Forthcoming event

We have heard from one of our contributors who will be performing for us in the new season’s programme as follows:
You may know that I am producer of Opera at Chilmark   This year’s production is a brand new and very appealing opera Beowulf by the young English composer, Louis Mander – a world premiere in fact! Lots of action, including dance, on stage and some really attractive music – plus a long picnic interval. If you were circulating the membership and could include the attached poster, I would be most grateful.
Also!   Salisbury Baroque will be giving a concert devoted to the French baroque, particularly Lully and Rameau, in the Guildhall on Sunday 25 September at 4pm. Tickets before the day are £10, from Musicroom (from 1 September), but if a group of 10 of your members would like to come let me know and we’d give you another ticket free of charge!

New season’s programme

Two evenings devoted to this composer
Two evenings devoted to this composer

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.

Programme

End of season

With last night’s meeting, the current season of the Society came to an end and will resume in September.  Next year’s programme is well underway and has a lively combination of home grown and invited speakers as well as a ‘live’ performance.  The committee met before the meeting and one item was a review of the year and all agreed that it had been an excellent one.  With two live performances as well as the usual fare of CDs, the programme was diverse and interesting.  The Society exists to enable people to broaden their knowledge and enjoyment of classical music in a non challenging way.

We had presentations which focused on the Great War, two on famous conductors – Mackerras and Bernstein – and we welcomed Lord Aberdare of the Berlioz Society for a memorable presentation.  The role of lesser known composers especially from these shores and from the Baltic countries was also notable.  Altogether a successful year.

Meetings take place in Salisbury every other Monday evening during the season which starts again on 19 September.  Directions can be found on the ‘Find us’ tab.  Parking is easy.  New members are always welcome and feel free to come along to a meeting.  Full details of the new programme will be published here once it is finalised and a leaflet will be available in the Collector’s Room in Endless Street; Oxfam’s music room and in the Tourism Office in Butcher Row.

We look forward to seeing you.

Last meeting

The last meeting of Salisbury Recorded Music Society took place last night Monday 23rd May 2016 at 7.30pm, in our usual venue.  Jon Hampton presented ‘The art of the arranger’ including works by Boccherini arranged by Berio, Bach by Elgar, and Schubert by Britten.  An excellent and interesting evening and there will be a full report soon.
 
There was a selection of records (as in vinyl) which have been kindly donated to the Society and these are available with members asked to make a small contribution as they see fit.  They are listed below:
Composer Piece Orchestra
Schubert/ Beethoven Symphony #8 and #5 Berlin PO, Maazel
Orff Carmina Burana Andre Previn, LSO
Tchaikovsky Romeo & Juliet J Pritchard, LPO
Festival of Carols Bath Abbey
Festival of Lessons and carols Kings College
Mendelsaohn Scottish & Italian Sym Solti, LSO
Mozart Piano Concertos #20 #23 Brendel, Academy St M in the Fields
Bath Abbey organ Various
Handel Water Music Boyd Neel and Orchestra
Mozart Symphonies #29 #39 Colin Davies, S of London
Beethoven Sonatas, Moonlight, Pathetique, #17 Albert Ferber
Mozart Symphonies # 39 #40 Böhm, Vienna PO
Bruch & Beethoven Violin Conc #1; Romances for V and orchestra Oistrach, RPO
Various, Smyth, MacCunn Music of the four countries Gibson, Scottish Nat Orch
Messager The two pigeons Jacquillat, Orchestra de Paris
Boyce, W The 8 symphonies Faerber, Württbergberg Ch O
Bach Brandenburg #4 #5 #6 Davison, Virtuoso of England
  Brandenburg #1 #2 #3 do –
Holst The Planets Sargent, BBCSO
Chopin Piano Concerto # 1 Pressler, Vienna State Opera
Vivaldi 4 seasons etc Various
Tchaikovsky Piano Conc #1 Makaloff, Hague PH Orch
Handel Messiah Sargent, RPO
Box sets Gateway to the Classics and Opera
G & S Overtures, Mikado, Gondoliers etc Godfrey, New SO of London
G & S Best of … Walker, RPO

 

Most look to be in good condition and the discs I’ve looked at seem clean and unscratched.  If you are interested in any of these please ring 01722 782382 and we can try and arrange delivery.

Next meeting

The next meeting of the Society – the penultimate – is on May 9th and is a members’ evening.  This is where individual members can suggest pieces which can be played with or without an introduction by them as they wish.  It is usually and enjoyable evening, eclectic of course and everyone’s choice is different.  Usual place, usual time.

New members are welcome and the entry is a modest £2 to help us defray costs.

We look forward to seeing you.

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Sir Charles Mackerras

The last meeting of the Society was a presentation by Anthony Powell of the conducting of Sir Charles Mackerras illustrated by extracts from some of his recordings.  Mackerras was born in Schenectady in USA to Australian parents but they returned to their home country when he was two to live in Sydney.

He was a precocious talent and wrote a piano concerto when he was 12.  His parents were not convinced a musical life would be a viable profession so sent him to The King’s School with its focus on sport and discipline hoping that he would pursue a different career.  It was not to be and at the age of 16 went to the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music where he studied oboe, piano and composition.

Vaclav Talich

At 19 he was the principal oboist with the ABC Sydney Orchestra.  A few years later he sailed for England and began his career at the Saddlers Wells Theatre.  He studied conducting with Vaclav Talich (pictured) in Prague and returned to resume his career at the English National Opera.

There then followed a distinguished career with a variety of famous orchestras including the BBC Concert Orchestra; Covent Garden; the Met and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.  He was the first non Briton to conduct the BBCSO at the Proms.

Tony selected a wide range of his conducting and started with a piece by Sir Arthur Sullivan followed by a piece by Delius: Paris: the song of a great city first performed in 1899 in Germany and this recording with the Liverpool Philharmonic.

Mackerras had a great attachment to Czech music – indeed he spoke the language fluently – and we heard the Symphonic poem: the Noonday Witch by Dvorak.  This was followed by an extract of the familiar Sinfonietta by Janacek.

The classics were not neglected and two movements from Mozart’s Symphony No. 32 in G major performed with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.  Then it was Beethoven’s seventh followed by Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5.  All these extracts illustrated the close attention to rhythm and pace which Mackerras had.  This was particularly illustrated by an extract from Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, a piece of great energy and requiring great skill to keep the orchestra together.  This was an electrifying performance.

To record Handel’s Messiah using no less than 26 oboes were needed – which is what the composer required – meant it had to be done at night finishing in the small hours.  After the final scene of Janacek’s Jenufa we heard the final movement of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, again with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchesta.

The range of this conductor’s performances was well illustrated and the pieces carefully chosen to give good examples of his style and ability.  Sir Charles died in 2005.  He had received many honour including a CBE; Medal of Merit from Czech Republic and was made Honorary President of Edinburgh International Festival Society.

Next meeting on May 9th and is a member’s evening

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Next meeting

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.

Sir Charles Mackerras. Picture filharmonie-brno.cz

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

In Flanders’ Fields

A century ago, the First World War was in full swing.  The battle for Ypres was taking place in April 1916 and it was the first time phosgene gas was used.  It is difficult to believe that out of this carnage and bloodletting, some lovely music, poetry and art was created.

At the last meeting, Richard Seal played a selection of pieces which were composed during the time of the war or inspired by it.  Richard was much moved by visits to the war graves in Flanders including Vimy Ridge, Arras and Thiepval where he hopes to go to again.

He began with A Shropshire Lad by George Butterworth who died on the Somme in 1916 aged just 31.  This is a familiar piece and his death was a great loss to music.  This was followed by the last movement of Morning Heroes by Sir Arthur Bliss who lived until 1975 but who lost his brother in the conflict.  He returned to the battlefield in 1928 and this piece was the result of that visit.

This was followed by Three songs by Ivor Gurney.  Gurney had a troubled life and was both a poet and composer.  He was gassed while serving with the Gloucester regiment but his biggest problem was his mental health.  At the time he was thought to be the greatest of his generation but his full promise never materialised.

Britten was too young for the war but his War Requiem, which was composed for the consecration of Coventry Cathedral destroyed in WWII, was inspired by the poems of Wilfrid Owen who regrettably died a week before the Armistice.

Frederick Septimus Kelly

This was followed by an Elegy for strings and harp by Frederick Kelly who died in 1916. An Australian he also had a gold medal for rowing in the 1908 Olympics and this elegy was in memory of Rupert Brooke who also lost his life.

Some pieces by Charles Ives followed including In Flanders’ Fields composed in 1917.

The evening finished with the last movement of the Pastoral Symphony by Vaughan Williams.  The First World War, in which he served in the army in the medical corps, had a lasting emotional effect.

It was a fascinating evening and the presenter’s erudition about this moving period of our history shone through.

The next meeting is on April 18th

peter curbishley

Next meeting

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. 

A personal musical journey

Last nights meeting was a presentation by Anthony Powell in which he played music which he has enjoyed over his life.  As we move into the electronic age, and increasingly people download their music from the internet, it is hard to remember that there are people who’s first experience was with 78s.  For younger readers these are discs that rotated at 78 rpm.  They didn’t last long and any piece of any length involved several disks and several trips to the turntable to turn them over.

The first piece was Beethoven’s Egmont overture which was a transcription from a 78 and was recorded by Toscanini.  Typical of this conductor it was a very forthright performance and sounded good despite the fact it was mono and of some vintage.

Tony’s first LP (can we all not forget our first LP and the trip back from the shop to play it for the first time?) was Beethoven (again) 5th Symphony conducted by Bernard Haitink.  This was a live recording at Birmingham and the audience burst into applause at the end of this thrilling piece.

Next was Mahler and the end of his Symphony No. 3 followed by Rimsky Korsakov and this was a version recorded from a Decca 7″ record which were popular around 40 or so years ago.  Many of us took advantage of these budget priced discs.

Next we heard the finale of the thrilling Shostakovich Violin concerto.  Alongside the music Anthony had brought in a collection of signed autographs of composers and conductors.  Some he had acquired by writing to Russia at a time when this was an unusual thing to do.

A lifelong liking for the Late Quartets of Beethoven was illustrated by an extract from No 16 in F major.  There are pieces that stay with you throughout your life and you never tire of them.

This was followed by the Sanctus from Berlioz’s Grande Messe Des Morts performed in St Paul’s cathedral and conducted by the late Sir Colin Davies a Berlioz specialist.  A feature of the evening was the large preponderance of live recordings which, although sometimes less than perfect, do have a certain electricity to them which a studio recording can lack.

The rest of the programme included;

  • Robert Simpson’s Symphony No. 4

    Thomas Ades
  • Beethoven’s Misa Solemnis
  • 3rd movement from Thomas Adès’s Violin Concerto (2005)
  • two songs by Richard Strauss
  • and the evening finished – appropriately enough – with final part of Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony No. conducted by Klaus Tenndstedt recorded in 1989

A most enjoyable evening and truly a Dance to the Time of Music.