Music Appreciation 2015
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!
Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Whiston Hospital. Graham came along to tell us about breeding, egg laying, incubation, feeding, nurturing and fledging in birds. Many of these things vary greatly from one species to another, and there seems to be an almost limitless number of combinations, each designed to ensure the continuity of that species in its niche environment.
and its major uses. He then went on to explain how silicon acts as a semi-conductor when doped with either nitrogen or phosphorus atoms and is the basis of the transistor.
John described the harmful effects of environmental lead in the development of children’s teeth, with particular reference to a project he has worked on in Poland monitoring the levels of lead over time.
explained the critical importance of hydrogen bonds in biology and how they enable life as we know it.
Allan talked about the discovery and properties of polonium, one of the most radioactive and toxic substances around, and its role in the killing of the former soviet secret service agent Alexander Litvinenko.
Bill’s interest in birds and geology suggested iridium, which is found in meteorites with an abundance much higher than its average abundance in Earth’s crust. For this reason the unusually high abundance of iridium in the clay layer at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary gave rise to the Alvarez hypothesis that the impact of a massive extraterrestrial object caused the extinction of dinosaurs and many other species 66 million years ago.
Sue rounded off the mini-talks with an interesting account of the early history of gold and its uses through the centuries right up to the present day use in electronics , medicine and space exploration.
