The second half of the season kicks off tonight at 7:30 as usual. Angus Menzies will be talking about music fit for an emperor.
At Salisbury Recorded Music Society we are now into our Christmas and New Year break, and will start again in February 2017 with what promise to be really excellent presentations by several very good friends of the society:
The next meeting takes place tonight, 28 November when Peter Curbishley will be presenting ‘Mozart’s last year’. Mozart died in December 1791 and the last year of his life was full of incident and great music. Some masterpieces including the Requiem and the Magic Flute were composed as well as La clemenza da Tito.
Many people have been influenced by the Peter Shaffer play, Amadeus which, although entertaining, was full of nonsense. The presentation will try and give some of the facts surrounding his last year and of course, play some of the music …
The next meeting of the Society will take place on Monday 3rd October at 7:30 as usual. It will be preceded by a short agm and then there will be a presentation by Robin Lim on the subject of early stereo recordings. Older readers may recall the days when stereo started to make its appearance in the home. There used to be salesmen who would come to your home and install a gramophone to demonstrate this wonderful sound experience. One recording designed to show off the effect was of a steam train rushing past – first in one speaker and then in the other. Robin probably won’t be playing us that but it should be interesting to hear the early recordings using what was then, new technology.
By now, existing members will have received their invitation letter and programme for the 2016/17 season. We are pleased with what we have in the programme which includes a ‘live’ event and outside speakers on Bruckner and Delius. We have stayed away from Bruckner because his symphonies are on a massive scale but we are delighted that Terry Barfoot has risen to the challenge to give us a presentation on this important composer. Proms listeners will have had a treat this year with several of his works being performed.
If you are new to this site we hope you will give us a try and if you just want to come along to an evening – because you have a particular interest in a composer for example – then it is only £3 to help cover costs.
One of our guiding principles is to widen knowledge of the musical world and speakers will often try to introduce unfamiliar pieces, either by composers who are almost forgotten or less well known pieces by major composers.
Parking is easy with plenty of space and we are within walking distance of the town centre.
The new season’s programme has now been finalised and will soon be printed for distribution. You can see a copy of the brochure here ahead of publication. The committee has put together an excellent programme with two outside speakers and one, for the first time, from the Delius Society. We have one ‘live’ music evening as well as presentations on a wide range of topics from Society members themselves.
Meeting arrangements are as before and parking is easy. New members are always welcome – we’ve had several this year – and if you want to come along to an evening without commitment, there is a small fee of £3 to help with our expenses.
Existing members: if you can do anything to help promote events that would be appreciated.
The first evening will be on Monday 19 September.
THE next meeting of the Society will be tonight, Monday, 18th April starting at 7:30 usual place. See the ‘Find us’ tab on the front page for a map or details if this will be your first visit. The presentation will be by Anthony Powell – no stranger to the Society – who will be taking about the conductor Sir Charles Mackerras and illustrating his talk with examples of his conducting.
Mackerras was one of the great polymath conductors of the 20th century, with interests that ranged from the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan to the high opera of Wagner and Strauss. His rigour and empathy with both music and musicians, as well as his intellectual curiosity, earned acclaim and respect from across the musical world. Any performance directed by Mackerras – particularly one featuring Janacek – bore the imprimatur of unsurpassed authority.
In the 1960s he was at the forefront of the period instrument movement, uncovering the original intentions of composers such as Handel, Mozart and Beethoven, and bringing to audiences some of the first “authentic” performances to be heard in Britain. Of particular note was a production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro at Sadler’s Wells in 1965 in which he controversially – and to some ridicule – reinstated the appoggiaturas and other ornamentation that would have been used in the 18th century.
From the Telegraph
The next meeting of Salisbury Recorded Music Society, will be tonight Monday 4th April 2016 at 7.30pm, in our usual venue. Richard Seal will be presenting In Flanders Fields – music inspired by World War I including works by Vaughan Williams, Britten and George Butterworth. A great deal of attention is paid to the poets who were affected by the war, rather less attention is paid to the composers who were also strongly influenced by the carnage.
