Bulletin 6

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Bulletin No 6, January 2006

Chairman's Report

The audience at the Christmas FALO turned up in record numbers and were treated to an unusually fine performance of the best of our pieces. John Tims regrets that the concert is rarely as good as the last rehearsal, but somehow this one was - it was now or never and we all got stuck in! John's opening with Strauss' Emperor Waltz, So lively and full of variety, got everyone going, and Puccini's Manon Lescaut climaxed passionately after solos by Stephen on cello and Beryl on viola. It was a pity not to have played more of Rimsky's Antar which had been so interesting to explore, with all his instrumental colourings and testing key changes, but in the March we did display some of our Power too. Steve took us through the best of Tushmaloff’s version of Mussorgsky's Pictures from an Exhibition and again everyone rose to the occasion, the chickens dancing in their shells, the brass blazing away magnificently. There was an unusually good turnout of the orchestra too, with plenty of the strings who are so often under-powered at rehearsals - is there sometimes a feeling 'They won't miss one, amongst so many'? Yet every bit of your support is always much appreciated to maintain the best balance of sound.

The big event of the term was our weekend at Ufton where the major work was Brahms' Third Symphony, but we also enjoyed lighter stuff like The King & I, Porgy & Bess, and The Entertainer. The versatility of our members was striking in the face of casualties to fortune, with John Tims, Patsy, and Daphne and Nick reverting to cello, flute and clarinets respectively, while Chris Washington rejoined to play any of four instruments as required. The future of Ufton Court remains in doubt and I have written to protest at its closure, whilst praising its facilities and recording our gratitude for so many happy hours there. In their Christmas card, the staff wrote that they would welcome any ammunition in their battle to keep it open. Please address it to Mrs Sonia Jackson, The Outdoor Centre, Ufton Court, Green Lane, Ufton Nervet, RG7 4HD

On December 13^th, several of us attended a moving memorial service for Huw Lewis, violinist, sometime wise and witty SMO Treasurer, and maker of violins and violas, one of which his son, David, was playing with his friends at Caversham Methodist Church.

Socially, Lynne organised another well-attended and cheerful lunch at the Fox & Hounds, though it strained the supply of puddings again. We hope she will organise another event this term when she returns from Canada.

Meantime, do keep an eye open for our Beansheaf noticeboard, where Mike Cooney is displaying a succession of archival photos of the orchestra.

Spring Term 2006 - Jan 7, 14,21, 28, Feb 4, 11, (Not 18^th), 25, Mar 4, 11, 18 (FALO)
Summer Term - April 8 (before Easter) 22. 29. Mav 6- 13- 20- Jun 3. 10-17- 24 (FALO)

The Treasurer continues to report a healthy balance despite increasing charges, so we look forward to continuing to hire more adventurous music. To this end, John Tims would like to play Dvorak's Serenade in D minor for wind, cello and double bass, so we look forward to agreeing a date when we could have a full complement of players.

Max Bruch was a highly respected musical figure in Germany and abroad during his lifetime. However, only his violin concertos, the Scottish Fantasy for violin and orchestra and the Kol Nidrei for cello and orchestra op.47 have remained in the modem repertoire He spent the years from 1880-1883 as conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society.

This term we will be playing Bruch's brilliant violin concerto number 1 in G minor with Eleanor Parry, a fine local soloist. Bruch was dissatisfied with his original version of the work and after significant revision he re-issued the concerto with its familiar melodic strains and intricate violin work. It has now become one of the most popular and enduring violin concertos and will be familiar to everyone. Unusually, the concerto opens with a quiet drum roll, soberly expressed chords from the woodwind and a cadenza-like flourish from the solo violin. These ideas are repeated before the movement proper gets underway. Note the transition from the strength of the first movement to the immensely romantic expression of the slow, second movement, and the way that the orchestra gradually builds up the momentum for the entry of the solo violin in the energetic finale.

Borodin began working on Prince Igor in 1869, just after the first performance of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov. However, Borodin made slow progress with the work as a result of his teaching commitments and the fact that he attempted to write both libretto and music at the same time. At his death the opera remained incomplete and Rimsky- Korsakov and Glazunov stepped in and orchestrated the whole opera. The overture was put together by Glazunov after Borodin's death and incorporates the main themes from the opera. The overture starts slowly and broodingly but soon the mood lightens. Towards the end of the overture tension builds as the brass calls become more prominent, and the general sense of excitement is brought to a jubilant climax in the final 20 bars, where the orchestra was originally commanded by Glazunov to "race to the end as if your very lives depend upon it."

This tone poem is a product of Dvorak's last period of creativity. He wrote it in 1896 at the age of 53 when had just returned from his final period in the USA. His critics in Czechoslovakia thought he was writing too much music in the Germanic style, paying little attention to national influences

He answered the criticism with four Tone poems based on Czech fairy tales, which are grim as only fairy stories can be. The Noonday Witch is a killer, who operates only at midday. She hears a mother threaten a naughty child and takes her remarks at face value. The unfortunate husband and father comes home from work, to find his wife unconscious and the child dead on the floor.

This selection of numbers form 'West Side Story' is too well known to require much comment. Originally a Broadway show and then a smash hit film, Bernstein's masterly transfer of the Romeo and Juliet story to the tough Hispanic west side of New York was written with Stephen Sondheim's lyrics and Jerome Robbins choreography as long ago as 1957. It will make a refreshing extension of our stylistic repertoire.

'More Tales from the Orchestra: Harry Cook's ABC-DEFG (Sharp and Flat)' was included in this bulletin and can be found on the Individual members page

I would echo Harry's appreciation of Gilbert & Sullivan who were so important in my education too. The music has been championed by no less than Sir Charles Mackerras, for the operettas are works of genius. In them other composers' music is brilliantly parodied, so that we leam the language of everyone from 'Palestrina to Wagner, As Michael Kennedy wrote in the Oxford Dictionary: One longs to call out "Will the real Sullivan stand up?" I was reminded of this during the recent Bachfest on Radio 3. Supposedly daunting intellectual academic music proved so various, above all, joyous. I got out my old transcriptions of the solo sonatas for violin and cello and started playing with joy too, especially after hearing Casals make them dance and sing, not pushing the pace as if they were just technical studies for practice. Then I found myself singing Gilbert's words to a cantata; 'What though mortal joys be hollow. Pleasures come if sorrows follow'. Sacrilege? No, a tribute! No less than Harry's Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasilieras or The Swingles in Paris alongside his Grappelli and Reinhardt.

A Christmas present I would recommend is a Harper paperback: Evening in the Palace of Reason. James Gaines throws light on the clash of belief and reason when Frederick the Great challenged Bach to write a six-part fugue on an impossible theme. You won't put it down.