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.
Salisbury Recorded Music Society 