated with examples from some of his wide range of range of compositions that are still performed today .
She pointed out that ,despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast number of compositions , including more than 600 secular vocal works (mainly lieder), seven complete symphonies, sacred music, operas, incidental music, and a large body of piano and chamber music. ..
Rosemary commented that appreciation of Schubert’s music while he was alive was limited to a relatively small circle of admirers in Vienna, but interest in his work increased greatly in the decades following his death.
Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann , Franz Liszt , Johannes Brahms and other 19th-century composers discovered and championed his works and today, Schubert is ranked among the greatest composers in the history of Western music and his work continues to be admired.
Playlist :
Opera : “ Rosamund” Overture played by the Staatskapelle Dresden c. Willi Boskovsky
Piano Impromptus D899 : No 1 in C minor & No 2 in E flat – played by Mitsuko Uschida
3 Songs : Die Fonella / Erlkonig / An Silvia – sung by Bryn Terfel
Symphony No 8 “ The unfinished “ – 1st movement – played by the Staatskapelle Dresden c, Giuseppe Sinopoli
Chamber music : The Trout quintet – 1st movement – played by Andras Schiff (p) with the Hagen Quartet
May 24th 2022 : Women Composers :
This presentation by Barbara and Colin Redwood managed to cover 1000 years of musical compositions by 15 women from Hildegard of Bingen to the current era so a busy programme .
There were some familiar names like Fanny Mendelsohn and Clara Schumann but introducing group members to lesser known women from Europa and the USA – like Maria Paradis and Florence Price and covering early Church music to TV commercials .
Play list :
Fanny Mendelssohn : String Quartet in E lfat Major I – played by Quatuor Ebene
Clara Schumann : :Scherzo No 2 in C minor Op 14- played by Isata Kannah-Mason (p)
Louise Farrenc : Symphony No 3 in G minor IV – Finale Played by the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra
Maria Paradis : Sicilienne in E flat major arr Cello and Harp Played by Johannes Goritzki & Jaqueline Pollauf
Ethel Smyth : Trio for Piano , violin and Cello in D major – I Chagall Trio
The March of the Women ( Suffragettes march) Chorus of the Plymouth Music Series Minnesota
Amy Beach : Berceuse for piano and cello Stephen Hough(p) and Steven Isserlis
Florence Beatrice Price : Fantasie Negrie – played by Lara Downes (p)
Lilli Boulanger : Nocturne for 4 hands – Janine Jansen & Itamar Golan
Nadia Boulanger : 3 Pieces for Cello & Piano No 1 – Amil Peled & Lucy Mauro
Madelaine Dring: Danza Gaya (arr Oboe and piano) Played by Leslie Odom & Soomee Yoon
Judith Weir : Love bade me welcome – sung by Choir of Gonville and Caius College Cambridge
Rachel Portman : Emma Piano suite – played by the composer (p)
Anne Dudley : Henry’s theme ( Music from the TSB TV commercial n Played by Anne Dudley Humonics
Debbie Wiseman : Elizabeth II – Jubilee fanfare – National Symphony Orchestra of Wales .
26th April 2022 : Open forum / BYO
Several members were not able to attend the meeting so missed an enjoyable and enjoyed selection of pieces from a mixture of musical styles , orchestral , instrumental and vocal , opera and film with some old favourites and some rarer offerings.
Playlist :
Franz Lehar “ You are my heart’s delight “ – sung by Placido Domingo
Philip Glass: “ Glassworks” – final movement “ Closing”
Charles –Marie Widor : Organ Symphony No 5 – Toccata and Fugue
Played by Ian Tracey at the Liverpool Cathedral Organ .
Paul McCartney: “ Yesterday” played by Yorkshire Imperial Metals band
Sydney Bechet: “ Dans les rues D’Antibes”
Played by the Bar Marina All Stars
Sergei Rachmaninov : “Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini”
Played by Nicholai Evrov with the Bulgarian State Philharmonic .
Ennio Morricone: Theme from “ Cinema Paradiso” Irene
Played by Chloe Hanslip ( violin) with the BBC Concert Orchestra
A.M, Goodheart : “ Variations on “Tipperary”
played by Irene Scharrer (piano)
Joachin Rodrigo : Concerto de Aranjuez
vocal version by Segovia as “ En Aranjuez con tu amor”
Sung by Andrea Bocelli
George Gershwin: “Rhapsody in Blue” * start) Played by Boyan Vodanitcherov (piano) with the Bulgarian State Philharmonic.
Benton Overstreet & Billy Higgins : “ There’ll be some changes made”
Played by the Bar Marina Jazz All Stars
March 22nd 2022 – “ Listen to the wind” a presentation by Norma Wardle
Norma started by introducing the instruments forming the wind section of a concert orchestra , The flute and piccolo , single reed instruments like the clarinet and saxophone and double reed instruments like the oboe , Cor Anglais and Bassoon .
Rosemary Fletcher had brought along her flute to demonstrate the technique of playing it but declined to demonstrate it on the grounds of being “too rusty “.
It therefore fell to “the man with the Golden Flute “ i.e. James Galway to play part of Danzi’s flute Concerto and 2 more of Danzi’s works were used to demonstrate the clarinet and the complimentary combination of flute and clarinet .
The largest of the wind instruments was demonstrated by part of Hummel’s Grand Concerto for Bassoon .
In the second half of the programme the bassoon showed it’s humourous side with Debussy’s “ Goliwogs Cake Walk” before we moved to jazz venues for works featuring Artie Shaw on clarinet and Paul Gonzalves on tenor saxophone .
The presentation finished with combining the wind instruments in the gran finale of one of the finest works written for small wind ensemble the -Mozart’s Serenade in B flat .
This was an interesting and informative presentation that was evidently enjoyed by those present .
Playlist :
1 ) Danzi – Concerto for flute and orchestra – played by James Galway (flute) and the Wurttemburg Chamber Orchestra
2) Mozart – Oboe Concerto – played by John Anderson and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
3) Dvorak – Cor Angalais solo from the start of “ New World Symphony “
4) Danzi – Fantasia for Clarinet and Orchestra – played by Sabine Meyer and the Wurttemburg Chamber Orchestra
5) Danzi – Concerto for flute and clarinet – played by James Galway and Sabine Meyer with the Wurttemburg Chamber Orchestra
6) Hummel – Grand Concerto for Bassoon & orchestra played by Michael Werba and the Wiener Strechen solisten
7) Antonio Mario Romera – Cuban “ Charanga “ music – played by Enrique Navarro (flute) wit the Rotterdam Conservatory Chamber Orchestra
8) Bellini – Oboe Concertino in E flat major – played by Nicholas Daniels and the Peterborough String Orchestra
9 Debussy – Golliwogs Cake walk – arranged and played by Daniels Smith
10) Artie Shaw – “ Nightmare”
11) From the CD “Duke Ellington at Newport” – the Paul Gonzalves “set” on tenor saxophone .
12) Mozart – Serenade in B flat “ Gran Partita” – finale – played by Members of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields c. Neville Mariner
February 22nd 2022 Restart of meetings :
In this presentation , Nick Williams gave members his interpretation of a musical Grand Tour .
It was introduced by Nat king Cole’s ” Around the world” then on to China and the Yellow River piano concerto before crossing into India for 2 items from the stage musical ” Bombay Dreams “. We then travelled west to Europe for ” a Fantasia on Hungarian Folk Melodies” by Franz Liszt before heading North to Scandinavia to hear a track from Abba’s album ” Voyager” . Moving southeast we headed for a voyage though Bohemia and the Czech Republic down the river Vltava (or The Moldau) curtesy of Bedrich Smetana and the last movement of the suite ” Ma Vlast”. Westward to the Republic of Ireland and the title number from the stage show ” Firedance” with music by Bill Whelan , then further west to finish in the USA with 2 unusual versions of pieces by George Gershwin . These were arrangements for Harmonica and Orchestra by the master of that instrument , Larry Adler with George Martin .
The journey would have been a nightmare for a travel agent to arrange but the trip was obviously thoroughly enjoyed by the group members .
Feb 2022 Playlist
1“Around the World” – Sung by Nat King Cole
2 “ The Yellow River Concerto – 4th movement –“ Defend the Yellow River”
Played by Yin Chengzong -piano ( one of the 4 composers) and the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Adrian Leaper
3 “Bombay Awakes “ and “ Bombay Dreams” from the CD of the musical “ Bombay Dreams” by the “Bollywood” film composer AR Rahmen –
4 “Fantasia on Hungarian Folk Melodies” by Franz Liszt
Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Herbert Von Karajan ( 1971 recording)
5“ I still have faith in you “ from the latest Abba CD “ Voyager “
6 “ Vltava” (alternately called the Moldau river) – 3rd movement of “ Ma Vlast” by Bedrich Smetana
Played by the national Youth Orchestra of Great Britain conducted by Sir Roger Norrington
7 “ Firedance” from the stage show of the same name . From the the 25th Anniversary CD with the RTE Orchestra .
8 Two pieces from “ The Glory of Gershwin” CD , a tribute to the composer with arrangements of his works by Larry Adler and George Martin for Harmonica and orchestra .
“ Rhapsody in Blue” (originally for piano) with Larry Adler on harmonica .
“ Summertime” ( from the opera “Porgy and Bess”) with Larry Adler ( harmonica) and Jazz saxophanist Courtney Pine with the George Martin Orchestra