Music Appreciation 2015

Tuesday October 27th:  With the title ” 20th century British composers” , this presentation by Alma & Roger Abel might have been another hearing of some very familiar pieces. Instead they came up with an interesting an entertaining selection of music – mainly from the second half of the century . The exception was the overture to Vaughan-Williams music for a Cambridge University performance of Aristophanes play ” The Wasps” – shame that nobody could remember the plot !

From a work from the start of the 20th C to one from the end with part John Lord’s ” Durham Concerto ” , an excerpt representing a noisy confrontation between town & gown in rag week . This was followed by a change to quiet mood with the opening of Patrick Hawes ” Highgrove Suite ” entitled ” The Goddess of the woods” .

Howard Goodall is probably best known as a TV presenter and composer of TV themes but we were treated to part of his choral work based on the beatitudes of St Matthew  ” Enchanted Voices” .

The next piece was unknown to most of the members , part of the “Seven Wonders Suite ” by Stuart Mitchell and brought to us via an i-pad and sound box .

The presentation ended with another Royal family connection –  Two movements of Nigel Hess’s Piano concerto , commissioned by Prince Charles in memory of his The Queen mother , his beloved grandmother .

Tuesday September 22nd : “Composer / Performers” Bernie Handford  presented 17 pieces of music wherein the composer was the actual musician playing the piece we were listening to.  With composers ranging from 19th century stalwarts such as Mahler playing the 4th movement from his symphony No.4 ( where the original recording had been made on old wax surface equipment, subsequently re-mastered by modern technology), via Andre Previn playing his “Sunset in Blue”, to popular recent music such as “Eleanor Rigby”, written by and played on CD for us today by local heroes, The Beatles, Bernie gave the appreciative audience of 28 members a varied and enjoyable performance before finishing on a humorous note with Flanders and Swann singing and playing “Have a Madeira M’dear” to send us on our way home with a smile on our faces.

Tuesday August 25th :   ” Strings and things” was the intriguingly titled presentation by Marjorie and Stan Bryan . We were treated to music played on a wide variety of stringed instruments, both plucked and bowed .  A  version for harp of Debussy’s “Clair de Lune”,  beautifully  played by Catrin Finch was followed by her delightful version of  “Chicken Pickin’ Rag”.   A contrast in size and range of instrument was shown with excerpts from Vivaldi’s mandolin concerto and Koussevitzky’s  double bass concerto .

Traditional music was represented by Zither and Bouzouki pieces  ( Zorba’s theme of course) and this was followed by a return to the classical repertoire with pieces for piano . violin , guitar and string section by Chopin , Bruch , Rodrigo and Vivaldi.

A program obviously enjoyed by the listeners .

Tuesday July 28th: This was an Open Forum / BYO meeting and 13 members had the opportunity to introduce a short piece of their choice. As usual a wide selection of music was played with vocals from Lesley Garret and Dames Shirley Bassey and Joan Sutherland. Not to be outdone by the ladies, the men included Neil Diamond, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Solo instrumentals on Guitar came  from John Williams and  the piano was represented by Peter Maxwell Davies’s ” Farewell to Stromness”. The full orchestra had it’s chance with Massenet’s “Meditation from Thais”, George Butterworth’s ” The Banks of Green Willow” and George Lloyd ‘s Symphony No 9 with an oriental touch given by the bells of the Processional from John Fould’s “Three Mantras’.  The final item Dudley Moore’s ” Beethoven Parody”, ensured that the members left with a smile!

Tuesday June 23rd:  ‘The challenge of the composer Bohuslav Martinu’ was a typically interesting presentation by Alan Morton, this time introducing  most of the members for the first time to this relatively unknown Czech composer’s life and music. As suggested by the title of the presentation, some of this composers works do not make for easy listening so careful selection had been done. Much of the music played had been composed during WWII in the USA where Martinu had fled after the invasion of his country by the Nazis. This included his violin concerto, cello concerto No 2 and Symphonies 2 & 3 and the moving ‘Memorial to Lidice’.  An earlier piece, his Concerto for 2 string orchestras, piano and timpani, was also included and the presentation was completed by part of one of his last works, his 5th Piano concerto of 1958.

Tuesday May 26th: Pauline Jones presented ” A Musical Life”  – a programme of music that had special meaning to her at the various stages of her life . Songs by Hoagy Carmichael , Kathleen Ferrier , Howard Keel and Mario Lanza were followed by works several classical composers including  Grieg , Mendelssohn , Tchaikovsky and Rodrigo .
A broad spectrum which obviously was much enjoyed by the listeners .

April 28th:  Open Forum / BYO: This was one of the thrice yearly meetings where members are invited to introduce a (short) piece of music of their choice .
As usual a wide range of music was heard with vocal works from modern popular to liturgical and classical opera, from Eva Cassidy to Rene Fleming and a very well sung excerpt from Elgar’s “Sea Pictures ” via Mario Lanza’s ” Be my Love”.
Instrumental items were played from solo piano to full orchestral and the first example of electronic music – an arrangement of “Mercury” from Holst’s Planet Suite (The latter had a mixed reception!) There were excerpts from several piano works by Schumann, Beethoven, and Satie. Shostakovich’s “Walt & Tahiti trot” (a jazz arrangement of “Tea for Two”) raised some smiles .

March 24th:  “Russian Renaissance” :An interesting and entertaining presentation was given by Steve Talbot on this period of musical history when Russian composers started to look east for their inspiration – to Russian history and folk music rather than to the music of western Europe. We were treated to music by Glinka, regarded as the father of “Russian” music, and to his successors Balikirev, Borodin and Glazunov – plus Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky. Some were familiar pieces, others less so, but all were appreciated by the listeners .

February 24th:  “The Life and music of Sergei Prokofiev”:Vaughan Wall gave another comprehensive musical biography, illustrated with both familiar and less well known examples of this prolific composer’s works. These included part of his Classical Symphony, The Dance of the Knights from his Romeo & Juliet Suite, the March from The Love for Three Oranges, excerpts from piano and violin concertos and 5th Symphony and from the Lieutenant Kije and Cinderella Suites.

January 27th :  “Women Composers“ David Sunderland’s presentation ranged from the music of the 12th C Nun Hildegard of Bingen to the current Master of the Queens Music, Dame Judith Weir. An introduction was also given to the composers Marianna Martinez (17th C Vienna), Louise Farrenc (early 19thC France) and Amy Beach (20thC USA) and examples of their music played. More time was assigned to the English composer, Ethyl Smyth, whose private life proved to be as colourful as her music. The most popular item appeared to be her “March for Women”, written as the rallying call of the Suffragette movement which earned a round of applause, somewhat to the alarm of the male members of the group!