Category: Meeting report

New season gets off to grand start

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

The music of Edgar Bainton

Final meeting focused on this somewhat forgotten English composer

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

Memories of a clarinettist

March 2025

The presentation this month was from a retired clarinettist speaking about his life in various orchestras and more generally as a musician. Peter Jarvis started by discussing the instrument itself which is not a chromatic one so originally was quite limited in its repertoire. The instrument went through a major redesign in France at the beginning of the nineteenth century when the Boehm system was introduced. Boehm himself had little to do with the design however. This provided a range of keys and enabled it widen its range for playing. A personal note here and that is that I was taught the clarinet and my teacher had what he termed the ‘Simple’ system (possibly a simplified German instrument) with far fewer keys but he was nevertheless an accomplished player. There are many different types, sizes and pitches of the instrument – probably around 10 in all.

The instrument has a single reed and they all come from the town of Fréjus in the South of France. Peter grew up in Oxford and was fortunate to enjoy a rich social milieu. He met the late Colin Davis (later Sir Colin) who was himself a former clarinettist (they get everywhere) who encouraged him. Thence to the Royal Academy of Music. The first piece to be played was by Gerald Finzi, a movement from his Clarinet Concerto. This is Finzi’s most performed work.

Peter left the Academy to become the principle at Royal Saddlers Wells, a real accomplishment. He described how they toured a lot and a large amount of travelling was involved since performances were arranged up and down the country. In the orchestra pit in an opera house he said, the wind instruments are under the stage, unable to hear the singers which does make timing and coordination difficult. On tour by contrast, they were on the same level in front of the stage and actually see and hear what’s going on.

Touring posed its own problems because for some mysterious reason, the instrumentalists were the last to hear where the next performance was to be held. This often meant all the available accommodation was already taken. Desperate to find somewhere to sleep in Leeds, he asked the police for help and was taken to an address where he was provided with a bed. In the morning there was knock on the door and a young lady came in with a cup of tea. Next morning, the same thing happened with a different young lady. Could get use to this Peter thought, but then he discovered – it was a brothel.

The second piece was the final movement from Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet. What was special was that it was a recording made in the barn adjacent to Peter and his wife Jane’s house in the South West of France. The recording – despite being recorded on a cassette recorder – was of excellent quality. The composition was written for his friend the clarinettist Anton Stadler, as was Mozart’s last instrumental composition the Concerto, who were both members of the same Viennese lodge. The score was lost but was later believed to have been pawned by Stadler. It was written for another member of the clarinet family the Basset horn which is longer and slightly lower pitched. The ‘horn’ refers to the curved nature of the instrument’s mouthpiece. [I have heard the concerto played on this instrument at the Proms and it is significantly different experience].

Peter described his later career playing with the Liverpool Phil and in a variety of West End shows. He described working to produce what are called ‘library albums’ and these are where freelance musicians compose and record music for use in films, TV shows and advertisements. Further pieces were Mozart’s Wind Quintet, and Matthew Arnold’s Divertimento.

It was a truly interesting evening because although presenters can all play music from CDs, here was someone who was part of the CDs, who has actually created music and who’s life was about producing it for us to enjoy. We even had a short piece composed by him. The mixture of music and anecdote was a joy and must be fairly unique to the Society.

Peter Curbishley

Next meeting on 7 April and is on the music of Francis Poulenc

William Mathias

Excellent presentation on this largely forgotten composer

March 2025

One of the puzzles of musical life is why some composers seem to disappear from the repertoire. One thinks of Bruckner who enjoyed great popularity in his day at the end of the nineteenth century then was forgotten for many decades. He began to be appreciated again in the 60s. Bach no less suffered a long period of silence until Mendelssohn brought him out of the shadows.

Last evening we heard a range of compositions by the Welsh composer William Mathias. Unknown to several us, he composed a wide range of material including symphonies, concerti, choral and an opera. Lindsay Dannatt provided several examples from his compositions many of which were accomplished and of great interest. It is true that some have entered the repertory such as the Harp Concerto from which we heard an extract, the Piano Concerto No 3, likewise and the Organ Concerto.

Other works were extracts from Symphony No 1; the Horn Concerto and Divertimento for String Orchestra. Choral works included This World’s Joie and Songs of William Blake.

Mathias’ musical language embraced both instrumental and vocal forms with equal success, and he addressed a large and varied audience both in Britain and abroad. He was widely honoured in the academic word being awarded an Honorary DMus by Westminster Choir College, Princeton USA in 1987 and he was made CBE in the 1985 New Year’s Honours. He was honoured in Wales, his home country as well. He died in 1992 at a relatively young age.

Although some of the references to him, in Groves for example, refer to the influence of Bartok and Hindemith, he had a definite ‘voice’ and was not in any way derivative.

We were enormously grateful to Lindsay for bringing this composer to our attention and for an informed selection of his works.

Peter Curbishley

Christmas Quiz!

December 2024

The first half of the season ended in cracking style with a quiz ably put together by Ruth Barlow. Music you won’t be surprised to learn, formed the basis of the questions which taxed the team’s knowledge. We had to guess both composer and piece with some questions on what linked the different compositions. There was a round based on photos of musicians. A challenging round was guessing the end of compositions. It was very much enjoyed and were very grateful for the work and cunning that Ruth had put into compiling the questions.

It brings to an end the first half of our season which has been a great success with a varied and interesting programme. We start again in the New Year on 27 January with an interesting first session enabling us to polish up our knowledge of Polish composers.

PC

Recent meetings

November 2024

The Society’s two recent meetings on 21 October and 4 November had a range of interesting music. The first was a members’ evening where members bring along pieces which have interested them or they have discovered for themselves.

This was preceded by our agm which went smoothly enough. The Society is holding its own at present with adequate funds and a healthy programme of events. Indeed plans are afoot for the 2024/25 season with some potentially interesting ideas. The Chair of the society said in the context of reduced funding for the arts that ‘we were keeping the flame of great music alight’.

Members brought a range of pieces one of which was an extract from Gloria Coates’ Symphony number 14. Gloria was from Wisconsin but spent a great deal of time in Europe. She died last year.

Gerald Finzi is a somewhat neglected British composer and few of his works appear on the repertoire these days. One composition which gets an outing now again is his clarinet concerto the first movement of which – an allegro – was played.

The Argentinian violinist Manfredo Kraemer performed an unusual Peruvian piece on the viola di gamba.

One most surprising piece was a Beethoven string quartet played on saxophones by the Sinta quartet. This really worked and shows that compositions can work in different genre and provide fresh insights.

We ended with a performance of a movement from Bruckner’s Symphony No 8. There are many recordings of this great work but this was by von Karajan dating from 1944. Many of these recordings disappeared into the Soviet Union after the war after prolonged negotiations, many have tricked out. As ever with a von Karajan it is a remarkable rendition all the more remarkable bearing in mind the circumstances in Berlin at the time. The recording is incomplete.

4 November

Due to the speaker being unwell, this was a change to the published programme. We were fortunate that Jeremy Barlow stepped into the breach and provided a programme which was both erudite and enjoyable. Entitled Theme and Variations, he explained the importance of variations in the musical world and gave examples of different types.

The standout recording was the chaconne from the partita for violin by Bach played by Victoria Mullova. You may be familiar with this piece but as Jeremy said, the phrasing of her playing made this an outstanding performance. It is thought that it was composed following Bach’s return home to find his wife had died during his absence.

Another piece was the Adagio from Beethoven’s quartet in E minor which has six variations (I think!) some of the breaks between them difficult to spot.

Other pieces included Brahms’s variations on a theme by Paganini, a composition by William Byrd and a movement from Vaughan Williams’ 6th Symphony.

It was an extremely interesting evening and members were grateful to Jeremy for putting it together at short notice.

The next meeting is on 18 November.

Peter Curbishley

Nino Rota

April 2024

There are few who do not know the instantly recognisable theme to The Godfather, the composer of which is less well known. Nino Rota, real name Rinaldi, born in 1911, composed this and over a hundred other film scores as well as much other music during the course of a prolific career.

Last evening, Robin Lim gave an excellent presentation of this composer’s life. He was a prodigy and, aged 11, while the rest of us were reading Enid Blyton or looking at our stamp collections, he was composing an oratorio which was performed in Milan. Aged 14, following his father’s death and with the help of the Italian conductor, Arturo Toscanini, he went to the Curtis Institute in America to study composing and conducting.

Apart from The Godfather, another film score which received critical acclaim was for the Glass Mountain. The film itself was not a success but the music – of which we heard and saw an extract – was recognisable.

We heard a movement from the Clarinet Sonata composed in 1945 and also from a symphony. The sonata was very moving but the Symphony might need another hearing to appreciate it more. He composed four symphonies but they have been somewhat overshadowed by his film and operatic scores.

The overture to the opera I Cappello di Paglia di Firenze was lively and tuneful. For the film The Leopard by Visconti, he adapted the music from an unfinished symphony and we watched an excerpt featuring a waltz.

We could not of course escape hearing his famous composition but this was not the familiar version but one played on a harp.

He has sometimes been described as a musical chameleon – perhaps not always flatteringly – as his style is sometimes a little derivative of other composers.

In any event, it was a fascinating evening and we certainly learned more of this prolific composer.

And talking of unfinished symphonies. the next meeting on 29th April is ‘The curse of the ninth’ looking at those composers who never quite manage ten symphonies.

Peter Curbishley

Robin has kindly sent the full playlist:

1. Cello Concerto (1925) excerpt                                                                                          

2. Symphony No. 1 (1936 – 39) – 1st movement (Allegro con moto)                                                       

3. Clarinet Sonata (1945) – 1st movement (Allegretto scorrevole)                                         

4. “The Glass Mountain” (Henry Cass,1949) – Opera sequence                                                            

5. Sinfonia on a Love Song (1947, 1st Perf 1972) – 1st movement                                                         

6. “Obsession” (Edward Dmytryk, 1949) – Opening titles                                          

7. “The Stranger’s Hand” (Mario Soldati, 1954) – Opening titles and scene

INTERVAL

8. Overture to The Florentine Straw Hat, operetta (1st perf 1955)                                                                           

9.  “La Dolce Vita” (Federico Fellini, 1959) – Opening Titles                                                     

10. “La Dolce Vita” – Blues                                                       

11. Concerto Soiree for piano and orchestra (1958) – 1st Movement (Walzer-fantasia)                                               

12. “The Leopard” (Luchino Visconti, 1963) – Opening Titles                                                                   

13. Sinfonia on a Love Song – 3rd movement                                                    

14. “The Leopard” – Ball scene                                                                                               

15. “The Godfather” (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)  – Love Theme – transcribed by Rota for solo harp

16. Le Moliere Imaginaire , Ballet (1976) excerpts         

Music of Salzburg

You might think that an evening of music with a title such as this would be … well, Mozart, Mozart and more Mozart. Anyone who has been to the city will know that he is well remembered there and there are plentiful shops selling Mozart chocolate, Mozart china and I have forgotten what else. Today, we tend to see Vienna as the historic and cultural centre of that part of the world, but it was for a long time Salzburg – once its own kingdom apart from Austria – which was the cultural centre of that part of the world. It was here, that the first opera was performed north of the Alps.

In fact it was an evening with no Mozart at all because, as the speaker explained, the City was something of a centre of music before the famous composer’s time and attracted talented musicians from Italy, Germany and elsewhere. Angus Menzies took us through a number of pieces, some by quite well known composers, and others less well known. 

These included pieces by Biber for example who was thought to be the finest violinist in Europe in his day, Bernardi, the Salzburg Requiem, some Monteverdi, and works by Muffat, Sonata No 5.

The speaker was praised for his breadth of choice and how music at the time linked to social history. It is one of the features of the Society that, in addition to the music, we get to hear something of its place in history, how it came to be written and something about the composer. We also get to hear from composers who are either forgotten or unfairly neglected. One of the problems today is that unless a composers name begins with B, M or S, it is unlikely to be played in a concert setting!

The next meeting is on 26 February at 7:30 as usual and is music from the Southern hemisphere.

Peter Curbishley

View of the music room (pictures: Salisbury RMS)

Christmas meeting

Successful evening despite change to the programme

Due to unforeseen circumstances the last evening of the year was a success with four of the committee members stepping up with their selections of music with a Christmas theme. Not surprisingly, Bach featured in two of the presentations: first with the Christmas Oratorio BWV 248 intended for performance during the Christmas period.

Second, we had the rather unusual Mrs Kennedy’s adaptation of ‘A Christmas Carol‘ with the voice of Bernard Miles among others. This is available on YouTube .

Thirdly, were two extracts from L’Enfance du Christ by Berlioz. This piece grew slowly following a tune which popped into his head at a card game. This became the well known Le Choeur des Bergers. He added further pieces bit by bit eventually shaping into the final work which was a huge success.

Grieg is one of those composers who is well known for a small handful of their output – in his case the piano concerto comes to mind – the rest of their oeuvre can often remain unperformed appearing fleetingly on Radio 3. We heard his Sonata for violin and piano Opus 45. This is the last of his sonatas for violin and was composed in 1887 a little before he began to enjoy some fame.

Finally, more Bach with some selections from the Christmas Cantatas including BWV 63; 91; 40 and 110. This is part of the major effort by the conductor, John Eliot Gardiner, to record all the extant Bach cantatas, many of which, regrettably have been lost.

Coincidentally, both Bach selections and the Berlioz were by Eliot Gardiner who has stepped back from conducting following an unfortunate incident surrounding the performance of les Troyens at the Proms. We must hope he returns to the music scene soon.

Merry Christmas to our readers and we restart on 29 January 2024 when we welcome a speaker from the Holst Society who, like Greig, is largely know for one piece is in his case the Planets Suite. The title appropriately is ‘Is there more to Holst than solely the Planets?’

Peter Curbishley

Off the Beaten Track

… was the title of last evening’s talk

November 2023

One of the aims of our Society is to play music from the less well known, the overlooked or even the yet to be discovered. Whether it is just composers is hard to say but there are a lot of composers and compositions who were – which were – once well known yet for various reasons seem to disappear never to be heard of again outside perhaps, a small group of aficionados.

Last night’s presentation by our Chair, Peter Horwood, was an attempt – a successful attempt – to bring to our notice just some of those compositions which have been undeservedly forgotten or neglected. We were doubly grateful to Peter who had to step in at short notice because of unforeseen circumstances.

We started with a piece by the sixteenth century German composer Michael Praetorius and one of his ballets – La Bourée. This was followed by a poem set to music by Rachel Portman. Rachel is well-known and was the first woman to win an Academy Award and also an Emmy.

This was followed by an extraordinary composition consisting entirely of percussion instruments of various kinds called Ku-Ka Illmoka, composed by Christopher Rouse III an American who has a wide range of compositions to his name including a Requiem and six symphonies.

An accomplished partita by Johann Gottfried Walther, contemporary of Bach, followed: an example of someone who seems to have been unfairly overlooked. Then it was a piece by Leo Ornstein, a Ukrainian born composer (as we would say today, then part of the Russian empire) who spent most of his life in America. A brilliant pianist, he suddenly gave it up to devote his life to composition. We heard the third movement of the Piano Quintet No 3. His work was controversial and concerts were sometimes riots of jeering and whistling. The piece we heard was outstanding and orginal.

Then a harpsichord piece by Richard Jones from his Suite No 1. A 17th Century composer, little of his work survives particularly his stage compositions. This was a lively harpsichord piece, an instrument which had not long been invented at the time he was alive.

Few will have heard of Nikolai Tcherepnin a Russian composer born in St Petersburg and studied under Rimsky-Korsakov. He was closely involved with Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes and conducted some of their performances. We listened to the prelude from La Princess Lointaine. After the Revolution he left for Paris and spent the rest of his days there.

Few may have heard of Hélène de Montgeroult who lived in France and who experienced first hand, the violence of the Revolution being the daughter of an aristocratic family. She was denounced and imprisoned. She was a brilliant pianist and we heard Etudes 6 & 7. What was astonishing about them was that they were composed not long after Mozart’s death but seemed a world away. Indeed, one commentator said she was the gap between Mozart and Chopin. Like so many female composers she largely disappeared from view.

Next to a composition by Oscar Fried a German composer who was the first to record a Mahler symphony. We heard a setting of Transfigured Night a poem by Richard Dehmel. Jolly Braga Santos is a Portuguese composer, arguably their greatest, born in Lisbon in 1924. He composed symphonies and other works and we enjoyed the 1st movement from his Symphony No 1. An impressive melodic work. He was encouraged in his work by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

We ended the evening with A Drop in the Ocean by Eriks Ešenvalds a Latvian composer born in 1977 who now teaches in his home country.

Few will have heard of these composers or of the compositions. They were in a wide variety of styles and spanned around four centuries. All were indeed off the beaten track and are infrequently heard in concert halls.

Peter Curbishley