November 2025
TONIGHT
Our final meeting in 2025 will be on 1st December when David Davies will be asking “Are you sitting comfortably?” and presenting some Classical Music Signature Tunes.
In the new year we will resume on Monday 26th January 2026 when Ed Tinline will present: “With few strings attached”, music for wind ensembles.
We hope you will be able to join us on Monday.
With best wishes for Christmas and the New Year.
October 2025
Our next meeting will be at 7.30pm on Monday 3rd November 2025.
It will commence with a short Annual General Meeting followed by our Members’ Evening. For this Robin now has almost sufficient pieces for what should be a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Any last minute ideas for possible inclusion if there is time to Robin please.
Following this on 17th November we will have a presentation entitled: “Seventh Son” An appreciation of the work of Gordon Jacob. Written and presented by Geoff Ogram
On 1st December at our final session before Christmas, David Davies will present some Classical Music Signature Tunes. To help him prepare for this, David has asked me to forward the following to members:
“The meeting on December 1 is entitled ‘Are you sitting comfortably? These words began Listen with Mother at 1.45 every weekday on the BBC Light Programme from January 1950 and on into the 60s. And every programme ended with the Berceuse from Faure’s Le Jardin de Dolly suite for piano duet. The words and the tune are still remembered fondly by a whole generation.
“But what else in radio and television (including adverts) has used classical music as a signature tune? We shall have a not-too-serious discussion on this topic, and I would appreciate your letting me know your suggestions.
You can email me at davidracheld@gmail.com
Thank you. David Davies“
We hope you will be able to join us at these sessions.
October 2025
Frederick Delius is well known English composer born of German parents in Yorkshire. He showed early promise and clearly had an eventful life. He was not actually christened Frederick but Fritz. He father was a successful wool merchant but Delius resisted going into that line of business and opted to manage an orange grove in Florida as you do.
He returned some years later and spent much of his early life in Paris. He received a formal musical training in Leipzig. His talent was spotted by Greig.
The presentation was by Alan Doel, a member of our Society, who gave us a lot of background to his life and compositions. Delius was key in the revival of English music and listening to an evening of his compositions, there was a powerful sense of the languid landscape that seemed to emerge, a kind of tonal colouring. This was particularly true of the first, and one of his best known pieces, On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring. Another piece which captured that quality was In a Summer Garden.
He was somewhat overlooked as a composer until he was taken up by Sir Thomas Beecham who premiered some of his works. It’s interesting to note that his early success was in Germany. His time in America and the influence of negro music showed through with compositions like Appalachia of which we heard the final part. Another piece with American associations was the Florida Suite.
It was an interesting evening and we learnt a lot more about this English composer who’s works do not appear that regularly in concert programmes. Other works included Sea Drift, the Cello Concerto and an extract from the opera Irmelin first performed in Germany. The audience expressed its appreciation for the work Alan had put into preparing the presentation.
Alan set us some homework which was to listen to The Song of the High Hills conducted by Sir Mark Elder.
The next meeting on 3 November will be preceded by a brief AGM followed by a members’ evening. If you have a piece, lasting less than 10 minutes ideally, which means something to you or you would like others to hear, please let Robin Lim know robert.lim@virginmedia.com.
Peter Curbishley
September 2025
The new season got off to a flying start with a presentation called Murder, Mishap and Misfortune by Alan Forshaw. The title might lead you to believe this was a dour evening, mawkish even – far from it, Alan selected a range of pieces and to an extent, the unfortunate or sad ways the composers died was almost incidental.
We sometimes forget in our world of inoculation (soon to be changed by Donald Trump), health services and antibiotics, that life even into the early twentieth century was, to quote the Scottish philosopher, ‘nasty, brutish and short’. People died of things we would find surprising today. Whilst studying statistics for example I came across some historical death data and a lot of people died of something called ‘the fluxions’. Who found the cure I do not know. ‘Hissing fits’ was another cause of death. I don’t think people would go into a GP’s surgery today and say ‘doctor, I think I’ve got the fluxions’.
Back to the plot and we started with a scherzo by Alkan, an eccentric French composer of mainly piano pieces. Alan presented an evening featuring this composer a while ago. A prodigy, he entered the Conservatoire at 13 and was perhaps unlucky to be around at the same time as Chopin and Liszt. Turned down by the Conservatoire to be the professor of piano, he largely retired.
Alban Berg can be a little difficult to get to grips with. He was a contemporary of Schoenberg and Webern we heard two early songs which were a delight. The rise of the Nazis made life difficult and he moved out of Vienna. Unfortunately he was stung by an insect and died of blood poisoning.
Marcus Blitzstein is not a name familiar to many and Alan played two of his pieces. American, he was gifted and played a Mozart piano concerto at the age of 7. He was gay (but did get married) and whilst in a bar in Martinique trying to solicit a sailor, he was beaten up and later died of a ruptured liver. He is best remembered for the composition The Cradle will Rock.
Ernest Chausson is well known as a composer although he only composed a modest number of works. Alan chose the Chanson Perpétuelle for soprano, piano and string quartet. He was the son of a contractor who made his fortune redeveloping Paris for Haussmann. We admire Paris for its open layout perhaps not always realising that it wasn’t town planning which inspired the changes but the need for the police and gendarmerie to get a good line of fire against the frequent riots. He died young riding the recently invented bicycle and crashed into a wall, dying instantly.
The Trumpet Voluntary is a very well known piece often played at weddings and was composed by Jeremiah Clarke. Properly titled the ‘Prince of Denmark’s March‘ we heard that and ‘Praise the Lord O Jerusalem’. He fell in love with a female student of higher rank than himself and the tension led to him taking his own life.
Enrique Grenados is well known and we heard his exciting The Fandango of the Lamp. He was delayed from leaving New York and missed the boat to Spain catching one to Britain instead. Unfortunately, the ship was torpedoed by a U-boat and sank in the English Channel. Various accounts of how he died are around but one is that he tried to rescue his wife and because he was wearing a money belt filled with gold, he was unable to swim and sank to his death.
Another victim of the Nazis was Pavel Haas, a Czech composer born in Brno of part Jewish parents. A modest output of music and being very self-critical, only 19 have opus numbers. Originally sent to Theresienstadt he was subsequently transferred to Auschwitz where he was murdered.
Few may have heard of Mieczyslaw Karlowicz (pictured) and the excerpt from his Violin concerto in A major was impressive. He was strongly influenced by Tchaikovsky and later Wagner. Born in what is now Belarus he studied in Warsaw and Berlin. While on a skiing trip in the Tatra Mountains, he was hit by and avalanche and died. Not a large output but his orchestrations are praised.
Karel Komzak is not a name known to many. He was born in what is now the Czech Republic and was an active band leader. We heard the Overture to Operetta Edelweiss. One of his claims to fame was that a young musician who played in one of his orchestras was a certain Antonín Dvořák of whom you may have heard.
Leaving central and eastern Europe and to France and the music of Lully who was in fact born in Florence. He was composing during the Baroque period and many of his works are played today. He was a favourite of Louis IV and composed a number of operas and other music. He stabbed his foot with a conducting staff and a toe became infected. Refusing an amputation, infection set in and he died shortly after of gangrene. Alan played part of – appropriately enough – his Te Deum.
Few will have heard of Johann Schobert born, it’s not clear when and it’s not clear where either but somewhere in Germany. He came to Paris and composed many sonatas. His significance in the history of music was a meeting with the Mozarts who came to Paris as part of their grand tour. It appears that Mozart was strongly influenced by Schobert and used themes and some of his stylistic ideas in his piano concertos from that time. Schobert picked some mushrooms and was told by two restaurateurs that they were poisonous but decided to make soup from them anyway. They killed him and his wife and a doctor friend. There’s an old joke: what did the wife of a mushroom say at his funeral? ‘Shame, he was such a fungi’. His Quartet in F minor was a lively piece.
Colourful does not quite do justice to the life of Alessandro Stradella who was born in Bologna in 1643. Educated in Rome, in his day was well known and produced a number of operas and other works. He clearly had a taste for women and indulged in a number of affairs with many who were already married. He survived one assassination but died after the second.
To more modern times and to Canada: not often we hear music from there. Claude Vivier was born in 1948 in Montreal and spent a lot of time working on ethnic musical themes and a variety of modern themes. We heard a piece for soprano composed in 1973 Jesus Ebarme Dich. He was unashamedly gay and frequented gay bars in Paris. He was eventually murdered by a man called Dolzan. Vivier was a strange man and there is speculation he suffered from Tourette’s syndrome.
Finally, back to northern Europe and the music of Webern a contemporary of Berg (above). He composed a lot of works using the 12 tone scale and it would be fair to say, it takes some while to get to understand it. He was a student of Schoenberg. His death was particularly tragic. In September 1945, he returned home during the Allied occupation of Austria, he was shot and killed by an American Army soldier following the arrest of his son-in-law for black market activities. This incident occurred when, three-quarters of an hour before a curfew was to have gone into effect, he stepped outside the house so as not to disturb his sleeping grandchildren, and in order to enjoy a cigar given him that evening by his son-in-law. The soldier responsible for his death was U. S. Army cook who was overcome by remorse and died of alcoholism in 1955. Webern would not have understood what the American would have said to him. A kind of double tragedy.
A really fascinating evening and a chance to hear a range of music much of it not often heard.
The next meeting is on 6 October.
Peter Curbishley
September 2025
The new starts on Monday 22nd at 7:30 with a presentation called intriguingly Murder, Mishap and Misfortune by Alan Forshaw. Alan’s presentations are always good value and show a deep knowledge of the subject and will no doubt contain some surprises.
The full programme is available and copies can be picked up in the Library (immediately to the right when you go in), the Tourist Information Centre in Fish Row or a pdf can be seen via this link.
If you want to try us out then the first visit is free and full season’s membership (14 evenings) for a mere £25.
Look forward to seeing you.
Peter Curbishley
August 2025
We are delighted to attach the programme for the forthcoming season starting on Monday 22 September at 7:30. You can see there is lots to interest with presentations of more familiar composers together with the less well-known. The strange but amazing music of Eric Satie has an outing and also Delius, a composer we have not featured for many years.
There are evenings on American music as well as from Iberia. Indeed, there is considerable variety in the programme. There are two members’ evenings where members bring along one or two of their favourites. The evenings are open to all we should add.
The Society is keen to explore some of the hidden corners of the repertoire, including pieces seldom heard in the concert hall.
The programmes have been printed and if you like a paper version, they will shortly (next week) be in the Library and in the Tourism Information Centre. If you want to give us a try your first visit is free.
PC
May 2025
This was the last evening of the current season and we were delighted to welcome Michael Jones who enlightened us about the life and work of this somewhat forgotten English composer. Michael is an accomplished musician in his own right with a number of recordings to his name as well as his special interest in Bainton (pictured). He is developing a website which should be completed soon.
Well, you might not recognise the name but you will recognise one of his pieces And I Saw a New Heaven which was performed at Grenfell Tower memorial and at the Hillsborough memorial. First some history. His father was a Congregational minister who later moved with his family to Coventry. His musical abilities at the piano were noticed early and he made his first public appearance as solo pianist age 9, and at 16 he won an open scholarship to the Royal College of Music to study piano with Franklin Taylor and theory with Walford Davies. In 1899 he won a Scholarship to study composition with Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, and thus became one of the rising generation of British composers destined to contribute extensively to the English Musical Renaissance.
In 1901 he was appointed piano professor to the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Conservatory of Music, and after over thirty years of service emigrated to Australia to take up the Directorship of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. I should add at this point that the above biography was accompanied with photos, images of his original scores and programmes which amply displayed Michael’s erudition and scholarship. Many items were not the sort of thing you could turn up with a quick Google* search.
He composed pieces in most of the main genres. We heard for example, a tone poem Pompilia; part of The Blessed Damozel; a lovely song Slow, Slow Fresh Fount; and part of a ‘cello sonata.
To demonstrate his diversity we also heard extracts from his second Symphony, an early and most accomplished Fugue, a Viola Sonata and a movement from a String Quartet. Michael finished with a second extract from Prometheus.
This surely has to be a composer who deserves more attention. It is strange how some composers – and most artists I suppose – seem to drift out of fashion and then suddenly their time comes again. We shall see.
We were most grateful for Michael’s presentation delivered with a great deal of enthusiasm and as I say, erudition. His photos illustrated life at the beginning of the last Century.
This was the last evening of the current season and it has been another successful year. We have been pleased to welcome some new faces. A feature has been several evenings exploring the works of composers whose work – like that of Bainton – have been overlooked or who have gone out of fashion. We’ve had music from Scotland, Wales and England as well as Poland and France.
Peter Howard, our chair, thanked all those who have come and supported us during the year and promised next year’s programme will be just as good. We start again in September. A printed programme will be in Salisbury and Amesbury libraries in September and in the Tourism Information Office as well as here on line.
If you want to widen your interest in music keep and eye out here and on Facebook. We look forward to seeing you.
Peter Curbishley
*other search engines available
May 2025
The last meeting of the current season is tonight, 12 May at 7:30 as usual in the Guides Centre, St Ann Street, Salisbury. It will be on the music of Edgar Bainton and we are delighted to welcome Michael Jones to present.
We will resume our new season in the Autumn and the programme has been finalised. It will be posted here soon.
April 2025
Due to illness, our speaker for the evening was unavailable. Undaunted, we held a members’ evening which was – shall we say – diverse with a wide range of contributions.
First was a well-known piece by Hamish MacCunn called Land of the Mountain and the Flood. It was used as the theme music to the TV series Sutherland’s Law. It is one of those melodies which are recognisable but you can never place who might have composed it.
Next was the first movement of Pierre Rode’s Violin Concerto No 7 thought by many to be the best example of his work. Rode was one of those composers who was all the rave when he was young at the turn of the 18th Century and hugely popular. He was admired by Beethoven and Spohr. He left France, spending several years in Russia and upon his return, his star had faded. There was some suggestion that he had picked up an infection which affected his playing. Anyway he left Paris and returned to his home town of Bordeaux. Sadly, he died quite young.
Next we watched – and listened – on screen to the music of Leroy Shield. Who? I
hear you say: he was the composer of the sound track of the Laurel and Hardy movies. So you are likely to be able to call to mind the jaunty theme to their films without knowing who wrote them. He was significant because it was the time of the ‘talkies’ which were hugely disruptive for the industry. Many actors and actresses never survived once people heard their voices. Some studios struggled with the technology especially matching the sound track to the images. Hal Roach and others overcame the problems and helped the comic team to their huge success
Also another familiar piece from those times was the theme to Charlie Chaplin’s film Modern Times which he composed. Chaplin was slow to adapt to sound – his humour was essentially visual – but did so to further enhance his reputation.
Vivaldi was played and no, not the Four Seasons beloved of Classic FM, but Nisi Dominus composed at the beginning of the 18th Century and a setting of Psalm 127. It is a highly regarded piece and shows why he was much admired by JS Bach.
Hanna Kulenty (pictured) is Polish and it was good to feature a female composer. Born in
1961, she has an impressive range of compositions in a variety of genre to her name. Tonight we heard Music for Roy – intriguing and quite different in style to what had gone before.
Still on the subject of women, next was a performance of a movement from Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 performed by the Argentinian cellist Sol Gabetta. We watched this on screen and her amazing talent was plain to see. She first started playing the violin at the age of 4 and switched to the larger instrument a year or two later.
Next some jazz by Steve Reich and something completely different. I Sixteenths is typical of his style and can be heard on this clip.
Anouard Brahem is not a name known to many but is a Tunisian player of the oud, a Middle Eastern instrument similar in many ways to the Lute from which the name derived. It differs in having no frets and a shorter neck than a lute. We heard Dances with Waves which started with a bass clarinet solo and then joined by a solo oud piece.
Tchaikovsky: well everyone’s heard of him. But they were unlikely to have heard this recording which was made a century ago and has now been digitised. We forget that stereo recordings were effectively unknown in the ’20s but the vigour and brightness of this exciting piece – oh, didn’t I say, it was an excerpt from his 4th Symphony.
Altogether an fascinating evening with jazz, film and TV scores, and other curiosities.
Peter Curbishley
Our next and last meeting is on Monday 12th May and is a presentation of the music of Edgar Bainton. We look forward to seeing you there. 7:30 as usual.
March 2025
Our next meeting will be tonight, Monday 24th March, when we shall welcome Peter Jarvis who will be reminiscing about his life in the orchestra pit as a clarinettist.
At the following meeting on 7th April Peter Curbishley will be discussing the somewhat overlooked French Composer Francis Poulenc.
I hope we can welcome you to one or both of these evenings.
PC
Salisbury Recorded Music Society 