Tag: music

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 the southern hemisphere

February 2024

The February meeting of the Society was an exploration of the music south of the equator presented by Ed Tinline of this parish. With the odd exception, it would be fair to say that much of the music from this part of our world is largely unknown. The dominance of the European canon makes pieces from faraway places like Australia or New Zealand something of a rarity despite people claiming we live in small world nowadays.

Perhaps an exception is Percy Grainger who is well known although it has to be said he lived much of his life in America and from time to time in Europe. We heard the Colonial Song of 1911 which originally was poorly received. It was meant as an evocation of the Australian landscape. Grainger held some extreme racist views and was a supporter of Nordic culture.

John Antill was an Australian composer best known for his work Corroboree of which we heard three extracts: the Welcome Ceremony, Dance to the Evening Sun and A Rain Dance. The first was strongly influenced by Aboriginal rhythms.

The Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe focused much of his compositional energy on incorporating themes from Aboriginal culture and sounds of the Outback. Ed selected one his better known works Kakado which I noted as a ‘sombre piece buy richly textured’. We also heard part of Earth Cry which may be the only orchestral composition to incorporate the didgeridoo.

The first half ended with a composition by another Australian Ross Edwards, another composer with a strong interest in Australian culture. We heard two movements from Full Moon Dances – Concerto for alto saxophone and orchestra. Edwards was something of a recluse although his work has found its way into concert programmes around the world.

The last Australian composer to be featured was Alfred Hill and his Symphony No 5 in A minor – the Carnival. This had a strong European feel, in contrast to his fellow compatriots and there were odd traces of Tchaikovsky and maybe others.

The last item was by Douglas Lilburn, the only New Zealander to feature, with his Aotearoa (Land of the Long White Cloud), and the Festival Overture. Lilburn was taught composition by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Well it wasn’t quite the last as we ended with the Traditional Maori song Pokarehare sung by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.

As ever, it was an evening of mostly discoveries with the odd familiar piece and reflected the range and depth of music in this part of the world. We only heard a small sample of course and was summed up in the vote of thanks that the music had an ‘intangible flavour of its own’.

Peter Curbishley

The next meeting is on Monday 11 March

Next meeting

Next meeting and changes to the programme

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we have had to make some changes to our programme involving the next three meetings.

On Monday 6th November, Peter Horwood will be presenting Off the Beaten Track in which he takes us on an informal journey along some less familiar musical byways.

On Monday 20th November, Peter again will be presenting, this time the third in his series on 20th Century Music. [This was due to be presented at the previous meeting].

Our final programme this season is slightly changed and will be Christmas Special in which members of the SRMS committee will present a range of pieces with a seasonally appropriate theme.

We look forward to seeing you at these evenings.

New season has got underway

Next meeting on 6 November 2023

The Society’s new season started in September and we have an interesting programme again this year. We have a wide ranging series of evenings including music by Puccini, Gustav Holst, the best of the 20th Century and on why so few composers managed a tenth symphony. We also have two members’ evenings and a Christmas quiz.

You can download the programme here or printed copies will be in the Library, Oxfam (upstairs) and the Tourism Information Centre next week.

The Society meets once a fortnight on a Monday evening starting at 7:30 and we aim to finish at 10 pm. It meets in the Guides’ Centre in St Ann Street although access is from the rear off Friary Lane. Parking is free and it is accessible for people with mobility difficulties.

prog-23-24Download

If you want to speak on the phone then contact Ruth on T: 01722 782387 or M: 07759 785760

Next meeting

Our next meeting will be this Monday, 27th February, when Jon Hampton will be presenting a fascinating insight into the colourful life of Alma Schindler – a woman who had an immense influence on music and the creative arts. Starting at 7:30 as usual and free parking outside the door.

We hope we will be able to welcome you on 27th February.

Next (and last!) meeting

Secret Sibelius is the title of the last meeting of the 2021/22 season

TONIGHT!

We are delighted to welcome back Simon Coombs who is going to speak on the

subject of Sibelius and he will be focusing on the lesser known works by this famous composer. Like many composers, people are often familiar with the great works but there is often a hinterland of lesser known works which are worth listening to.

This is the last meeting of the current season so we look forward to meeting you at 7:30 as usual. Work is well advanced with the 2022/23 season and we will be producing a leaflet as usual in the summer.

Next meeting

The next meeting will be on Monday 22nd November which will be our Members’ Evening.   There is still room for a few more pieces so if you have a piece on CD of around 10 minutes that you would like to bring and have played, please would you email Ed Tinline details quickly, so he can complete the play list.

As before we shall have an interval when we will offer tea or coffee, but you’re welcome to bring your own drink.  

We ask all attending to follow the Covid safety measures we have in place including signing in and sanitising procedures on arrival, well spaced seating, wearing a mask, minimising moving around and maintaining social distancing.  After this, our final meeting before Christmas will be on 6th December 2021 when: Ruth Barlow will present ‘Classical Music in Animations’ and invite us to join her in an end of term scamper  through some cartoons with great classical music, including considering whether Fantasia was Mickey Mouse’s finest hour and listening to Tom and Jerry playing Liszt.

We hope you will be able to come on Monday 22nd November at 7.30 and to feel comfortable with the arrangements we plan to have in place.

Next meeting

The next meeting will be on Monday 27th September at 7:30 and will be a Members’ Evening for which the Committee will bring and introduce their choice of pieces.

The meeting will start with the Annual General Meeting.

We shall have an interval when we will be able to offer tea or coffee, but you’re welcome to bring your own drink. May we remind any member who has not yet joined for this season, that the membership fee is £20 as before, and that Ruth would be pleased to accept cash or a cheque payable to SRMS. The fee for occasional visitors continues at £3.

We have met staff at the Guides and agreed appropriate Covid safety measures which we ask all attending to follow.  These will include sanitising procedures on arrival, well spaced seating, wearing a mask, minimising moving around and maintaining social distancing. 

Copies of the full programme for the season will be available at the meeting.  The next meeting will be on 11th October and will be presented by Peter Horwood.

We hope you will be able to come on Monday 27th September at 7.30 and to feel comfortable with the arrangements we plan to have in place.

What a strange season!

We held our last meeting on Monday evening (10 May 2021) using a combination of Zoom and YouTube. It was a presentation by Ruth of a selection of humoresques. She said  ‘a humoresque is not necessarily funny, but they do tend to have a whimsical, flippant character, and a general disregard for musical convention.’ You can listen to her selection – which is well worth while – by following this YouTube link:  https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDYYr-sXg1St6Iys2ElVT3tRHS-btqDs2

It has been a funny season where we have not of course, been able to meet. However, the online format has worked surprisingly well and has enabled a different perspective from our normal modus operandi. We have been able to see some of the performances as well as listen which does sometimes add to the experience. When we meet in person again – which we hope to do in the autumn – we plan to do more of the visual presentations using the screen the music room has installed.

Details of the 2021/22 programme are now being put together and will be posted here and in leaflet form around the town as before (Oxfam, TIC and Library).

We hope to see you again when we reconvene.