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.
New season starts
The new season got off to a good start with a presentation entitled The Power of Mysticism in Music by Ian Lace. Ian was one of the founder members of the Society (not called that then) so we were pleased to welcome him back. He chose pieces where a sense of something beyond the composer was present in the music. It was interesting that most of the pieces – with one exception in fact – were English composers. Whether this means composers from these shores are more susceptible to these influences is probably unlikely although it was noticeable that several had experience either the first or second world wars.
The pieces played were:
- Adagio from Elgar’s Symphony No 1
- Bax, Symphony No 3
- Finzi Intimations of Mortality
- Bach: Chaconne
- The Romanza from Vaughan William’s Symphony No 5
- Elgar again the time the Kingdom Pentecost and finishing with
- Delius Songs of Farewell
Well not quite finishing there because he finished with Louis Armstrong singing What a Wonderful World.
An excellent evening and an all too rare opportunity to hear the music of Bax.
The next meeting is on 3 October and is on early stereo recordings. It will be preceded by a brief agm.
New season
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
Salisbury Recorded Music Society 