CONTENTS

page

Editorial

What is the FRMS for? 2

NEWS

Reg Wil liam son Re tires 3Fed er a tion Website 3

LETTERS

Schu bert 4John Bulman 4Equip ment 4Af fil i a tion Charges 5Ted Perry 5Ex am i na tion of Ac counts 6

FEATURES

Sir Lennox Berke ley 7Art Nou veau Sound 10Ar nold Sugden 12Life does not be gin… 15Re corded and Live mu sic 17DVD-A or SACD 19How to or gan ise brass band 19

BOOK REVIEWS

The Amadeus 36Elgar and Chiv alry 37

page

CD REVIEWS

De Pro fun dis 11Curtis - Or ches tral Works 38Trio Gemelli 38

STRATFORD

Mu si cal Week end 20

SCOTLAND

An nual Con fer ence 24

THE REGIONS

Cen tral Re gion 26Sus sex Re gion 28West Surrey Re gion 29York shire Re gion 29

THE SOCIETIES

Car diff 34Kirkcaldy 35Lin coln 35Uxbridge 36York 36

CROSSWORD

Cross word 39

FRMS OFFICERS

Of fi cers, Board and Com mit tees 40

Visit the FRMS Website:

www.musicweb.uk.net/frms

FRMS BULLETIN Autumn 2003

Ed i tor: Ar thur BakerAll Ed i to rial copy to him at:4 Ramsdale Road,Bramhall, Stock port,Cheshire SK7 2QATel: 0161 440 8746 or E-Mail: ask.baker@ntlworld.com

Ed i to rial dead lines:Spring is sue - 31st De cem berAu tumn is sue - 30th JuneMar keting Man ager: Ca thy Con nolly (see backpage). Ad ver tise ments areavail able from £35.00, de -tails from her.Cir cu la tion Man ager: Gra ham Kiteley(see backpage for ad dress).

Copies are distributed to allFederation affiliates withadditional copies throughsociety secretaries. Estimatedreadership is well over 10,000.Individual Subscriptions areavailable at £6.80 for fourissues. Direct orders andsubscriptions for the Bulletinshould be sent to the FRMSTreasurer (see back page).

The cover picture is ofKettering Church and Market © Brian Pack.Type set by the ed i tor us ingCorel Ventura. Please Note: No ma te rial con -tent of this mag a zine may bere pro duced else where with -out per mis sion from the pub -lish ers, Fed er a tion ofRe corded Mu sic So ci eties Ltd.

Printed by Maxiprint, de -sign ers and col our print ers, Kettlestring Lane, CliftonMoor, York YO30 4XF ISSN 09628150

No. 139

EDITORIAL: What is the FRMS for?I think if you asked a typical member of an

affiliated Society he would say he didn’t know (butit looked impressive on the programme). A moreknowledgeable member, perhaps one who hadserved on the local committee would probablyreply that the Federation negotiates agood rate for the copyright licencesrequired by Societies to play records inpublic and also arranges public liabilityinsurance at favourable terms. If reallypressed he might also remember thatFRMS publishes a magazine (the Bulletin — one or a few copies of which arrivetwice a year), an annual musical weekend (a few members have attended the oddone and reported it to be good, butexpensive), there is also an equipmentinsurance scheme.

This would be a fair description of what theFRMS does. But is this all that the Federation isfor? Some would argue that yes this is the case andthat the Federation is not expected to do more.

Most, perhaps all, officers or FRMS Committeemembers upon election feel instinctively that theFederation should do more. Alas, like so very many voluntary organisations, recorded music societiesreport a shortage of members, increasing age ofmembership and despair for the prospect ofrecruiting young members. We know that so manyother organisations report similar problems, butthis is no consolation.

These problems have often been raised atCommittee but no solutions (easy or difficult) havebeen suggested as how to reverse these trends whichseem to be both long term and inexorable. Alwaysthere are things of pressing importance to do, minor

crises and fights amongst members (seeEditorial in Bulletin 138). However aprogramme called Outreach has beeninstituted and has the enthusiasticbacking of John Davies our currentchairman. This is based on the concept ofmembers of the Committee visitingSocieties, explaining what FRMS does,and listening to what the Societies want totell us. So if a Society is approached by anFRMS Committee member, this is notinterference from the centre, but an

attempt to set up a two-way communication systemso that you know more about us and we know moreabout you and your problems.

So to revert to the question posed, the FRMSshould continue to do what it does now (and evenbetter if possible) but also to try to devise strategicsolutions to the problems of Societies and to helpSocieties prosper. The main current problem ismembership and this is a difficult one.

However, we should not despair, I can think oftwo organisations which are expanding in thecurrent climate — these are U3A and Probus.Perhaps we can learn from them.

2

EDITORIAL FRMS

Commences 2pm. on Saturday 25th October 2003 at The George Hotel, Sheep Street, Kettering NN16 0AN

Hosted by The Kettering and District Recorded Music Society

Following the meeting, bar facilities will be available.

A three-course dinner will be followed in the evening by a recital by the Quartet of the Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Service

Tick ets (£20 each) for the din ner and re cital should be ob tained from FRMS Sec re tary,Tony Baines, 2 Ful mar Place, Meir Park, Stoke-on-Trent, ST3 7QFPlease en close a DL size stamped ad dressed en ve lope with your ap pli ca tion. All cheques to be pay able to the Fed er a tion of Re corded Mu sic So ci et ies Ltd.Some ac com mo da tion is avail able at the ho tel for £25 per night in clud ing break fast.Ap pli ca tion for ac com mo da tion, quot ing the FRMS AGM, should be made di rectly to the Ho tel: Tel. 01536 410787 Ad vice on other places to stay in and around Kettering will be sup plied to So ci ety Sec re tar ies

Federation of Recorded Music Societies — Annual General Meeting

At the Committee meeting held in May, RegWilliamson, after presenting a report on thesuccessful Musical Weekend held at

Stratford earlier this year, announced that he wasretiring from the Committee with immediateeffect.

This brings to an end an era in the life of theFederation that has produced many changes mostof which have had the intimate involvement of Reg.

Reg first joined theCommittee in 1971; he resignedin 1981 but subsequentlyrejoined in 1998. Much of hissecond period on thecommittee was in conjunctionwith his wife Marjorie (now, ofcourse, a Vice-President) thenSecretary, and a formidablecombination this was.

Reg has held an un prec e -dented num ber of po si tionswithin the Fed er a tion. He hasbeen Tech ni cal Of fi cer, ViceChair man, Sec re tary, Trea surer and Bul le tin Ed i tor. This is anamaz ing re cord. One for mer Chair man told methat his de fin ing char ac ter is tic is a to tal loyalty tothe Federation.

He is a man of action, he was not one to faffaround but if something needed to be done hewould set to and do it; he would then present theresult to an often surprised committee. Asmentioned in the last paragraph, he becameTechnical Officer and his encyclopaedic knowledge of all aspects of Hi Fi served him well and even now he contributes articles to Hi Fi magazines(although these days he has tended to specialize inDigital Radio). However his technical skills werenot confined to sound reproduction, as he was alsovery knowledgeable in the use of computers andthis he put to very effective results for theFederation. He promulgated the use of e-mailwithin the Committee and now this has become the accepted form of communication between allofficers and all but two members of the Committee. In conjunction with Len Mullenger, then a member of the Committee, he established the FRMSWebsite. He also set up computer databases of listsof Affiliates and their secretaries and similardatabases covering the distribution of the Bulletin.

Following the resignation of Thelma Mills, Reg

became emergency editor of the Bulletin andproduced one issue (No. 130); this was designed inconjunction with our printer, Maxiprint of York,based upon modern electronic design that wassubsequently developed by the current editor.Perhaps his most important innovation was asTreasurer. The previous Treasurer had maintained paper records, none of which were made availableto FRMS. Reg thus was faced with the task of

setting up a system fromscratch; this he did based uponcomputer spreadsheets, whichenable detailed reports to beprepared within minutes. Thisis fully in accordance withmodern practices and is stillused with some refinements by the present Treasurer.

From the above it can beseen that Reg left a solid set ofachievements that has dragged a not always willing Federation firmly into the 20th Century.The process has not beenwithout controversy and Reg

who prides himself as being a blunt speaking manfrom Norfolk (not to be confused with a bluntspeaking Yorkshire man!) was always happy togive robust reply to anyone who questioned hisapproach. Thus we did not always have an easyride but the Federation has gained a lot from Regwho has provided a solid foundation for futuredevelopment. Thank you Reg, and we wish you ahappy retirement.

AB.

Fed er a tion Website

From 1st July Bob Astill has taken over theWeb-master job previously performed by Reg Williamson. There will be a change as your

website information is updated, browsers willnotice the email link will change to Bob Astill.

If you have any queries or alterations to FRMSwebpages then you can contact him at:bobastill@lycos.co.uk

If an Affiliated Society wishes to have a webpage for the first time, or if you are updating yourinformation on an existing page, then pleaseforward the details via email to him at the aboveaddress preferably in Word or text format, anygraphics should be sent in .jpg or .gif format.

3

NEWS FRMS

Reg Williamson Retires

Schu bert

On my annual visit to speak to SheffieldGramophone Society, as their President I waspassed a copy of your Autumn 2002 Bulletin. Thisissue contained an article by Brian R Smithentitled ‘Unfinished Symphonies Finished’, inwhich some statements about my realisations ofsketched Schubert symphonies appeared whichsurprised me.

Mr Smith tells his readers that the thirdmovement of the Symphony No.10, to mycompletion of which he refers, “shows Schubertattempting counterpoint for the first time”.Schubert had, of course, attempted counterpointfrom his early youth, and his successfulcontrapuntal ventures in works from the middleyears onwards were documented by me inSchubert: the Music and the Man(Gollancz/University of California Press, 1997).There are in fact some decidedly progressiveinstances of counterpoint to be found among theseexamples. What Schubert did in the Symphony No. 10 was to stack into its third movement asuccession of contrapuntal devices quiteunprecedented in a symphony, including thesimultaneous combination of themes.

The realisation of this symphony does not,according to Mr Smith, “appear to have found itsway on to the normal concert repertoire”, while mycompletion of the Symphony No.8 in B minor hasnot, to his knowledge, ever been heard in theconcert hall. I can only assume that the severalhundred concert performances of my completionshave taken places in venues outside Mr Smith’sorbit. He is perhaps aware that, apart from theseveral commercial recordings (one of which hementions), a number of radio recordings have alsobeen made. The recordings are perhaps of moreinterest to your readers than concertperformances.

Nobody, certainly not I, would expect acompletion of the ‘Unfinished’ (No.8) to enter the“normal concert repertoire” when thetwo-movement half-symphony Schubert left hasso many kinds of appeal as a concert piece. Thiswas, it hardly needs saying, the least significant ofthe tasks I have undertaken. The completion of the‘Tenth’ Symphony brought to the public ear, a‘deathbed’ work that was new in the last quarter ofthe twentieth century. Similarly, my realisation of

the Seventh Symphony (not mentioned by yourcontributor) plugged the time-gap and style-gapwe had all wondered at between the youthful No.6and the mature No.8.

My first realisation (No.7) was done to givestudents at Leeds University a novel way ofmarking the 150th anniversary of Schubert’s death in 1978. Its adoption by the BBC SymphonyOrchestra a few months after its Leeds premiere,then by orchestras worldwide, occasioned surprise and pleasure on my part: and the continuedinterest by promoters and conductors in all thesecompletions almost a quarter of a century on is anencouraging phenomenon I could never haveforeseen. I write this letter having returned a fewdays ago from marvellous concert performances of Nos. 7 and 10 in Finland, where the orchestra wasplaced at my disposal to provide live illustrationsfor two lectures. An abnormal activity, to be sure,outside the “normal concert repertoire”. But themanifold awestruck tributes to Schubert I hearwhen listeners first encounter the slow movementof his swansong ‘Tenth’ tell me that the restorationof such gems has its point: “better” (in Mr Smith’swords) “than allowing the work to sink intooblivion”.

Professor Brian Newbould

John Bulman

I should like to express my thanks to allmembers and friends associated with FRMSgroups for the kind words and support I havereceived from them since my father’s death inJanuary.

I should particularly like mention of theAppreciation in the spring issue written by RegWilliamson, and the considerable support in many ways given by Marjorie. I am most grateful also tothe present members of the National Committee,many of whom did not know my father, but haveshown concern and respect for his memory.

Christine Bulman (daughter).

Equip ment and En joy ment

I don’t think Con Cuac (letter, Bulletin 138)allows for the possible Dichotomous nature ofRecorded Music Societies. Some societies, seem tohave split group personalities, hovering betweenHi-Fi Enthusiasts Clubs and Musical AppreciationGroups; a musical Jekyll & Hyde situation, as itwere. I have, over the years, been a member of

4

LETTERS FRMS

LETTERS LETTERS

several societies; some of them enjoyed the musicvia the HI-FI and others listened to HI-FI via themusic; some oscillated between these twoapproaches. Societies that are of the first type arewilling to accept lower reproduction standardsthan do the others. Recent research demonstratedthat the “Tingle Factor” is largely independent ofthe standard of music reproduction. In short, ittakes really grossly reproduced music for the hairson the back of the neck NOT to stand up. This,obviously, only applies to the musically inclined!

Vic Riches. Salisbury R.M.S.

Editor: I showed this letter to Con Cuac whocommented “I fully agree with Mr Riches and infact some of my most exciting musical experiences have been from listening to music reproducedfrom very questionable equipment. The point Iwas making in my letter is that there is a dangerof losing as members people whose ownequipment is markedly better than those of theSociety”.

Af fil i a tion Charges

With reference to Reg Williamson’s article “The FRMS. And You” and his reference to my letter that was printed in the Spring 2002 Bulletin I wouldlike to point out that any misunderstanding is byhim not me, as those who read my letter will knowthat I did not say that affiliation charges have risenregularly but expressed our concern that now thatit was agreed at the AGM. to increase affiliationfees in line with the RPI and average earningsindex that it will result in a regular annual increasewhich Mr. Williamson can not deny.

I am a retired pensioner on a small income so Ido not need to have it explained to me about risingcosts and I realise that the FRMS has also to keepup with rising costs but I still maintain that itshould not be automatically increased annually.We are a very small club with about half themembership of Mr. Wainwright’s Wolverhamptonclub so we have to cut our suit according to thecloth. However we have not increased oursubscriptions for several years and we are stillfinancially viable. We discuss the financialsituation at our AGM and that is when any increase is decided or not, and that is the way it should bedone at the FRMS. It appears only a small numberof societies attend the AGM, so a special provisionis needed so that all members have a chance to vote on finances annually. Furthermore I know the realreason behind this article and it is not just to

enlighten members of the workings of theFederation.

I think we are all well aware of the vital andimportant role that the Federation plays and thehelp and support that it gives to its membersespecially the small clubs like ourselves so theobservations I made in my letter about a vote ofonly 31 at the AGM for the regular annual increasefrom a membership of over 200 was not that it hadnot been democratically passed but that so manyaffiliates for one reason or another had not votedone way or the other on the matter and less thanhalf of the clubs had returned their voting formsfor the committee so could there be a degree ofapathy among the membership.

J. T. Taylor , Secretary, Great Yarmouth Classical Music Circle

Editor: I showed this letter to Reg Williamsonwho commented: “There is not much I can say, isthere? Except to agree about the apathy. Thismeans the burden of policy making falls on othersthat do care and so, have to make decisions onbehalf of those that decline to attend the AGM —including Gt Yarmouth. A majority of us on theFRMS Committee are also pensioners (includingme). This does not stop us to the best of our abilityattempting to manage the FRMS finances in adisciplined and sensible manner.”

Ted Perry

The death earlier this year of Ted Perry,founder and Managing Director of HyperionRecords will have saddened many folk within theFRMS and its affiliated societies. Happily,Hyperion continues in the capable hands of Ted’sson, Simon.

Tributes appeared at the time in the broadsheetpapers, and in The Gramophone and BBC MusicMagazine. I need not repeat what was written then,but would like to add an appreciation of Ted fromwithin the FRMS; in particular from one of itsaffiliated societies. Ted was always interested in theFRMS. His association with it dated from the late1940s when he joined the fledgling Derby RecordedMusic Society, started by Donald Rooksby in 1945.Donald was later to join Ted at Hyperion for a fewyears, and still visits societies to present recentissues (and take orders) for Hyperion.

Though Ted was always interested in the wholeFederation, he retained a particular affection forDerby RMS. We were privileged to welcome himback to Derby on several occasions — our 50thAnniversary in 1995, the Federation AGM in 1998

5

LETTERS FRMS

and the East Midlands Music Day in 2001. On suchoccasions, too, he was always approachable andwould listen tolerantly to suggestions for Hyperion repertoire. We treasure our links with a greatfigure in the world of recorded music, but I am sure many other societies share our sense of loss.

Recorded music would not thrive, of course,without the musicians who are its life blood. So, itis a fitting tribute to Ted’s memory that severalfirms in the recording industry have madedonations to the Musicians Benevolent Fund(16 Ogle Street, London, W1W 6JA). If anysocieties or individuals would like to join in thattribute donations will be gratefully received.

I am much indebted to Donald Rooksby for hisassistance in compiling this note.

Allan Child, Chairman, Derby RMS

Ex am i na tion of Ac counts

The 2000 Durham AGM marked the end ofthree traumatic years in the FRMS’ history with the removal of the incumbent from the Treasurer’sOffice. Prior to this, his friends created as manyobstacles as possible for those in Office attemptingto discharge their elected responsibilities. Therethen followed the most difficult three months inmy long service to the FRMS. On one hand, tryingto bring order out of the inherited chaos, totallywithout assistance from my predecessor. Theaccounts hadn’t even been seen by the Committee,let alone approved and I found myself dealing withnot one, but two Chartered Accountants asIndependent Examiners. One quickly indicated awish to relinquish appointment; the other virtually ignored all attempts to open a dialogue on whathad gone before.

Accounts are required to give a clear,unambiguous picture of the Federation’s truefinancial status. Carrying out the Chairman’sdirective, I then recast them as a true record. OneIE signed them without question. The otherignored them but had no qualms, however, aboutsubmitting an account that amounted on averageto over £2 per affiliate. By the year’s end themanagement of our accounts was completelyrestructured. In the professional care of mysuccessor, they have been above reproach since,

achieving healthy surpluses for each of the pastthree years. Partially ignored prior to 2000, therehas since been full compliance with the currentConstitution.

There now began a move by a tiny minority toimpose upon your Federation at least oneChartered Accountant as Independent Examinerby means of an amendment to the Constitution. Atotal irrelevancy, it would not have prevented ourproblems prior to 2000. Moreover, it will be aburden on the Treasurer and a deterrent to anyonetaking the Office; for you all, considerably highercosts that can only be recovered from youraffiliation fees. The attempt last year atEastbourne ended by being remitted. TheCommittee did not appreciate that procedurally, ithad the right to drop it altogether; sadly, it stillrattles on so draconian amendments are likely toappear again at Kettering. From my notinconsiderable experience, I urge all AGMdelegates to vote against any alteration to theConstitution. Tinkering with the Constitution isnever needed by any Committee comfortable withthe authority vested in it by virtue of that mostdemocratic of all institutions, the ballot.

Reg Williamson (FRMS Treasurer 2000-2001)

6

LETTERS FRMS

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Sir Lennox Berkeley — A Cen te nary Cel e bra tion.

Musical life in the UK seems to have had morethan its share of centenary celebration in recentyears. Alan Bush in 2000, Gerald Finzi andEdmund Rubbra in 2001, Walton in 2002 and with 2005 looming — Tippett, Alwyn, Lambert,Rawsthorne, Seiber — and so the list goes on. For a country that seems to take a sort of absurd national pride in running down its own composers, theseoccasions provide a good chance for discovery andreassessment. The year 2003 provides a mostwelcome chance to explore the output of one of themost distinguished figures in British musical life in the second half of the twentieth century — SirLennox Berkeley.

Berkeley was born into atitled family on May 12th1903. Indeed if it were not fora quirk of fate Berkeley wouldhave inherited the title Earl ofBerkeley — thankfully, for wemight not have had his musicas a result. Life took adifferent turn and the youngBerkeley studied languages atOxford in the company ofsuch luminaries as Auden,Waugh and C Day Lewis.Whilst at Oxford he began tocompose seriously and later, on therecommendation of Ravel no less, travelled toParis to become one of the very few Englishprotégés of the great teacher Nadia Boulanger.Over 50 years later, in conversation with thepresent writer, Berkeley still used to speak in aweof ‘Madame’ and her extraordinary ear and strictmethods of tuition — no pupil was allowed to writemusic of their own until they had masteredcounterpoint to ‘Madame’s’ satisfaction. Quiteapart from his studies Berkeley became part of thetruly remarkable artistic scene of Paris in the1920’s, becoming acquainted with not only Ravel(who allowed Berkeley to use his box at the opera),but also Stravinsky and Les Six (Poulenc inparticular became a lifelong friend). Berkeley’smusic has always been described as having aFrench accent - if these qualities include a certainemotional restraint, elegant melodic lines, a sureharmonic sense, a sophisticated wit and a highlevel of craftsmanship, this is most certainly the

case ; but a look beneath the notes reveals a morecomplex figure, with hidden reserves of energy,determination and especially, like his friendPoulenc, in works setting religious texts, adignified but striking expression of deepconviction and passion.

A more than capable pianist himself and a lover of the music of Mozart, Chopin and Fauré it isperhaps unsurprising that many of Berkeley’searliest works involve the piano — the Polka andthe Five Short Pieces make their various bows tothe Walton of Façade and Poulenc’s MouvmentPerpetuals, whilst the Three Impromptus showtheir debt to one of Berkeley’s greatest loves, the

music of Chopin. Rathermore uncharacteristic is alarge scale oratorio Jonahfrom 1935, perhaps writtenin the furore followingWalton’s Belshazzar’s Feast— very few works on anything like this scale followed,showing that Berkeley knewall along that he didn’t neednor was particularlyinterested in making bigstatements. A closefriendship with Benjamin

Britten had a profound personal and professionaleffect on Berkeley — the precocious musicality ofhis younger colleague must have been on the onehand inspiring and on the other ratherintimidating for a late developing composer, but itis a sign of Berkeley’s inner strength that he wasstill able to retain a close friendship with Brittenand go his own way.

The decade from the start of the Second WorldWar was without any doubt the most productivefrom a musical point view — a large number ofBerkeley’s acknowledged master-works comefrom this period — and personally too, for it wasduring this time, whilst working for the BBC, thathe met and married Freda Bernstein — sobeginning almost fifty years of happy marriage.Beginning with the popular Serenade for Stringsin 1939, music poured from his pen — theSymphony No 1, which Berkeley himselfconducted for the first time at a war-timePromenade concert, the Divertimento for

FEATURES FRMS

7

Berkeley at Home

Orchestra — a Piano Sonata for Clifford Curzon. AFestival Anthem — one of the first of a largenumber of deeply felt religious works, severalshorter piano pieces, songs and chamber musicranging from the delightful Sonatina forFlute/Recorder & Piano to the String Trio. All thisas well as two of his most profound and passionatesacred pieces — Four Poems of St Teresa of Avila(originally written for Kathleen Ferrier) andStabat Mater which hasrather suffered from itsunusual calling for six solovoices and twelve players (itwas written for Britten andthe English Opera Group) –despite this, that such anaccomplished and beautifulwork should never have beenprofessionally recorded andbe so rarely performedfrankly beggars belief. Theend of the 1940’s brought theunaccountably neglectedPiano Concerto, written forColin Horsley who became one of Berkeley’s mostfervent champions and performed his music allover the world and the equally marvellousConcerto for two pianos and orchestra. This list isno mean achievement for any composer.

Berkeley turned his thought to opera in theyears following the war. Three followed in quicksuccession. A Dinner Engagement a short one actopera that has had many productions, the biblicalchamber opera Ruth and the large scale Nelsonwhich although being on the whole well received,has, with the exception of a couple of concertperformances, disappeared from view. ManyBerkeley fans are hoping that the anniversary ofthe Battle of Trafalgar in 2005 might tempt arevival. During the 1950’s, apart from aconsiderable output of music, Berkeley also taughtat the Royal Academy of Music in London. His listof pupils reads like a Who’s Who of British music — Sir John Tavener, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett,William Mathias, David Bedford, Nicholas Maw,Brian Fernyhough, to name but a few — something of a diverse collection! Bennett recently told thepresent writer that he adored Berkeley and hismusic but felt that he personally needed a muchmore demanding and strict teacher.

Amongst im por tant works of the 1950’s were aSec ond Sym phony, a sen sual set of Ronsard Son -nets for two ten ors & pi ano, a fine Flute Con certoand two sig nif i cant cham ber works — the Horn

Trio (writ ten, per formed and re corded by Den nisBrain) and the Sex tet for Clar i net, Horn andString Quar tet. Berke ley is not a com poser thatone might ever de scribe as an in no va tor — norwould he ever have claimed to be so, but he wasone of the first ma jor com pos ers from any coun tryto take a se ri ous in ter est in writ ing for the gui tar.The art istry of Julian Bream in spired the muchplayed Sona tina for Gui tar, the Songs of

Half-Light for tenor (Pe terPears) and Gui tar and thelater, com pletely un-Span ish Gui tar Con certo.These works to gether withTheme and Vari a tions forGui tar and some fas ci nat -ing, re cently dis cov eredFour Pieces for Gui tar, ev i -dently writ ten for Segoviain Paris in the 1920’s, make a unique con tri bu tion to astill not ex actly ex haus tiverep er toire. The mid 1950’salso saw Berke ley ex per i -

ment ing with as pects of twelve note com po si tion,but in this, like Britten and Walton, he care fullyadapted to suit his own end and mode of ex pres -sion. Works of this pe riod such as the Sona tina foroboe & pi ano, the cho ral Signs in the Dark (set tingtexts by Laurie Lee) and the Vi o lin Con certo (writ -ten for Yehudi Menuhin) show a more aus tere, butstill in stantly per sonal side to Berke ley’s mu si callan guage. There are at least three mas ter piecesfrom the 60’s, the one move ment Sym phony No.3,which packs a huge emo tional range into aroundfif teen min utes, the Missa Brevis writ ten for thechoir of West min ster Ca the dral (where the com -poser’s sons Julian and Mi chael [now a dis tin -guished com poser him self] sang in the firstper for mances) and the cho ral/or ches tral Mag ni fi -cat writ ten for the com bined choirs of West min -ster Ab bey, and St Paul’s Cathedral. These worksalone should banish the thought that isoccasionally aired that Berkeley is ‘merely aminiaturist’

The final decade or so of Berkeley’s life seemedto coincide with a new faith in purely melodicwriting. The Canzonetta movement in theSinfonia Concertante for oboe & orchestracouldn’t be by any other composer, neither couldthe beguilingly simple setting of Psalm 23 TheLord is my Shepherd which has found a regularhome in churches throughout the world. The1970’s also brought many honours including a

FEATURES FRMS

8

Benjamin Britten with Berkeley

knighthood, and two last major works — theGuitar Concerto mentioned above and FourthSymphony, premiered in Berkeley’s 75th year in1978. In his typically modest programme noteBerkeley refers to the ‘slightly more expansivemanner’ of the Symphony compared to a lot of hismusic. Although the work didn’t by all accountsexcite a great deal of critical comment, a premiererecording issued around the time of writing thisarticle has shown the piece to be a very powerfuland significant statement and certainly not worthyof its neglect. The beginning of the 1980’s sawBerkeley begin a new full-scale opera — FaldonPark — but sadly this undertaking became no more than a series of sketches following the onset ofAlzheimer’s disease.

The last few works are interesting as they aremoving, as a hugely skilled craftsman struggled toget his thoughts onto paper — a Bagatelle for twopianos harks back to the salons of 1920’s Paris, atiny Mazurka for piano, actually written in homage to Haydn but showing more kinship withBerkeley’s beloved Chopin, an intense, rathersparse Sonnet for voice & piano written for HugesCuenod, which has a particularly angry climax anda little Christmas carol for Kings College,Cambridge — In Wintertime. Michael Berkeley has

told how he had to go through his father’smanuscript, correct mistakes and turn the noteheads the right way around — a terrible reality foranyone that took such pride in the way his musiclooked and sounded. Berkeley died in December1989.

The Lennox Berkeley Society was formed at the end of the 1990’s by a small group of admirers whofelt, quite rightly, that Berkeley’s music wasunjustifiably neglected. Since then the Society hasgrown and has managed to help to raise moneyand sponsor a whole series of performances andrecordings during the centenary year - not leastperformances and recordings of two of Berkeley’soperas — A dinner Engagement and Ruth. Inaddition, thanks to the indefatigable RichardHickox, Chandos are in the middle of a BerkeleySymphonic cycle coupling Lennox’s music withthat of his son. These recordings together withseveral others are revealing that, in the hands ofgood and dedicated performers, Berkeley’s musiccan stand up to much of the best music of its timeand although I suspect Lennox might have been alittle bemused by all the attention and having aSociety named after him — I like to think he wouldhave been pleased too!

David Wordsworth

FEATURES FRMS

9

Berkeley Society Advert

In early youth I was always struck with thesound of the orchestra: especially its fiery,brazen horns which struck so romantic a note,

especially in Berlioz. There was always a feintfrisson of excitement because it was known thatthe horns, those most intractable of instruments,were liable to split notes; this somehow added tothe verve of the performances. The intrepid players did not play for safety, theyplayed for exhilaration and Joiede vivre. It was all wonderfullyexciting. I just longed to play in alarge orchestra, little knowingthat a few years later, the warbeing over, that is what in fact Ishould do. However, cominghome on leave from the army —probably early in 1946, beforebeing demobilised, I chanced togo to a concert in Manchestergiven by a visiting Americanorchestra, on its first post-wartour of Britain. But something curious struck meabout it. I could not quite make out why it soundedso different from the Hallé‚ of pre-war years. Lively and energetic though the American playing was, itall sounded rather slick, but at the same timeparadoxically lack-lustre too, especially the windplaying, and certainly most of all the horn-playing.

What was different of course, was that in placeof the traditional ‘french horns’ of narrow bore,they had been replaced by wide-bored instrumentsof German pattern, the so-called ‘double-horns’ —much safer to play — but far less poetic and lackingthe romantic character of the earlier instruments.Not only the horns, but the other brass hadchanged over to larger-bored instruments; theravishing sound of the wooden flutes had beenreplaced by the steely-bright sound of metal ones.The characteristic French bassoon was given overto those of Heckel type. String players began to rely on metal as opposed to gut strings. Within acomparatively short time there came about avirtual sea-change in the sound of orchestras inthis country; we copied the German and Americanstyle. Now this is all very well for some music, andwith the technical perfection demanded by themodern recording industry, players now play for

safety and use the most up-to-date and reliableinstruments they can find, and who can blamethem? Whereas at one time a live performance was evanescent, disappearing for ever into thin air,flaws and human failings soon forgotten, themodern recorded performance exists intoperpetuity, an ominous indictment of the players’failings. But, slick and polished and virtuallytechnically flawless, though modern orchestral

playing, worldwide, has nowbecome, there is often something missing: a sense of poetry andhumanity in many of theperformances one hears. Notonly the modern instruments,but perhaps even moreimportant the style ofperformance by individualplayers, aided and abetted byjet-setting conductors whosetechnical abilities may beexcellent, but who often lackimagination and those qualities

of insight and interpretation that make musicsound human — even if at times there are technical flaws and shortcomings.

Certainly the younger generation: Stravinsky,Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Hindemith, Walton,Copland, Britten, and those who have arisen since1945 perhaps expect a more chromium-platedsound, but a vast amount of music, not necessarilyjust that of earlier twentieth century composersand their forebears, still cries out for a morehuman sound instead of the ubiquitous ‘orchestralsuper-market’ we hear so predictably in almost allthe world’s concert halls, although the ViennaPhilharmonic has always preserved a uniquesound of its own, mostly on account of the use ofinstruments traditional to the Viennese: ‘Zuleger’oboes, ‘Oehler’ clarinets and the particularcharacteristics of Viennese horn-playing.

It is not gen er ally known, for ex am ple, thatthere was at one time, to the con nois seur at least, adis tinc tive ‘Man ches ter’ tone of clar i net sound, asthere was in par al lel with it an in flu en tial school ofLancashire oboe play ing that orig i nated with agroup of wind play ers in the Hallé‚ Or ches trawhich was ul ti mately to gain the up per hand inLon don and else where in Brit ish or ches tral play -

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The ‘art Nouveau’ of Orchestral Sound

by Ar thur Butterworth

Arthur Butterworth

ing. Of course, ev ery thing de pends on the qual ityof sound pro duced by in di vid ual art ists, but now a -days there is of ten a same ness about many play ersof the youn ger gen er a tion. That they are in vari ablyof as ton ish ing tech ni cal ac com plish ment is neverin ques tion but mu sic mak ing is not solely abouttech ni cal wiz ardry; it is con cerned withimagination, individuality, and above allhumanity.

Stimulating as it is to visit the world’s great andsophisticated cities, there is often a faint sense ofennui to discover that the fashionable shops in theexclusive malls are much the same everywhere.The world-wide brands of coffee-house, furniture,textiles or food chains are ubiquitous, and thesame snazzy model of car bought so recently at that exclusive showroom in Hampstead can be seen —perhaps to the mutual embarrassment of theirdrivers — on the streets of Munich or Stockholm.

The world’s great orchestras, rather like thefine cities they symbolise are much the same too.So that despite the personal quirks andmannerisms of international jet-settingconductors, who insidiously cajole or insist thatthe orchestras they visit interpret whatever it isthey are performing in the maestro’s ownindividual way, the resulting sound tends to bepretty much the same whether it be in Chicago,Prague, Paris, Tokyo or London.

The New Queen’s Hall Orchestra however, hascultivated a sound of its own, recapturing theessence of a style we once cherished and, whichregrettably now seems to elude us. In place of thepresent-day universal metal flute the earlier andmore mellow wooden instrument is used. The‘Buffet’ bassoon, essentially of French tradition,also regains that elegant sound rarely heard intoday’s concert halls. But it is the brass which hasundergone the most drastic change in character inthe past half century or more. The horn inparticular has endured a sea-change. While it istrue that the modern ‘double-horn’ is safer for theplayer, its sound is a far cry from the ravishinglyromantic timbre of the classic ‘french’ horn ofearlier times. A parallel might fancifully be drawnbetween the one-time classic Hispano-Suiza racing car of the early days of motoring (when indeed itmust have been an exciting and elegant pastime for rich young men), and a BMW saloon for today’stedious motorway journeys. The trumpets andtrombones with their wider bores are inclined to be overwhelming, lacking that bright, lithe sound that was once so exciting; while the cornet, once asubtle and contrastingly lyrical sound in the brass

section of an orchestra has all but disappearedcompletely, conductors not seeming to carewhether a composer’s original cornet parts areplayed on the instruments they were intended to be. But there was a time when a pair of trumpetssounded quite different from the antiphonal soundof the cornets answering them — for example inTschaikowsky’s “1812" overture. The timpani’sround sonority is projected in the mellow sound ofthe traditional calf-skin heads of the hand-tunedtimpani (still it must be admitted an admirablequality of modern timpani). However, it is in theoverall sound and, even more significantly, the style of performance that the New Queen’s HallOrchestra has evolved a unique purpose. The use ofgenuine older instruments has been made possibleby enthusiastic individual members seeking outsuch rarities, and studying the technique of playingthem in a style which is appropriate.

Arthur Butterworth

CD Re view: DE PROFUNDIS - The Art of Dy ing

A Can tata by Fra Armando PierucciText by Re gina DerievaGintar‚ Skeryt‚ (sop.); Aidijar Cham ber ChoirVilnius String Quar tet;Con duc tor Romualdas GrazinisPil grim’s Star 027004 : Di vine Art Ltd.

Pierucci was born in Italy; since 1988 he hasbeen the organist at the Church of the HolySepulchre in Jerusalem and has written muchsacred music. Regina Derieva was born in theSoviet Union; in 1949, she emigrated with herhusband and son to go to Israel, where, howeverthey were denied citizenship since they areCatholics. As stateless persons they later found ahome when they were allowed to live in Sweden.

The cantata reflects upon the tragedies ofsuffering mankind, of death, and of the striving ofMan to God. Its writing coincided with anexacerbation of the suffering of the Palestinepeople but makes no direct reference to this.

Despite a theme that many will find shocking,the music is not morbid, on the contrary it istuneful and uplifting in spirit. It is written intraditional European mode with just a hint ofEastern exoticism and is enjoyable to listen to. Theperformance and recording is excellent. Thepresentation is good, and includes the full text ofthe poems in various languages. The disc alsoincludes two sets of organ variations played by thecomposer. The disc can be recommended stronglyto lovers of church music. AB

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For those of us active in high quality audioengineering, the 1950’s were exciting times.The tautological corruption “HiFi” had yet to

find its way across the Atlantic to the UK, and whatcommercial products there were available, wereproduced by small specialist companies run byenthusiasts. More importantly, the merits of aproduct did not originate in the fertile imaginationof the company’s advertising department (if,indeed, it had one) but had to earn acceptance andapproval by customers already well educated in the intricacies of audio engineering by erudite articlesin the then, much respected “Wireless World”(now a shadow of its former self and entitled“Electronics World”)

One such small companywas “Connoisseur”, situatedin a small town calledBrighouse, in WestYorkshire. It was here, in1953, that one of the mostimportant developments indomestic sound reproduction took its first, firm steps. Irefer to single groove stereoon long playing records andthe man who started it is now, all but forgotten — ArnoldSugden.

The idea of recordingstereophonically on disc wasnot new. Emory Cook in the USA was alreadycarving his own small niche in history with his“Binaural” discs, on which each channel was cut asa separate set of tracks. They required two pickupsstarted on the disc in synchronism to reproducethe recorded material. Apart from theimpossibility of preserving phase coherence,Cook’s records were, nevertheless, a novel ifergonomically impractical idea. But as long ago as1933, the system on which modern techniques arebased was developed and patented by AlanBlumlein working in the laboratories of EMI, theparent company of the familiar “Dog and Horn”HMV label records. Similar, but less impressivework (in my opinion) was also being carried out inthe Bell Laboratories in the USA. At the time EMI,with what was to become its habitual lack ofcommercial foresight, saw no future in it; and inany case, the imminence of war forestalled anyfurther development. Blumlein’s patents

languished until ca. 1958, when an internationalstandard was eventually agreed using his proposed 45/45 system of groove modulation.Paradoxically, most of EMI’s competitorsdemonstrated their enterprise by marketingrecords that year, but with Blumlein’s oldcompany misguidedly placing all its commercialfaith in 19 cm/sec 2-track stereo tapes, their“Stereosonic” system. Inevitably, because of thecost of both the software and the hardware, itfailed and belatedly, the company conceded defeatand began to produce stereo LPs like all itscompetitors.

Arnold Sugden was the enthusiastic ManagingDirector, Technical Director and owner of the

“Connoisseur” companywhich, for some time, hadbeen enjoying considerablecommercial success inproducing many high qualityrecord playing products,notably the first British beltdriven turntable. Thissubsequently becameavailable in kit form and wasan unusual introduction inthe embryo market for suchproducts. Even today, theBD1 turntable is muchsought after by aficionadosstill fascinated by the now

obsolescent vinyl recordings. Practicallyeverything to do with sound reproduction andrecording was tackled by the tireless innovator.Connoisseur’s first postwar product he designedwas a miniature lightweight cartridge and arm forquality reproduction of the old 78 discs and heeven invented a technique for mass production ofthe miniature chrome tipped steel needles thatwere in very short supply in the immediatepost-war era. Pickup arms, cartridges, amplifiers,loudspeakers, even microphones — all came outbearing the Connoisseur label. As early as 1950,Connoisseur was manufacturing a 33/78 r.p.m.turntable, a high quality pickup withinterchangeable heads and a two speed discrecording system.

All this is the more remarkable when, during avisit to see Sugden, then 78 and still active, Ilearned that he had left school at 14 and had neverhad any formal engineering training. But, right

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Arnold Sugden — Pioneer Extraordinary

from the outset of his career, he demonstrated anatural flair for engineering design of an intuitivekind that is all too rare these days. No matter whatthe problem, Arnold Sugden would come up withan ingenious answer and a high precision product.Even at an age when most men would be sittingback and enjoying the leisure of retirement, he wasstill working in a small shed outside his kitchendoor, producing replacement motors for histurntable. He used a compression moulder for theplastic formers, a magnetiser of his own design forthe rotors, and makes the stators on a stampingpress — again producing hisown cutters. A trulyremarkable man, very muchin the Edison mould.

Arnold Sugden’s interestin high quality audio was, asfor so many of us in thosedays, linked with a passionfor music. Shortly after theintroduction of the LP, hebecame convinced that therewas a future for single groove stereo on disc. In 1953, he setto work in a disused churchnear the Connoisseurfactory, often working alonetill the early hours of the morning. He finallyperfected a stereo cutter head, designed to be fitted to a disc-cutting table the company had alreadydeveloped for specialist orders. By methods bothintuitive and empirical, an approach that would befrowned on today, he evolved a remarkable designthat frankly, one cannot easily fault. He knewalready, that the mass of the cutter system had tobe as low as practicable, which linked with thecompliance of the movement, must push the firstfundamental resonance of the system as high aspossible. His use of balsa wood as the formermaterial vividly demonstrates his unorthodox, butimaginative approach, with the fundamentalresonance of the system occurring at 4.5KHz, andwell damped. This, he corrected by a tuned circuitin the driver amplifier. The equally unusual feature of the system was its efficiency, with as little as fivewatts fully modulating the cutter assembly. Theessentially powerful but heavy magnet wasmounted separately on the cutter carrier, with justthe comparatively lightweight of the cutterassembly resting the stylus on the surface of themaster lacquer disc. All the well establishedrefinements were incorporated, such as anadvance ball to regulate the depth of the cutter, a

heated stylus and a variable groove pitch facilityover a range of 100 to 300 lines per inch.

Cartridges capable of playing his records hadto be designed and made, of course; and hissolution demonstrates more clearly than anything, his uninhibited imagination. At that time, therewas a very popular mono crystal cartridgeavailable, designed by Stanley Kelly for theCosmocord company and called the “Acos”. It wasvery much in advance of all competitors in thesame price range, as well, being the first crystaltype with any claim to a wide frequency response

and low tracking weight.Sugden simply took two ofthese cartridges, mountedthem together at right anglesto one another, and coupledthe two stylii with a fine wirelink. This combination, hemounted in a specialmoulding. As a short-termsolution to an engineeringproblem, it was anextraordinary approachalthough, inevitably, testslater showed that itsperformance was markedlyinferior to that of the cutter.

So later, Sugden went on to design a high qualitycrystal cartridge himself, but which he marketedfor the new 45/45 discs.

By 1956, Sugden was ready to demonstrate hissystem, having produced some master tapes usingspaced Neumann U47 microphones and a taperecorder fitted with a staggered extra head. In thelight of experience, Sugden later adopted amuch-reduced spacing in his miking technique, aslittle as 6" separating the pair and angled outwards by approximately 90 degrees. This basicconfiguration is still favoured today by somepurists. Whilst he had finally decided on verticaland lateral groove modulation, his cutter could, ofcourse, be used for 45/45 as well with anappropriate matrix. In any case, the validity ofBlumlein’s original patents was in some doubt. So,for the time being anyway, it had to bevertical/lateral. No conventions or standardsexisted at that time, so on the basis that the mostcritical sounds would be from the string section ofan orchestra, he determined that the lateral cutshould carry the left channel. Additionally, thereappeared to be no advantage for any particularphase relationship between channels, so long as itwas always consistent with the arbitrarily chosen

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standard (incidentally, the lack of knowledge ofwhat the original phase relationship was, didcreate some difficulty for me when attempting torematrix some of his original recordings forplayback). In the preceding three years, Sugdenhad recorded a diverse range of material locally -orchestral concerts, brass bands (a speciality ofYorkshire) and cinema organs. From this widevariety, he subsequently cut lacquer stereodiscs.Now, he looked for a platform to demonstrate hisachievement to his peers.

Commercial HiFi Shows were, of course,non-existent in 1956. Most new developmentswere demonstrated every year in London, at atwo-day exhibition organised by the (then) BritishSound Recording Society. The old BSRA waseventually absorbed in to the British branch of theAudio Engineering Society. May 26 in 1956 was aparticularly memorable date in the annals of audioadvancement, since at that same show that Sugdenfirst introduced his stereo discs, Peter Walker of“Quad” also demonstrated his prototypeelectrostatic speaker another landmark in audiodesign. As one might expect, there were manywaiting in a queue to hear these twin wonders andyour contributor was amongst them. To put this insome sort of perspective, neither of the two majorrecord companies in the UK were, at that time,showing any great interest in a disc system basedon vertical/lateral or 45/45 techniques. As Imentioned earlier, EMI had misplaced their faithin tapes; Decca were working independently on ah.f. carrier system with no apparent evidence of asense of urgency. In passing, it is for this systemthe Decca pickup was designed and which stillenjoys some popularity with those still playingvinyl discs.

To say his demonstration caused a stir wouldbe a master understatement; and almostimmediately, all the record companies anxious totake advantage of his pioneering work besiegedSugden in Brighouse. EMI even sent a large mobilerecording studio to his factory, so that sample discs could be cut from a variety of EMI master tapes;many of these were subsequently pressed, therebyrevealing some difficulties in pressing technique.The problems overcome, these too, were given ademonstration at the BSRA exhibition in thefollowing year, 1957. Sugden gave me a pair ofthese pressings and using a matrix I designed, Iwas able to prepare them for playing with anorthodox 45/45 cartridge; and very impressivethey are, too. Had v/l been the adopted standard,there might now have been a Connoisseur label on

the market; and indeed, four discs were preparedand ready for issue, with no less than ten in total.Arnold designed even the labels and cover sleeves.

But it was not to be. Illness, probably provokedby overwork, slowed all work on producing stereodiscs and eventually, they had to be droppedaltogether when commercial stereodiscs to theuniversally agreed 45/45 standard were releasedin 1958. As “Hi Fi” arrived and highly competitive,consumer orientated products began to invade themarkets from the Far East, the viability ofSugden’s company came under threat; so, in theearly -70’s, Arnold Sugden sold his company andretired. The final chapter in the story of hisenterprise ends on a sad note, for the company fellinto the ruthless hands of asset strippers and theonce familiar name of “Connoisseur” has nowdisappeared altogether. An unhappy, but all toocommon tale in today’s commercial world of Hi Fi.Sadder still, no one knows of the whereabouts ofhis original cutter system.

However, not so for the name of ArnoldSugden. Within the history of audio, he has written his own personal paragraph and undoubtedlyearns a prime place amongst the pioneers. Iattempted to persuade the august AudioEngineering Society to make him some award butto its shame, it was never taken up. Along withmany of his contemporaries, he advanced thescience and art of sound recording andreproduction to a significant degree, sharing jointhonours with many other well-known figures.

In the preparation of this article, I warmlyacknowledge an earlier essay by the late RogerMaude of Huddersfield Polytechnic; and of course, I am indebted to the veteran pioneer ArnoldSugden himself who, sadly, is no longer with us.

Reg Williamson

Ap pen dixDisc cut ter spec i fi ca tion:Type - Ver ti cal/lat eral Mo tor - Long Mov ing coilsIm ped ance - 15 ohms(40 SWG cop per on balsawood formers)Sen si tiv ity - 5 watts for full mod u la tion FieldLarge per ma nent mag net, sep a rately mounted oncarrierCut ter Sty lus Heated (1 watt), ra dius 1 thou.Depth of Cut - Ad just able by means of ad vanceball point sty lusFre quency Re sponse - 30Hz to 15KHzNat u ral Sys tem Res o nance 4.5KHzSep a ra tion - >20dBThe driver am pli fi ers were Sugden de sign, us ingPX2S valves and ca pa ble of 15 watts into 15 ohm.

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In the Spring Issue composers were the focus ofthose of who had died before their 40thbirthday. This article looks at the performers

who were unfortunate not to reach this milestoneage. Many of the names featured have becomelegends for their qualities in producingperformances that most lovers of music wouldwant to have in their collections. Consequently,the 20th century provides the time-frame for ourattention. In the first dozen or so years after theend of the Second World War a number of brilliantyoung musicians died prematurely, often in tragiccircumstances.

Any instrumentalist who appears as a soloistwith an orchestra at the age of seven has a potential worth developing and it is equally remarkable thatit is the mother who is responsible for teaching thechild to play the instrument. Such was theachievement of the French violinist, GinetteNeveu, but success was not to stop there when, atthe age of 11, she gained the Premier Prix at theParis Conservatoire. Then, in 1935, at the age of 16she won the International WieniawskiCompetition beating the now legendary DavidOistrakh to first prize which became thefore-runner to a brilliant career.

It was 14 years later that tragedy struck whenGinette died at the age of 30 in a plane crash in theAzores whilst en route to the USA along with herbrother, who was a gifted pianist and accompanist. According to Groves Dictionary, Ginette Neveu“played with fire and passion and with a controlledimpeccable sense of style” and recordings that areavailable illustrate that this view is far fromhyperbole.

Another air crash was to claim the life of theaccomplished and very demanding conductor,Guido Cantelli. His father was an armybandmaster and so the young Guido was exposedto music from an early age, so developing a talentfor conducting that led him to his first job, namely,conducting a performance of Verdi’s La Traviatain his home town of Novara.

Cantelli’s British debut occurred at theEdinburgh Festival (this venue will crop up againin this article) in 1950 with the orchestra of LaScala, Milan; shortly afterwards he conducted aLondon concert with the same orchestra replacingthe indisposed Victor de Sabata. The followingyear, Guido Cantelli began an association with thePhilharmonia Orchestra producing some

wonderful recordings that are now available onCD. His career continued to flourish and inNovember 1956 he was appointed as MusicalDirector of La Scala, Milan.

A few days after this appointment Cantelli tooka plane from Rome to New York where he was toconduct a series of concerts with the New YorkPhilharmonic Orchestra. The plane reached Parison the first leg of its journey (no long-distance jetsin those days) and, on take off, it appeared to catchfire and break up in the air killing 33 of the 35passengers on board. Sadly, Guido Cantelli wasone of those who did not survive; he was only 36years of age.

At the time that Cantelli was working with thePhilharmonia Orchestra, Dennis Brain was theprincipal horn player. They clashed often as theconductor demanded many “takes” duringrecording sessions – the naturally talented (Brain)versus the perfectionist (Cantelli). Dennis Brainwas a second generation horn player, following hisfather whose skills with the instrument were alsohighly regarded. In the family there was anotherson, Leonard, who joined Dennis in chamberworks performing on the oboe.

The Mozart Horn Concertos will forever beworks that raised Dennis Brain to legendary statusbut his work in the orchestra is instantlyrecognisable in those recordings where he isinvolved. His talent was such that horn playerswho followed him had to suffer unfavourablecomparison. Outside of music Dennis was amotoring enthusiast, reputedly reading magazines on the subject during rest periods in concerts. Itwas a car accident a few miles from home thatwould claim his life. He was returning from theEdinburgh Festival where he had given ascintillating performance both serious andhumorous that has recently been released on CD. Coincidentally, like his adversary Cantelli, he, too,was only 36 years of age.

Other coincidences occur when researching asubject of interest. There are few better examplesthan that of the German lyric tenor FritzWunderlich who, like Guido Cantelli was the son of a military bandmaster and, like Dennis Brain, wasoriginally a horn player. Less than two weeksbefore he died in a freak accident at the home ofthe German bass, Gottlieb Frick, Fritz Wunderlichhad scored a great success at the EdinburghFestival in the role of Tamino in Mozart’s Magic

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Life does not be gin at 40! – Part 2

Flute. At the time of his death in September 1966he was nine days short of his 36th birthday –almost the same age as Cantelli and Brain.

No less a singer than Dietrich Fischer-Dieskauremarked at the time that Wunderlich wasirreplaceable and, nearly 40 years later, it is truethat Germany has not yet produced a lyric tenor ofWunderlich’s quality.

Recently, I remarked to a colleague during atrain journey that I was reading a biography ofEmanuel Feuermann. “Ah,” he replied, “thecellist’s cellist!” Such is the esteem in which he isstill held. To read the biography is to live throughthe musical life of the 1920s and1930s in Europe and America withthe great names of the timeincluding, Artur Rubinstein,Jascha Heifetz and PaulHindemith. Feuermann becameprofessor of cello at the CologneConservatoire in 1919 (then one ofGerman’s leading musicalestablishments) at the age of 16leaping from student to professorin one bound. He completelyoverwhelmed the interview panelwith his talent but he was not toretain the post due to the rise ofNazism. Like many otherprominent musicians at that timehe eventually made his way to the USA.

It was the good things in life to which he wasattracted especially flashy sports cars plus he was avery heavy smoker. Many photographs of him aretaken whilst he is smoking including one used toadvertise Chesterfield Cigarettes — almostunthinkable in the current period when smoking ismuch less acceptable. He died from pneumoniafollowing an operation on the appendix on 25thMay 1942 aged 39.

One of his favourite party pieces as a youngmusician was to play the final movement of theMendelssohn Violin Concerto whilst holding theviolin between his knees and playing it like a cello. Now that would have been a sight to see!

Early music is now a much more acceptedgenre of music but its present popularity grewfrom the enthusiasm created by David Munrow,who had been born in Birmingham only a fewweeks after the death of Emanuel Feuermann. Munrow founded a music group to perform earlymusic whilst he was a student at PembrokeCollege, Cambridge, and then spent a yearstudying 17th century music at Birmingham

University. In 1967, he formed the Early MusicConsort of London, whose members included twoprominent musicians of today ChristopherHogwood and James Bowman,

The recordings made by David Munrowdemonstrated his talent in performing on anumber of early instruments and these werealways produced to a high standard. Withoutdoubt, he was one of the most influentialmusicians of his generation; he took his own life inMay 1976 at the age of 33.

Dinu Lipatti is a legend amongst pianists andmourned as much for what he might have achieved

as for his actual achievements. His performances and recordings have almost always receivedcritical acclaim especially inmusic by Bach, Schubert andChopin. Lipatti escaped from hisnative Rumania in 1943 andeventually settled in Geneva.

His musical life story is wellknown but he was in delicatehealth from his earliest years. When not preparing for orappearing in concerts Dinu lovedthe process of recording becauseit gave him scope for what hasbeen described as his inveterateperfectionism. It was severe

illness which forced him to refuse tours toAustralia and the USA as well as drasticallyreducing his concert work. Although HodgkinsDisease was diagnosed, it was actually anundiagnosed burst abscess on the lung that wasthe cause of his death on 24th November 1956. Coincidentally, Bellini, — another short-livedmusician — also died from an undiagnosed burstabscess.

So what has been the lesson of my study of theunder-40s? Obviously, that fate is a cruel powerbut it must engender intrigue in we musicenthusiasts. We can never know what might havebeen but it is fertile ground for those types of radioprogrammes built around the question “Whatif….?” What do you think might have happened? Go on, present a recital on your theories – I dareyou!

Brian Cartwright.

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Emanuel Feuermann

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The thing about records is that, while they canbe easy to play and enjoy, there is not thesame atmosphere or aura as there is when the

same music is being performed live andspontaneously at a public concert.

It is true that it is a problem sometimes to getthere and it is equally likely that you will not be able to pick and choose the programme of music thatyou wish to hear.Further you may be unfortunateenough to find yourself sitting next door to a noisyneighbour who is either coughing, noisily turningover the pages of the programme or even stirringabout in his or her seat.

But the spontaneity of the music, the thoughtthat you are enjoying music being played live, canmake up for all of this on most occasions.

Further, it has to be said that most conductorsand orchestras rarely perform the same work in the same manner. There is an atmosphere ofre-discovery in the air.

The sounds are coming from the instrumentsthemselves and are not being “doctored” by anyrecording engineer. Neither are you at the mercy of a duff amplifier nor rattling loudspeakers. In theearly days, the hissing of the recording was afurther deterrent.

I first learnt something about music from thetwo sources almost at the same time.

I had a whole stack of ten inch and twelve inch78 r.p.m. discs, mostly overtures, arias andpopular pieces of the day, but I had the clearbenefit of attending a whole series of childrens’concerts on Saturday mornings in the City Hallgiven by the City of Birmingham SymphonyOrchestra. Here I was first introduced to theorchestral instruments one by one, to understandtheir sound and musical range, and then section bysection. Then we were given the opportunity tohear what the string section sounded like whenplaying together; and the woodwind, brass andpercussion sections treated in the same mannerfollowed this.

Of course, all this was long before BenjaminBritten produced his Variations and Fugue on aTheme of Purcell which was featured sosuccessfully in a film with comments by SirMalcolm Sargent.

The main disadvantage being suffered bylisteners to records of orchestral music at the timewas the absence of stereophonic sound plus thesimple fact that the reproducing instrument had to

be wound up at the beginning of every side of eachrecord. Also the thorn needle had to be changed orsharpened.

Whilst I later learnt about many differentcomposers’ music through the Henry WoodPromenade Concerts broadcast on the BBC, Istarted learning about the Tchaikovsky andBrahms Symphonies by repeated playing myuncle’s recordings on 78 r.p.m. records and wasthus able to appreciate the live performances Ilater heard when performed by the HalléOrchestra conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham.

As now, the attendance at a public orchestralconcert should be observed as an event. Thearrival, one by one, and the tuning up of theorchestral players and the expectant mutterings ofthe audience are parts of the whole thing to befollowed by the applause as the conductor movesto the rostrum. All of this is lost to the person orpersons who are listening to records. It is adifferent experience altogether.

The availability of recordings, however,particularly historic ones, is a thing to value and itwas only by this means, for example, that I wasable first to hear the performance by the youngYehudi Menuhin of the Elgar Violin Concerto withthe London Symphony Orchestra being conductedby the composer himself. A friend of mine, whowas very interested in Elgar and who was playingthe French horn in the Manchester UniversityOrchestra, having obtained all the highly valuedtwelve inch discs, offered me the chance to hearthem in the comfort of his own home.

Every four or five minutes, the record had to bechanged, the thorn needle resharpened and theneedle carefully placed in the right groove. On thisoccasion, the continuity of the music was furtherinterrupted by this exceedingly enthusiastic friendgiving me a “run-down” on what we had just heardand then his description and careful analysis ofwhat was to follow.

The advent of the LP meant that music nolonger had to be sliced up, and sometimesre-arranged with repeats omitted, into 4 or 5minute sections. We then enjoyed only one “break” in a symphony or tone poem like Richard Strauss’Ein Heldenleben.

But the real significant change, for me,happened when we could enjoy music performedin stereo. Now we could understand the intenseand complicated structure of even the simplest

FEATURES FRMS

17

Recorded and Live Music

Mozart symphony during which the variousinstruments were enjoying “conversations” withone another. When I was very much younger, Ifailed utterly in understanding most of what wasavailable as “chamber music”. For me, music hadto be on the “big screen” but my opinion changeddrastically when, as Programme Secretary of mylocal Recorded Music Society, I was successful inpersuading four young members of the HalléOrchestra to come and play three string quartetsfor us. For their programme, they had selectedquartets by Haydn, Beethoven and Dvorak

It would seem that many orchestral players like to “relax” by playing, entirely for their ownpleasure, in smaller groups. Indeed, somedirectors of continental orchestras used to requirethat their players should spend some time doingjust this.

Listening in mono, however, either on the radio or on record, to a quartet without the benefit of ascore did not enable me to appreciate the finerthings going on and it was not really until this liveconcert that I truly began to appreciate what finecontributions to music making they are.

While discussing the physical relationship ofplayers, it is perhaps relevant to remark on the factthat in Elgar’s orchestral works, it is better whenthe first and second violins are placed in the samearrangement that he had them himself becausethere are occasions when they are having a“conversation” or even a “contravention” with each other while the cellos are placed behind the firstviolins. Elgar was very concerned with getting the“right balance” of sound and used thisarrangement for all his recordings.

In their own concert hall, the ViennaPhilharmonic Orchestra use this same plan, asthey have when playing in the pit at their operaperformances, with the double basses up behindthe orchestra providing the solid bass line so vitalin works by, for example, Brahms.

The advent of the cassette tape recordingsenabled me to hear up to 45 minutes ofuninterrupted music and this was especially usefulfor listening to symphonies and operas. But it wasrather complicated when one wished to pick outjust one movement from a complete work.

The fact that CDs can now provide up to eightyminutes of continuous sound in stereo and thatindividual sections or movements can be easily“found” is indeed to a valuable contribution to theserious music listener.

In the old days with 78 rpm records,presentations at Recorded Music Society meetings

were severely interrupted by record and needlechanging and the advent of the LP made things alittle more difficult when trying to find a “track”half way through a side.

The use of a tape cassette recorder did meanthan one could pre-record one’s programme froma mixture of 78 rpm, LP and tape although one hadto be careful to achieve a good “balance” of soundlevel and quality of reproduction.

Now, with the arrival of recent technologyenabling one to pre-record one’s wholepresentation either on to a mini-disc or 80 minuteCD, it is possible to ensure that the quality andvolume of all the items can be correctly balancedand this means that the presentation itself consists only of the verbal introductions between the music being played from just the one CD.

While recordings will always be valuablebecause they can introduce us to music that maynever be performed in public or on the radio, theywill never replace the “Live Performance”. In mypersonal view, all Recorded Music Societies should include in their programmes opportunities formembers to enjoy seeing and participating in suchhappy and involving situations.

John Kemsey-Bourne

FEATURES FRMS

18

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Like it or not technology continues to marchon! On the record shelves (in some dealers) we canfind discs produced in DVD-A and SACD formats.What are they? Can I play them on my existingequipment?

The quick answer is Yes and No, acontradiction in terms, Yes. Now for anexplanation:

SACD or Super Audio Compact Disc has beendeveloped by those giants of the audio industry —Sony and Philips. This will play on a normal CDplayer, but the best way to hear SACDs at their bestis to use a Super Audio CD player. However onlythe CD layer of these hybrid discs can be played ona DVD-V player.

DVD-A is an extension of the popular DVD-Vdiscs and will play on a DVD-V player, but the bestway to obtain the full richness of DVD-A is to use aDVD-A player.

SACD offers a much higher resolution (higherquality) of recorded music than CD and surroundsound and is of a purer quality than DVD-A. This isdue to the material being recorded in DirectStream Digital Technology. Stereo is better thanCD, so too is surround sound in direct proportionto the number of audio channels used. The playingtime is around 75 minutes. Currently the SACDworldwide catalogue has over 1000 titles. Many ofthe famous labels are gearing up to produce SACDs so reducing production costs and eventually thesavings will be passed on to consumers (we hope!).

DVD-A like its brother DVD-V has on screenmenus and the ability to select anything that isprogrammed on the disc. Again it gives yousurround sound with up to five channels orsometimes more. Here PCM (Pulse CodeModulation) gives excellent audio coding with 100kHz bandwidth and 144db dynamic range. Theplaying time can be over 2.5 hours in better thanCD quality. Discs can contain for example,interviews with the artists, pictures and linernotes, biographies and discographies. The take upof DVD-A technology has been somewhat slowerand smaller. Some record companies haveproduced discs in both formats!

Like the VHS/Betamax format war in timesgone by, we are in for another format war, bothsystems have their plus points and it must be up tothe user to audition them using the very bestsystems to hear them on. SACD gives one ananalogue like smoothness of sound whilst DVD-A

can sound slightly glitzy or hard on some discs.So ideally a player that can reproduce CD,

SACD and DVD-A well is what the record buyingpublic requires. Does one exist? Yes a well-knownJapanese company has produced a completeuniversal system that in reviews appears not toreproduce any of the systems to the reviewer’ssatisfaction. But that is only the start. Only a trulyhybrid system up to the best modern standardswill do. It will take a minor miracle to overcome allthe technical and licensing hurdles for this tohappen. One thing is for certain, both systemshave their merits and can co-exist togethercatering for different sections of the record buyingpublic.

What am I going to do? Well, sit on the fenceand see what happens in the future!

Philip Ashton

How To Or ga nise A Brass Band

Some excerpts from A Practical Guide To TheArrangement Of Band Music by George F. Pattonpublished in 1875. ...Having selected the men for your band, pick outthe most intelligent and ambitious of the lot for the Cornet players. ...The next most important place to be filled is thatof the Tuba player. ...besides having plenty of good, common sense,his supply of patience should be practicallyinexhaustible....for a Tuba player, who has not the qualities ofpatience and good humour is likely to getdisgusted, and if a man of profane habits is apt toswear in adisagreeable way atthe stupid blundersmade by hiscompanions....and this makesthem very angry inturn, and the disgustand swearing maybecome mutual. ...For the sideinstruments andDrums it does not make much difference. ...The author has a bit of advice to offer. Do not letanybody persuade you to bother with Piccolos,Clarinets, and Slide Trombones.

FEATURES FRMS

19

DVD-A or SACD?

Puc cini’s “Tosca”

After an excellent receptionand dinner, the opening eventwas a “First” for the MusicalWeekend; this was the use ofprojection TV and the newmedium of Digital Versatile Disk(DVD). We saw the famous 1976film version of the completePuccini’s Tosca produced byGianfranco de Bosio.

Unlike most operas the threeacts are set in three very specificRoman localities. These are usedin this film with Act 1 being in thechurch of Sant’Andrea dellaValle, Act 2 in the PalazzoFarnese and the CastelSant’Angelo is the perfectbackdrop for the dramatic lastact.

This account is notable notonly for the use of the actuallocations but for both the actingand the singing. PlacidoDomingo was at his peak in theheroic tenor role of Cavaradossi,

Raina Kabaivanska is a winningTosca both in voice andappearance, Sherrill Milnes isoutstanding as Scarpia; hischaracterization exudes corruptpower, suavity and lust. The NewPhilharmonia Orchestra givesdramatic support under thebaton of Bruno Bartoletti.

The film was excellent andthe evening was supplementedby an entertaining and difficultquiz with the DVDs as the prize.

Brian Couzens andChandos

Chandos is one of the mostinnovative and enterprising ofthe Independent RecordingCompanies, it was founded in1978 by Brian Couzens who hereheld a fascinating andentertaining talk with ourPresident Edward Greenfield.

Brian Couzens had abackground of soundengineering that started withfilms (recording the Ron

Goodwin Band). He told us that he had no technical training but had “ears” (this was welldemonstrated by the technicalexcellence of the Chandosrecordings he played with thistalk); he told us that theweakest link in recording is themicrophone and at home it isthe speakers.

He named his companyafter the BBC Chandos Club(with permission from theChandos Estate). The Company specialises in English and rarerepertoire and it has won over160 awards. Several of theartists he ‘discovered’subsequently left him to joinone of the ‘Major’ Companies,

his discoveries included NigelKennedy, Bryn Terfel, theKings Singers and many others. Richard Hickox remains undercontract. Chandos has over2000 titles and seldom deletesthings.

When recording he usedtwo track stereo (nomulti-tracking) but now uses4-6 tracks for Surround Sound.He uses long takes, often fromlive concerts with subsequent

STRATFORD FRMS

20

MUSICAL WEEKEND — STRATFORD

Once again the Moat House Hotel, Stratford on Avon was the venue of our Annual MusicalWeekend. This represents a swan song of Reg Williamson as organiser; a job he has done so ablybefore. The weather was good, and the Hotel maintained the high standards of previous years.

Comments from delegates were favourable and there was no doubt that from an artistic view point theevent was very successful. The number of delegates for the full weekend was less than last year but therewere an appreciable number of non-residential day delegates.

Brian Couzens and Edward Greenfield

patching of mistakes.

Jennifer Bate

Jennifer Bate is a concertorganist of international reputewho made a return visit to anFRMS Weekend and gave us anhilarious account of some of herexperiences whilst travelling the

world; this was interspersed with practical hints on how to dealwith the unexpected thingswhich always seem to occur. Sheinterspersed her talk withextracts from her manyrecordings.

She regaled us with accountsof things falling apart (the AlbertHall organ), how to cope withbirds in the building and how tocope when bats are urinating onyou when playing the organ.Playing old instruments such asthe organ in Adlington Hall (near Stockport) can be incrediblytaxing but the recordings sell best when the instruments soundreally old!

An organist is advised alwaysto have a tuner present whenrecording; extremes oftemperature can effect the tuning and it is best to record loud andsoft parts at different times. Shefinished her talk with anentrancing description of herreaction when a mouse walkeddown the aisle when she wasplaying – the audience had been

transfixed.

Dame Janet Baker

Dame Janet Baker made awelcome return to the FRMSWeekend, again in conversationwith Edward Greenfield. Herethey reviewed her distinguishedand very varied career in singing.

Her first record was for Saga,which was just down the roadfrom her home in Harrow on theHill; the song was “I’ll go with myfather to the rain Field” by IvorGurney – she confessed that shewas terrified. However this wasfollowed by her first majorrecording – Purcell’s Dido andAeneas again for Saga, followedby Hugo Wolf songs for the samecompany.

Later she was to record forEMI with Barbirolli and SeaPictures is a classic recording(previously considered to be

second rate Elgar). Sheconsidered that the greatchallenge was to sing English asif it were Italian by maintaining aline. She put her main efforts notin aiming for a big sound but foraccuracy. Barbirolli opened upher recording career and many of major recordings followed,including some songs withGerald Moore (after hisretirement from the stage).

Her first job was in opera atGlyndebourne in the chorus. Herfirst major solo opera role was in

Cosi Fan Tutte under ColinDavis and subsequently sheappeared at a many operahouses. She was often on stagebut never wanted opera tobecome her whole life. Sheretired from the stage at the age of 56.

Dame Janet is a favourite ofaudiences of FRMS MusicalWeekends and the sheer beauty of the recordings she playedcombined with the descriptionof her fascinating career weregreeted with acclaim.

Tech ni cal Dem on stra -tion and Fo rum

PMC Lim ited of Luton, hadkindly pro vided high qual itysound equip ment for the week -end and this had sounded im -pres sive in ac tion, han dlingwell all the mul ti tu di nous re -cord ings pre sented. In ad di -tion, Pe ter Thomas of PMChosted a sep a rate dem on stra -tion of Sur round Sound. This isthe suc ces sor to thequadraphonic sound of the 80’s and is tech ni cally much su pe -rior; typ i cally would pro vide atleast 6 track — 3 front, 2 rearplus sub woofer (deep bass).Un for tu nately there are twocom pet ing sys tems (or three ifyou in clude the sound out put of DVD – these are DVD(Au dio)and SACD (see also page 17).The dem on stra tions were quite

STRATFORD FRMS

21

Jennifer Bate

Dame Janet Baker

Dame Janet Baker withMarjorie Williamson

staggering in their au di toryimpact.

The PMC staff joined FRMSTechnical Officer, Philip Ashtonand Reg Williamson in aTechnical Forum on the Sundaymorning. This was awide-ranging discussion and thefollowing are some of the pointsthat arose:

Computer Copied Disks.Don’t buy cheap blanks; Usegood software e.g. Nero; copy tohard disk before burning; Whenit will not play, try cleaning thelens.

Deterioration of Equipmentwith Age – most electronic faultsoccur in first year, then itstabilises for many years;Speakers, especially when played very loud, deteriorate quickly.Amplifiers should outlast theirowners.

Controls – these are nowdisappearing with a ‘minimalistapproach’ to tone control. Asharp high filter is needed forplaying 78s.

Hearing loss – this isinevitable with old age; it can be best to listen to music with openbacked headphones e.g.‘Sennhauser’.

Discoloured CDs - Some CDs became champagne colouredwith age. See the HyperionWebsite.

Bryce Mor ri son

Bryce Morrison is a professorat the Royal Academy of Musicand also an internationally

famous critic, broadcaster andpianist and is considered amongthe world’s leading authorities ofpiano performance. He gave awide-ranging, authoritative andat times slightly indiscreet survey of the current piano scenelooking for the best. He classifiedpianists into three classes, firstthe legendary pianists of theearlier generations, these include Rubinstein, Rachmaninov,Solomon, Hess, Curzon andothers. Then there is a middlegroup of recognised masters whoare still practising such as

Perahia, Zimerman, Argerichand Lupu.

His talk concentrated upona last group, that is the youngerplayers of today. Out ofhundreds of talented pianists of real merit he had identified sixpianists of special talent and hepresented recordings of theirwork accompanied by detailedanalysis. The six chosenpianists were Stephen Hough,Evgeny Kissin, BorisBerezovsky, Leif Ove Ansnes,Arcadi Volodos andMarc-André Hamelin. Underhis excellent tutelage weobtained an understanding ofthe factors that distinguishedbetween the good and the best.A most stimulating andinformative talk.

The Singh String Quar tet

Reg Williamson, whenorganising the Weekend, hadreverted to the practise whichhad been promulgated sostrongly in the past by JoyceKnight, that FRMS shouldsupport young musicians. TheSingh quartet (named aftertheir leader Miss Singh) wasmade up of students of theRoyal Northern College ofMusic.

Despite their youth, theQuartet demonstrated maturity of vision in their interpretationof Mendelssohn’s Quartet in D,Opus 44 No 1. This is a workwhich had been stronglyinfluenced by the Beethovenlate quartets. They played thefirst movement withenthusiasm and finesse; thesecond movement was aflowing cantabile; after anexpressive third movement thefinale went with an ebb andflow representing thereflections of an Italiansummer.

STRATFORD FRMS

22

The Technical Forum

Bryce Morrison

The First Quartet of WilliamAlwyn continued the concert,this was enterprising repertoire— a work known to few of theaudience — but what a delightfulwork it proved with lyrical tunesand military overtures. Theandante was especially beautifulwith gentle musing on the celloand heart-stopping pianissimointerjections by the first violin.The nervous pulsating finale wasalso most satisfying. Ravel’sQuartet in F concluded theconcert and what a fascinatingwork this is, rhapsodic andmelodious yet with a slightlyastringent freshness. This wasdescribed in their introduction as depicting hazy summer eveningsin Paris. The playing was totally

assured and professional.Dur ing an in ter view with the

Bul le tin Ed i tor, Miss Singh ex -plained that the for ma tion andplay ing of the quar tet was part oftheir stud ies and their work to -gether had led them into deeppro fes sional friend ship; nor -mally they were four girls but due to ill ness of one, a male had beenre cruited who had soon ac cli ma -tised well.

They had in cluded the Alwynat the sug ges tion of FRMS; atfirst they had found it dif fi cultbut a deeper ac quain tance theyhad come really to like it.

AB

“As pects of Love” —Rowland Ed wards

The Society spot wasre-instated as a trial this year,and Cardiff Recorded MusicSociety was asked to provide theprogramme. It was not an easychallenge, since it was to be thelast programme of a busy andsuccessful weekend, when manywere thinking of the long journeyhome and wondering whetherthey had cancelled the milk andput the cat out.

Rowland Ed wards rose to theoc ca sion with a pre sen ta tioncalled As pects of Love, cov er ingthose as pects from the joy of firstlove to the sad ness of part ingwhen love breaks down. Rec og -

niz ing the emo -tional ef fect thiscould have on hisau di ence, Rowlandthought fully pro -vided a stack of pa -per han kies to wipeaway those tears.The mu si cal itemsranged across allgen res from clas si -cal to jazz and pop -u lar mu sic. Thein tro duc tion to theitems was

light-hearted and informative. Rowland got the programme

“rolling” with Anna McGarragal’ssong The Heart is like a Wheelwhere the analogy was broughtout that the wheel is so importantto our quality of life – when it’sworking well our quality of life is wonderful, but when it’s damaged it’s a disaster! As a completecontrast, the next item went backto a love song by Caccini sung byGigli, after which we were treatedto Cole Porter’s Every time wesay Goodbye sung by theincomparable Ella Fitzgerald.Tragedy was covered in Neris’saria from Cherubini’s Medea and

Rigoletto’s last moments withhis daughter Gilda.

Being Welsh and hailingfrom Pontypridd, Rowlandcould not leave out a referenceto the nearby village ofCilfynydd and Williams Street,

the birthplace of two fine operasingers, Geraint Evans andStuart Burrows. It was StuartBurrows who entertained uswith an example of love at firstsight from Mozart’s MagicFlute – Diese Bildnis. Divorcewas not forgotten as CarlySimpson asked What shall wedo with the child? nor thosehappy people who seem to have multiple loves (Zsa Zsa Gabor)when Tom Lehrer recalled thethree loves of Alma.

A note of sadness wasintroduced in the item onbereavement and grief, whereMary Black sang My youngerson came home today whichwas particularly poignant inview of the recent hostilities.Rowland did not however leavehis audience in tears, butillustrated the resilience of thehuman spirit with Handel’sAngels ever Bright and Fairsung by Lorraine Hunt.

The presentation hit justthe right note for the lastprogramme of the weekend and sent the audience homesinging. Rowland will be a hardact for other societies to follow!

Colin Dancer

STRATFORD FRMS

23

Rowland Edwards withDame Janet Baker

The Singh Quartet

The Group Annual Conference was held at theRoyal Hotel, Bridge of Allan on 16th to 17thMay 2003. The weather this year was

changeable and for much of the time it was ratherwet. This meant that we were confined indoors; but that was compensated by the presence of four firstclass guest speakers.

The first of these was Rob MacKillop, who gaveus a talk on Saturday morning called The QuietTradition. Rob was, until recently a Lecturer at theRoyal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Robis an expert in the lute and guittar and has spentmany years researching these instruments andtheir music. He is also an expert player of theseinstruments. During his talk Rob explained howthe lute was made and showed us examples of theinstrument. He also showed us a 17th Centuryguittar. This instrument originated in Germanyand is much smaller and more rounded thantoday’s guitar. Many examples of 17th and 18thCentury lute music were played from Rob’spublished CDs. We were brought right up to datewith a composition by Rob called The Healing ( APibroch for Lute). This piece was born in hisimagination in Casablanca on the evening of 11thSeptember 2001. He said he felt a need to explorethe hidden sounds of the lute, to dig deep into thedark recesses of our music, to find the invisiblemusical ley-lines, which are timeless and whichbind us. I found this a haunting piece which I willlisten to again and again. Rob opened up a newarea of classical music, which few present haddelved into before.

After lunch Bruce Fraser, the Fife-born Head of Music at Buckhaven High School, and a composerwell known in the brass band world, gave us an

insight into the life of a modern composer. FifeCouncil had commissioned him to write a newpiece and as he was a long-time close friend offellow Fifer, John Wallace, he decided to write aTrumpet Concerto and dedicate it to John Wallace. We learnt how Bruce sketched out the piece in hishead and then with the aid of a piece of softwarecalled Sibelius, which he had installed in his laptop computer, he printed out the score. He brought hislaptop along and demonstrated Sibelius to us. Hethen played us a recording of the completeTrumpet Concerto with John Wallace as thesoloist accompanied by the Fife Schools Orchestraconducted by Graeme Wilson. Bruce told us thathis composing had enabled him to travel to manyparts of the world. The previous week-end he wasin Holland judging a brass band competition. Thiswas a fascinating and enjoyable programme thatwe all enjoyed.

On Sunday morn ing Neil Man tle, con duc tor ofThe Scot tish Sin fo nia, The Ed in burgh Bach Choirand The Dundee Cho ral Un ion gave us a talk en ti -tled Elgar and The Gram o phone. Neil told uswhen he was a stu dent in Lon don he was dis -tracted by some thing glint ing in the twi -light while he waswalk ing home. Onin ves ti ga tion hefound it was an al -bum of 78s of Elgarcon duct ing his Sec -ond Sym phony. Af -ter hear ing this hebe came an life-longad dict of Elgar. Neilplayed us many ex -cerpts from Elgar’s own re cord ings rang ing fromhis first of Carissima through a ver sion ofCockaigne Over ture, which Elgar had cut fromaround 12minutes to 4½ min utes to fit one side ofa pre-elec tric 12” 78 re cord, to one of his last re -cord ings, which he su per vised from his death bedin 1934, Dream Chil dren con ducted by LawranceCollingwood. Neil gave us lots of in for ma tion onElgar’s close re la tion ship with Fred Gaisberg ofThe Gram o phone Co. Ltd. and how he be came that com pany’s flag ship com poser. Thanks to Neil’s en -thu si asm and de tailed re search we all went off tolunch with a much greater un der stand ing of theimportance of Sir Edward Elgar’s relationship

SCOTLAND FRMS

24

Scottish Group Annual Conference

Neil Mantle

with the Gramophone.After lunch Derek Watson, Chairman of the

Scottish Wagner Society, gave us a presentationcalled The Ring – 100 Years Recorded. Derek gaveus lots of information on recording the Ring and

played us several examples of recordings from thelast 100 years. The artistes ranged from JohannaGadski in a 1909 recording, through AstridVarnay, Lauritz Melchior, Kirsten Flagstad andEberhard Wächter to Birgit Nilsson. This was anexcellent talk and was a fitting finish to our guestpresentations.

Malcolm Cloke from Stirling RMS, Nan Dowfrom Kirkcaldy RMS, and Nisbet Cunninghamgave us most enjoyable programmes in theevenings of Friday, Saturday and Sundayrespectively.

The magnificent equipment was supplied byMcMichael Bros. of Alloa and this added to ourenjoyment of the weekend.

Unfortunately the numbers attending theweekend over the last few years have steadilydeclined and it was decided at the AGM that theformat of the conference should be changed to aday conference for 2004. This will cost less andwill avoid staying away from home and we hopemore people will be encouraged to attend.

Chris Hamilton

SCOTLAND FRMS

25

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The new Central Region held its first DayEvent in The Adam Ballroom, Lion Hotel

Shrewsbury on Saturday 15th March 2003.

Gordon Wainwright, Central Region Chairmanwelcomed around 140 delegates, representing 25affiliates, to the inaugural event of the CentralRegion, held in the Adam Ballroom at the LionHotel, Shrewsbury. He commented briefly on thehistoric events that had occurred in the ballroomsince its completion in the 1770’s, notably thatPaganni had given two recitals here in 1831.

Whilst open ing a new chap ter in the his tory ofthe Fed er a tion, Gordonstressed that this Re -gional event com ple -mented the ac tiv i ties ofthe Na tional Fed er a tionand he en cour aged peo -ple to at tend theirweek end in Stratfordupon Avon. He also ex -pressed sad ness at thedeath of three peo plewho have ac tively sup -ported our move ment — John Bulman, one of the Fed er a tion’s Vice Pres i -dents; Pat rick Rus sell,Chair man of TavistockRMS and a past mem ber of the Fed er a tion Com -mit tee, also Ted Perry, Founder of Hyperion Re -cords and a former member of Derby RMS.

The first presenter was Alan Ward, a retiredBBC Studio Manager who outlined a career thathad spanned the wide changes that had taken place in sound recording techniques.

Alan joined the BBC in 1953 and spoke of hisearly involvement in recording BBC LightEntertainment Programmes. Tape was originallyused merely because it was more easily handledthan disc, the possibilities of editing came later.Programmes included “ Take It From Here ” whichwas always recorded in ‘one take’; The Goon Showalways involved a lot of editing, anotherprogramme was Hancock’s Half Hour.

Charles Parker was the greatest producer Alanworked with, a perfectionist who often worked lateinto the night. Alan worked with Parker on a seriesof Radio Ballads. These were innovative in concept

for their time, blending documentary and art, factand folksong into an atmospheric sound picture ofthe world of work and those involved in it. Therewere eight in all, of which the best remembered are probably The Ballad of John Axon (recalling anengine driver who died trying to regain control ofhis runaway train) and the one we heard was anexcerpt from Singing the Fishing about North Seaherring fishermen.

Turn ing to mu sic broad casts it was a par tic u larplea sure to hear a re cord ing he had been in volvedwith; namely the Cha pel Or gan at Great

Packington,Warwickshire,played by a mu si cian with strong Mid landcon nec tions, IvorKeys, Pro fes sor ofMu sic atNottingham Uni ver -sity and later at Bir -ming ham Uni ver sity (This was the lo ca -tion where a re cord -ing of all the Han delOr gan Con cer toswas made with theOr gan ist E. PowerBiggs and the Lon -don Phil har moniccon ducted by Sir

Adrian Boult). The Great Packington or gan doesnot use stan dard mod ern pitch, this caus ingdifficulty when played with an orchestra.

During his career Alan had met and workedwith Holst’s daughter Imogen and we heard arecording of her conducting her father’s MoorsideSuite.

Alan moved to the BBC in Birmingham and wetold of the attitude by the BBC in the 1960’stowards Stereo broadcasts outside London; Alanbeing given £50 to buy some equipment. HoweverWolverhampton’s Civic Hall in 1969 boasted oneof the first stereo broadcasts outside the Capitaland we heard an interesting recording of the Cityof Birmingham Symphony Orchestra rehearsinginside the Civic Hall with their then newlyappointed Principal Conductor Louis Fremaux.

After a pleasant lunch our second Speaker wasJames Watson, who had agreed to come to talk tous at less than 48 hours notice, due to the fact that

26

REGIONS FRMS

CENTRAL REGIONAL GROUP

Alan Ward, James Watson & John Davies

Paul Daniel, Musical Director of the ENO and ourscheduled Speaker, had had to withdraw.

James’ presentation revealed a very versatilemusician. He was born into an all-musicalLeicestershire family. As a youngboy he played in the local DesfordColliery Band, becoming seniortrumpet at the age of eleven.James also entered seniorcontests as a boy, winning cashprizes that were more than anadult’s weekly wage.

He went on to study trumpet at The Royal Academy of Music. Hehas held Principal Trumpet postswith the Royal PhilharmonicOrchestra; the Royal OperaHouse, Covent Garden; as well asleading the Philip Jones BrassEnsemble.

The diversity of James’ workwas truly amazing. For instance,from working with Sir Colin Davis at CoventGarden he chose to change direction after beinginvited to be Conductor of the Black Dyke MillsBand, vividly describing the difficulties andattitudes of some of the band members to him atthe start, given his musical back ground. Thoughsome members of the band did leave, he eventuallywon the confidence and respect of the remainder.

James said that whilst he enjoyed the BrassBand, it was the ‘phone call from John Charles,Personnel Manager of the Royal PhilharmonicOrchestra asking him to be acting principaltrumpet in the RPO on their tour of Germany thatchanged his life. James was subsequently offeredthe position full time, a position that lasted nineyears.

Referring to the busy life of a musician Jamestold us how he had toured America and Canadawith the Orchestra arriving back at HeathrowAirport to be met by his wife who had got anothersuitcase. After a quick coffee at the terminal, hetook the case of clean clothes and headed off for atour of Scandinavian countries giving moreconcerts. Now Professor of Trumpet at the RoyalAcademy of Music, the musical tradition continues in the family with his two sons playing the trumpetand studying at the Royal College of Music.

Those affiliates who have heard previouspresentations by Federation Chairman, JohnDavies, will be aware of his knack of blending witand knowledge into an attractive programme withmusic for all tastes and styles.

Here John chose to illustrate “By Arrangement”with compositions that had appeared in differentguises…some arranged by the composer himself, someby other composers, and the remainder by musicians

who had made their names“re-organising” the music of others.

Ravel’s La Vallée des clochesfrom Miroirs appeared in itsoriginal form as piano soloperformed by Angela Hewitt,and then in Percy Grainger’sorchestration, played by thePhilharmonia Orchestraconducted by Geoffrey Simon.

Leopold Stokowski alwayshad fun arranging the music ofJ.S.Bach, but on this occasion,we heard his version of the LittleFugue BWV578 played by theCincinnati Pops Orchestra under Eric Kunzel. Bach’s more famous

BWV565 Toccata and Fugue then appeared in afour hands piano transcription by the Germancomposer, Max Reger.

After listening to Liszt’s Second HungarianRhapsody arranged for brass ensemble, John’sprogramme concluded with Beethoven’s ownarrangement for piano of his Violin Concerto,published as Op.61a. The writer has just acquired a set of CDs wherein this work is billed asBeethoven’s Sixth Piano Concerto! Artistic licencegone mad, perhaps!

At the close, Gordon Wainwright thanked allwho had attended, members of the committee andothers who had helped in any way but particularlymentioning the hard work of Regional SecretaryMick Birchall and SMC Sound and Vision ofShrewsbury for generously providing all the sound reproduction equipment.

**********************************************The next Central Region Music Day will be on

Saturday 11th October 2003 at The Lion Hotel,Belper, Derbyshire. The speakers will includeorganist Wayne Marshall and the renownedBerlioz scholar and biographer, David Cairns.

The event will commence at 11.00am andconclude at 5.00pm. The price will be £19,including lunch. Further details may be obtainedfrom the Central Region Secretary (see last page ofthis Bulletin).

Report compiled by Mick Birchall, Allan Child, Ken Daley, Graham Kiteley and GordonWainwright

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James Watson

The champagne corks were popping whenmembers gathered at the historic Pyke House in Battle to celebrate the 50th weekend. So 25

years of musical get togethers, not all at PykeHouse as earlier weekends were held at Hassocksand Seaford, but the longest association has beenwith Pyke House on the edge of the famous 1066battle field in the lovely small town of Battle.

It was decided to celebrate this historic event in style with a ‘Schubertiad’ so that we could raise aglass to celebrate the genius of Franz Schubert who as a composer of songs has no equal in fertility ofmelodic invention. In addition, apart from operaand concertos, Schubert ranks among the verygreatest of composers in all other forms.

Wine with the Saturday evening dinner wasfollowed by champagne, a sherry reception on theSunday; there was still lots of time to enjoy anabundance of heavenly music. EILEEN TAYLORgave us a survey of Schubert’s orchestral outputincluding most of the symphonies and incidentalmusic from Rosamunde. Eileen also gave us thebeautiful ‘Sanctus’ from the German Mass.

ALAN THOMAS took a detailed look at the twosong cycles; on the Saturday after The Erl King and An die Musik a selection from Die Schone Mullerinusing the Ian Bostridge recording with GrahamJohnson. On Sunday Alan selected songs fromWinterreise using the Dietrich Fischer-Dieskaurecording with Jorg Demus. After the splendiddinner on Saturday evening Alan presented a‘Schubertiad’ of songs, piano works and chamberworks prior to presenting a performance of TheTrout Quintet with the star-studied line-up ofJacqueline Du Pré, Daniel Barenboim, ZubinMehta, Pinchas Zuckerman and Itzhak Perlman.

After breakfast on Sunday JONATHANPARRIS concentrated on the String Quartets,some composed for private performances; heplayed an early quartet where each movement wasset in a different key. The song like movement ofthe A minor quartet the second movement ofwhich uses music from his Rosamunde work waswell received. Jonathan also played somerecordings of the piano sonatas played on a ‘Grafpianoforte’.

ALAN GILBY took his now regular slot after the splendid Sunday lunch but there was no chance of

‘nodding-off’ as he presented his choice for aSchubertiad! With some little known and unusualworks including a Violin Concerto, Alan kepteveryone’s attention. He also introduced a nameunfamiliar to some of us: Robert Fuchs(1847-1927) whose first piano sonata he describedas “Schubert with a dash of Brahms!” Alan’s wideranging programme in fact, went from Deutsch 1to D 959!

This brief resumé hardly does justice toSchubert or the hard work and enthusiasticdedication that all the presenters put into theirprogrammes. To paraphrase a well known cliché“you had to be there to hear it!” I must take thisopportunity to thank all those who have helped somuch to make these residential weekends such asuccess over the last quarter of a century, it doesn’tseem like that! It really is a team effort and it hasbeen a challenge to present a wide range of musical subjects in an enjoyable but informative way,composers, artists, countries, eras, concert guidesare generic titles behind which lies the endlesslyfascinating and rich world of music, of which weare still only scratching the surface. Tribute mustbe paid to the late DENIS BOWYER who had thevision to see and put into being these weekendsand to initiate such a successful formula.

Last but by no means least, thanks are due tothe staff at Pyke House, which is an outpost of theHastings College of Arts and Technology. Theyhave over the years always provided us with awarm welcome, an environment in which we could relax and enjoy our music knowing that we wouldalso be well fed, watered, have comfortable bedsand a garden to enjoy between the sessions. Theconsistently high standard of the house has beenmaintained by all the staff even over changes ofmanagers and personnel.

We look forward to the next twenty-five yearswith confidence, enthusiasm and the certainknowledge that we still have much to learn and will go on enjoying our studies with many friends oldand new at Pyke House.

Alan Thomas

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SUSSEX REGION GROUPSCHUBERTIAD’ to mark the ‘50th’ Weekend

Please support our advertisers and quote the Bulletin when you contact them.

The 2003 Yorkshire Weekend started withdinner on Friday 11th th April and finished afterlunch on Monday 14th. The weather was kind, thelocation and food were excellent.

My Kind of Mu sicThe YRG Secretary, Dennis Clark, opened

the weekend and, given his well-known allegianceto Elgar, the Friday night session was notable forSir Edward’s absence! A relaxed scene was set with two pieces of Schrammel music, named after theleader of a nineteenth century Viennese quartetwho wrote and played light-heartedwaltz tunes. This was followed by awide range of music by Schubert,Coleridge-Taylor and Mendelssohn.

We then indulged in true 78snostalgia with Frank Titterton BlessingThis House and Derek Oldham singingSongs of Araby. The nostalgia wasinterrupted by the Andante from Emilvon Sauer’s First Piano Concerto andHaydn Wood’s London Cameos suite,

but then returned with Walter Widdup, recordedin 1930 singing extracts from Mendelssohn’sElijah.

This attractive and light-hearted programmeconcluded with excerpts from Signor AlexandreLuigini’s Ballet Égyptien from 1875. DVD Spe cial

Taking time off from editing the PenguinGuide, Ivan March is a regular visitor to the YRGweekend. This year he gave us our first everSaturday morning programme. It was an ideal

opportunity to share his enthusiasmfor good quality DVDs — DigitalVersatile Discs, as he told us, notDigital Video Discs, as they aresometimes called.

Ivan played lots of examples toshow the good quality of sound andvision that is now available, illustrating chamber, choral and orchestral works,opera and ballet. Covent Garden’sTraviata with Angela Gheorghiu,

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The picturesque village of Hascombe was thefocal point for this year’s Annual Reunion ofthe Federation’s West Surrey Region, held on

May 10 and hosted by the Godalming MusicListening Group. A gathering some seventy strongconverged on the splendid new village hall,bringing members and friends from all round thearea - Aldershot, Bookham, Esher, Guildford andHaslemere.

As 2003 marks the bi-centenary of the birth ofHector Berlioz, the evening opened on anappropriate note with an informative and highlyentertaining presentation by Berlioz Societymember Dr Diana Bickley, in which sheconcentrated particularly on the great Frenchcomposer’s early years. Dr Bickley was able todemonstrate, both on disc and at the keyboard,how Berlioz’s youthful essays into compositionlaid the foundation for his first and best-knownmajor work — the Symphonie Fantastique. Herillustrations of early songs and orchestral writingleft no room for doubt as to the steady flowering ofBerlioz’s genius, drawing our attention also to thefrequency and skill with which he returned againand again to re-use musical ideas in his laterworks.

As is usual on these social occasions, the ladiesof the host society volunteered to feed the audience during the interval, Godalming’s talented teamproviding an excellent buffet supper which wasappreciated by all.

A varied diet of songs spanning many yearskept us in our seats for a further hour with a hugelyenjoyable choral concert by The Ian EngelmannSingers under their conductor John Tudhope. Amixed choir of some twenty performers, theSingers demonstrated a wide-ranging repertoire of Motets, Madrigals, Victorian Songs, FrenchChansons and Close Harmony. Their enthusiasmand elan was infectious and brought the evening toa resound ing close.

Next year’s Reunion will be the 40th in theseries, with the Haslemere society at the helm. It’sbeen a long run. Such events, however, don’t justhappen: they are the result of much thought,careful planning — and a large measure of hardwork. But what a splendid medium they are forbringing together musical friends old and new andfostering an entente cordiale among those of uswhose lives continue to be enriched by thetechnology of putting great music onto “record”.

Les Warner

WEST SURREY REGION

YORKSHIRE REGIONAL GROUP

Paul Serotsky,Technical manager

Bach’s Magnificat by Karajan and the BerlinPhilharmonic, the Brandenburg Concertos fromCothen, Giselle from the Kirov, La Fille MalGardée from Covent Garden and more. Thedramatic results that can be obtained bycombining work inside and outside the studio wasadmirably demonstrated with Peter Wegl’s film ofEugene Onegin. The ‘Four Fs’

Jean Charters, from Durham RMS, opened theformal weekend and her enigmatic title concealedthe characteristics of living creatures: Feathers,Fur, Fins and Feelers. As a retired infant teachershe was unhappy with the national curriculum forteaching music, which had become too formal forthe younger children and had lost the essential‘fun’ element, so important as an aid to learning.

Jean’s music was apt — Respighi’s Birds, bothof Schubert’s Trouts, Flanders and Swan’s Spiderand Hippopotamus Encore, and two songs fromPapagano, the bird-catcher in The Magic Flute. Johnny Morris’s Carnival of the Animals wentdown well, as did La Fille Mal Gardée (Ivan hadshown extracts from the Royal Ballet film).

More unusual was Walter Braunfels’ opera DieVögel (The Birds), and the depiction of swansflying by in the last movement of Sibelius’s FifthSymphony. Daquin’s Cuckoo and Couperin’s TheFly were good examples from an earlier age. Herfinal piece was The Lark in the clear air, a NorthCountry song recorded by Owen Brannigan.Vic to rian Pop u lar Mu sic

Graham Saunders programme was a completecontrast, being a brief but detailed history ofpopular musical development from the IndustrialRevolution through to the Victorian parlour andthe music hall. He illustrated thiswith folk songs from Lincolnshirecountryside and Scots miningdisasters, hymns and oratorios,marches, Gilbert and Sullivan pattersongs and romantic ballads.

Along the way we covered thegrowth of chapels (and publichouses), which led to the Britishchoral movement, the need forbigger and better organs, the growthof brass bands, and eventually to thebroadening of ordinary people’s musical abilitiesthrough the tonic sol-fa system.

The Brass Band movement held its first publiccontest in Burton Constable in 1845. Soon afterthat Enderby Jackson, a railway timetable clerk,decided to organise and develop contests, and he

was the first person to commission a test piece.Elsewhere, the piano became an indispensable

part of any respectable Victorian home, and with itgrew new styles in home music: the sentimentalballads and songs, flashy, demonstrative playingand impressive-sounding foreign names. It wasbut a short step to the Victorian Music Hall.Eine Kleine (und Leichte) Nachtmusik

Raymond Wood’s “post prandial confection”was, as usual, a most entertaining mixture of lightfroth and nostalgia with a few serious bits inbetween. Just the thing for Saturday night.

The inimitable Swingle Singers’s opened withthe Finale of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, which wasfollowed by a 1929 recording of Clemens Kraussand the VPO playing two polkas. We had nostalgicmusic from France and also an obligatory DutchMasters section

John Field was represented by Le Midi andPercy Grainger by Handel in the Strand. Thispleasant late-night programme continued withsongs from Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and ElisabethSchumann. Finally we had Richard Tauber Beganthe Beguine, Stan Getz played a bossa nova, andFlanders and Swan gave the Weather Forecast. Bold as Brass

On Sunday morning Ivan March introducedArthur Butterworth as “our composer in residenceof whom you will hear more in future” and as “acomposer with Yorkshire in his veins, influencedmore by Sibelius than Mahler”.

Arthur spoke of the development of Brassinstruments, techniques and awareness, and hisfirst musical illustration showed that the pre-1750techniques of playing natural horns and trumpetswere being re-discovered today.

After 1750 theflamboyance of the baroqueperiod became unfashionableand was replaced by a gentler,more melodic style. Mozartand Haydn’s trumpet writingwas not very interesting forbrass players and, apart fromthe occasional concerto, gavethem little to do.

Thus, the brass wereeffectively demoted until the

invention of the valve mechanism in thenineteenth century, and this revival was enhancedby the development of Adolphe Sax’s family ofmodern instruments. The resurgence of brass wasillustrated with two pieces by Berlioz played by the Hallé under Sir Hamilton Harty in the 1930s.

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Ron Downs, Bradford RMS,with Arthur Butterworth

The cornet was developed very successfully asan alternative to the trumpet in France, but thiswas not so in England.

We then heard a new recording of Wagner’sRienzi Overture, made by Barry Wordsworth andthe New Queen’s Hall Orchestra with instrumentsfrom the late nineteenth/early twentieth centuries: they use wooden flutes, gut strings andnarrow-bore trumpets and trombones.

In the 1970s Arthur heard Edmund Rubbra’sorchestration of the Brahms Handel Variations,which he had known as a piano work. The newversion sounded like a greater work. Arthur waslater inspired to give the Variations a similartreatment for brass, which the Black Dyke MillsBand recorded in 2001.

More recently Arthur wrote a work for bothbrass band and orchestra. It was inspired by anexhibition of paintings by Lowry’s teacher,Adolphe Valette, showing Manchester in the lateVictorian period. We heard a rehearsal tape of thefirst movement, called Oxford Road, Manchester,on a misty November evening, with Naganoconducting the Hallé and the Glasgow CWS BrassBand.

Ivan March gave the vote of thanks and askedArthur to take questions about brass instruments. We learnt that Ravel favoured a small tuba in C tothe standard model in B flat; that the Sousaphoneis an E flat Bass instrument; and the Sarrusophone is a metal contra bassoon with a broad reed. Naxos re cent Re leases

David Denton started by giving a few Naxosgrowth statistics. Twelve years ago the Naxoscatalogue offered about 150 discs and had 0.5% ofthe market: now they have 2500 discs and 24% ofthe UK market, double the size of the next largestlabel. They are now exploring the USA market and in two-to-three years expect to be the largest sellerof discs in the world!

The selection of current records started with afanfare from Shostakovich’s ballet The Bolt andthe opening march from his Second Jazz Suite.

Naxos now issue most of their discs in themedseries, targeting those who like ‘completeness’. Klaus Heymann, “Mr Naxos”, asked David for80-disc lists for a British and an American series. The British list included Elgar, Holst and Walton,and went on to explore the symphonies and tonepoems of Arnold Bax. Although they have tendedto use their own recordings in the past, Naxos have acquired the English Song Cycle series fromCollins Classics and the interesting AmericanDelos label.

We also heard extracts from the Light Classics,Organ, and the Opera Classics series. Naxos arealso proud of their Historic Series, where theprocessing from 78s or early LPs to CD is done by aman called Ward Marston who has been blindsince birth. For transfers he obtains a number ofpressings and segments them, then selects the best to create superb sound. There were many goodies,too many to list here but we had a sample of twofuture issues: an exciting new violinist named Siqin Lu playing Sarasate’s Violin Showpieces, andDmitri Yablonsky with the Russian StateSymphony Orchestra, playing Prokofiev’sAlexander Nevsky.An Eve ning with Linda Ormis ton

The late-night Sunday show had a riotous start. Paul Serotsky, YRG’s resident technical expert,was enjoying every inch of Linda’s décolletagewhilst deciding where to fix the microphone and,having lectured her to be careful of the wires,promptly tripped over them himself. This wasgreeted with much applause.

Linda spoke of her career, starting at the age ofnine with a small repertoire that included How

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THE YORKSHIRE REGIONAL GROUP’SSPRING WEEKEND 2004

The Crown Hotel, The Esplanade,Scarborough

—————The Week end starts at 2.30 on Sat ur day 24th April and fin ishes

af ter lunch on Mon day 26th April. The cost is £104 per per son, which

is pay able to the ho tel, and cov ers twin or dou ble rooms, meals and in ter val teas

————————————————

The Con fer ence fee is £10.00 per per son, pay able to the YRG Sec re tary when book ing

If you want to stay on Fri day 23r d it will cost£32.00 for B&B, or £37.00 for DB&B (the ex tra£5.00 for Fri day din ner is extremely good value).

Booking for YRG Societies opens on 11 October.

General book ing opens on 12 November to 31 December 2003. There will be no singlerooms but plenty of double or shared twin rooms.

For further details contact Dennis Clark, YRG Secretary, 227 Tinshill Road, Leeds, LS16 7BU

much is that doggie in thewindow? Early roles in HMSPinafore eventually led to arecording in 1988 with the NewSadler’s Wells Opera, and fromthis we heard Linda as LittleButtercup. She followed thiswith the Sandman’s song fromHumperdinck’s Hansel andGretel.

Linda’s evening was full ofanecdotes and stories. Forexample, the role of MotherGoose in Stravinsky’s The Rake’sProgress, has only 41 notes tosing in the first half thus, whensinging at Glyndebourne it waspossible to leave Sussex and behome in Glasgow before theopera finished.

Linda has enjoyed a veryvaried career, from singing MadMargaret in Ruddigore,appearing in Façade with theBlack Dyke Mills Band, anddoing her own one-woman show, with songs by Joyce Grenfell,Beatrice Lillie and Gracie Fields.We heard several songs fromsome of Linda’s friends.

To finish we had an explosionof fun with an incredibly fastversion of the patter song fromAct II of Ruddigore, in whichLinda was partnered by GordonSanderson and Harold Innocent.

A Mixed BagPeter Allen’s Monday

morning programme was full ofbeautiful music and had beencrafted with obvious affection for both the works and artists. Hestarted with Schumann’s Opus24 Liederkreis, exquisitely sungby Ian Bostridge accompanied by Julius Drake. Few people hadheard of The Red Dragonfly, abeautiful song for counter-tenorand piano by the Japanesecomposer Kosaku Yamada(1886-1965), and Peter notedhow much the musical world hadchanged, particularly in the

integration of Eastern andWestern music. It was followedby two excerpts from Handel’sMessiah.

Pe ter’s programme con -cluded with Elgar’s So nata forVi o lin and Pi ano in E mi nor. Itwas writ ten in 1918 at‘Brinkwells’, where Lady Al iceElgar had taken Sir Ed ward to re -cu per ate from the stresses of war. We heard the 1980s re cord ingmade by a young Nigel Ken nedywith Pe ter Pettinger. Con clu sion

The weekend ended with araffle, then votes of thanks weregiven to all concerned withorganising the weekend.

Tony Pook, Chairman YRG

Are You Go ing toScarborough Fair?

There’s a fa mous sea side towncalled Scarb’rough,Where ev ery year, in the spring,The Re corded Mu sic So ci et iesCon verge for their an nual fling.

They travel from all over York shire,And some from much fur ther away,All ea ger to hear the guest speak ersAnd en joy the mu sic they’ll play.

This year the fore cast was n’t pleas -ant,It said “rainy”, not “Scarb’roughFair”,But though there were one or twoshow ers,We’d sun shine, too, when we gotthere.

Most peo ple ar rived on the Fri day,Though things did n’t start till nextday, And so we’d an ex tra re citalWhich made a most pleas ant soi ree.

The speak ers were all in ter est ing,With plenty of hu mour as well;And as for the mu sic they’d cho sen,We could only de scribe it as ‘swell’.

Now Pe ter and Paul played themu sic(Our mem bers of course, not thesaints);They gave such a per fect per for -manceThat we had no cause for com -plaints.

When they heard a loud, ex cit ingpas sageFrom brass, woods, per cus sionand strings,They jumped up, beat time andgy ratedAs if they were sit ting on springs.

The CD sale quickly at tractedA small crowd which rap idly grew;Some discs were be ing sold by our mem bersAnd Naxos had oth ers there too.

The staff at the Crown Ho telhelped usTo spend a most happy week end;The ser vice and food were bothsplen did.It’s a place we can well rec om -mend.

We all en joyed talk ing to peo pleWe’d met and made friends withbe fore,And af ter this year’s get-to getherWe found we had many friendsmore.

Our stay at the Crown was soonend ing;The time for de par ture was here;We’d en joyed the week end so wellthatWe’ve booked the ho tel for nextyear.

Brian Jenkinson, Huddersfield RMS

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FRMS

HOLIDAYS AD.

Car diff RMS

Another successful season was finished in April 2003 giving members time to go on holiday andtend their gardens. However the new committee isnow working hard to ensure that the next season isjust as successful, especially as the society will then be 60 years old.

The season, which runs on a weekly basis fromSeptember to April, has had a series of interestingpresentation, both from our own members andoutside presenters. With details of working fromthe inside we had a member, Heather James,recounting her amusing experiences whiletreading the boards in amateur opera and operetta, while Chris Ball, Birmingham’s Deputy Coroner,gave advice on how to avoid being a subject of acoroner’s inquest when discussing death in opera.

We had two conversation pieces last season: The conversation between Richard Hickox,Principal Conductor of the BBC National Orchestraof Wales, and our president, Edward Greenfield was one of the highlights of the year where RichardHickox talked about his career, his work with theBBC NOW and his musical preferences. We areindeed fortunate to have Edward Greenfield as ourPresident and look forward to his annualpresentations. In the other conversation piece,Wynne Lloyd, a past chairman of the society, talkedto Anthony Freud, General Director of the WelshNational Opera who gave us an eclectic selection ofmusic from Wagner to Sondheim.

Live music was not forgotten and in Februarywe had Robert Codd and Jean Marsden, bothplayers with the BBC NOW, who gave us aninteresting programme on the oboe and bassoonfrom the baroque to the present day, illustratingtheir programme with live music and recordedmusic.

In April we had an audio-visual presentation by Tim Porter, a lecturer in Music and MediaevalHistory from Reading University, who gave usmagnificent slides showing the splendours ofKings College Chapel, Cambridge, and playedmusic that illustrated the problems and challengesof singing in such a building. The problem ofreverberation was particularly critical.

As well as all this we had our regular featurespresented by members such as Music Magazine,where topical issues are presented, Pick ‘n’ Mixwhere members are interviewed and tell a storyabout a favourite piece of music, and London being discussed in the Great Musical Cities series.

One of our senior members and former

committee member of both the FRMS and our own society, Rainer Lenk, celebrated his 80th birthdayby giving us a memorable evening where heconsidered a lifetime of collecting serious musicrecordings.

In such a successful programme Ann Davieswas challenged to come up with an equivalentspeaker for the Society’s annual Social Event. Annmet the challenge by inviting Donald Maxwell, well known locally for his roles with WNO, includingFalstaff. (which he has sung around the world).Donald entertained us with wit and charm at thenew venue of the University Catering Departmentwhilst we sat digesting a superb fork buffet.

Our activities have not been confined to our

Society meetings. Wynne Lloyd has beeninstrumental in putting together a series ofprogrammes on Level 5 of St David’s Hall coveringthe Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Bellini andDonizetti. This is a series of 10 programmes givenby members of the Society for the benefit of thecitizens of Cardiff, and raises an awareness of theSociety amongst the general public. The series isvery successful, each meeting being attended by up to 120 people, and we are all looking forward to the restart of the series in September after the summer break.

Last season has been particularly successful;our Programme Secretary, Norman Slater, hadexcelled himself but we are confident that he willkeep up the standard this next season. All theseitems were complemented by stage managementby Rowland Edwards who succeeds in adding atouch of magic to our rather mundane Hall! Thedetails of the presentations and the music playedcan be found on our web site(www.crms.supanet.com) which is maintained by Colin Dancer who has also taken on the task ofSecretary for the coming year.

SOCIETIES FRMS

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Ann Davies and Donald Maxwell

Kirkcaldy RMS

The Society recently marked the end of itssixtieth season with two special commemorativeprogrammes. The first, “Celebration I”, waspresented by Miss Nan Dow, the longest-servingmember. Miss Dow drew upon her long personalassociation with the Society and had gleanedfurther details from the archives and from theformer magazine of the Society, TheGrammalogue. The first meeting had taken placein the home of an enthusiast and the first piece tobe heard was a 78 rpm recording of Eine KleineNachtmusik which had been played on an acousticgramophone with a large external horn. Afterplaying a modern CD of this work, Miss Dowoutlined developments in equipment andrecording media over the sixty years, illustratingher talk with recordings of music that had beenheard at different events throughout the Society’shistory. From its inception as the NairnGramophone Society which met in the staffcanteen of the Nairn linoleum-manufacturingfirm, the Society had experienced changes whichhad led to changes in the name, firstly to KirkcaldyGramophone Society and then to KirkcaldyRecorded Music Society. Factual material gainedfrom the archives was coloured with personalreminiscences of occasions and personalities in the Society’s history.

“Celebration I” having been devoted to the past,“Celebration II” concentrated on the presentmembership. The President, Roy Plaice, set thefestive mood with a welcoming glass of wine beforepresiding over a programme of favourite recordingschosen by those who are currently active in runningthe Society. After a wide-ranging and rewardingselection of operatic and instrumental music, theprogramme was wound up in festive andtoe-tapping style with four of Malcolm Arnold’sScottish Dances — the choice of Douglas Paton whohas the onus of operating the equipment. After thisfeast of music, the celebration continued with adelicious buffet arranged by the Secretary, MissJean Peddie, and numerous surprise gifts werehanded over to members who had drawn luckynumbers. This rounded off the sixtieth season intruly memorable style.

Celebrations will continue in the autumn whenmembers will attend a performance by RSNOincluding Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and recallingthe first piece heard at a meeting of the Society.Members are also looking forward to acommemorative lunch which will be held on 20th

November, the sixtieth anniversary of the firstmeeting. The guest speaker on this specialoccasion will be Mr Brian Cartwright, Hon.Treasurer of FRMS. Then on with the 61st season!

Elizabeth Coutts

Lin coln R. M. Group

Visit To SpaldingLincoln Recorded Music Group has been

exchanging visits with other R. M. Societies for thepast ten years. Beginning with the Loughboroughsociety and progressively tying up with Grantham,Newark, Rotherham & Spalding for the addedenjoyment of sharing music and friendship withkindred spirits in other parts of their region. In aperiod when numbers in their own society havedeclined to challenging levels, the Lincolnmembers derive significant encouragement andreassurance from these contacts.

Having already travelled to Loughborough &Grantham earlier in the present season, March 11saw a party of their members joining theirsouthern Lincolnshire county cousins to share aprogramme presented by Lincoln RM Groupcommittee member Grahame Foster. In a selection entitled Sounds Unfamiliar it was not surprisingthat names like Schnittke, George Moffat, JohnAdams, Guy Ropartz & Philip Glass came up; more perhaps, that those assembled heard music byBarber & Bruch, too.

Spalding Chairman Keith Dobling welcomedtheir guests & expressed his thanks on behalf of his members for the presenter’s programme whilstfellow-committee-member Barry Dance did hisusual seamless job of disc-jockeying. LincolnChairman George James & Secretary/TreasurerFred Toyne both find, in addition to the sharedenjoyment of some music, these exchange visitsprovide useful opportunities for comparing noteswith their counterparts in the other society on arange of aspects of running RM groups, especiallymatters relating to low membership levels.

(In the photo, L. to R. : Barry Dance, KeithDobling, Grahame Foster & George James).

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Uxbridge RMS

The Society was founded in 1944 “To enjoy andstudy music of all kinds, chiefly by the interchangeof records on a mutual or co-operative basis, and to present amongst ourselves suitable recitals by thismeans, and to afford an opportunity for discussionand exposition among those whose commoninterest is a love of music”. It meets at Oak FarmLibrary on alternative Thursdays.

Murray Nash has been chairman at Uxbridgefor over twenty years and has from time to timefound himself championing composers from ourshores; men such as Sir Granville Bantock, SirArnold Bax, Frank Bridge and George Lloyd. Hisreview of a CD of some of the works of MatthewCurtis is included in the CD Review section of thisBulletin.

The President is Leslie Howard; and LydiaDavies and John Bryer are Hon. Vice Presidents.

Members at Uxbridge still remember theirformer President FREDERICK YOUENS who died in 1997 just short of his 100th birthday. A dear friendfor over 50 years he was one of the four foundermembers of the Federation in 1936. He produced thefirst twelve issues of the Bulletin ‘off his own bat’ ashe put it himself. He knew Sir Granville Bantock,Kathleen Ferrier, Hugh Bean,Ted Perry and manyothers; gave Dame Janet Baker her first recordingcontract when he was recording manager at SagaRecords. He had a fund of stories with which toentertain and is still much missed.

York RMS

As York Recorded Music Society approaches its 49th year it has to move to a new venue. We havebeen meeting in The House of Laymen, part of StWilliam’s College (a splendid medieval buildingadministered by York Minster) for some 32 years. All our visitors have admired its panelling andbeams, many declaring that they have neverlistened to music in such splendid surroundings.

But commercial considerations now dominateso many aspects of modern life. Over the past threeyears our room-hire charges have increased by100% and this, coupled with a reduction in ourmembership to 31, meant we had to consideralternatives: increase our annual subscription from£21 to about £50, drastically reduce the number ofmeetings or move. Has your Society faced similarproblems? If so, how have you coped?

Fortunately York has other suitable buildingsand we were able to find an affordable alternativein the Central Methodist Church Hall. This is part

of a most impressive building with a pillaredfaçade, and it is still in the centre of York.

So, if you’re visiting York, we’d be very pleasedto see you. We’ve got some interestingprogrammes and we meet on alternate Thursdaysin our new premises, very close to one of York’sshortest and most unusually named streets,Whip-ma-whop-ma Gate. You can get furtherdetails about our speakers and us on the FRMSwebsite.

Tony Pook, Chairman, York RMS

BOOK REVIEW

The Amadeus: Forty years in pic tures andwordsCom piled by Su zanne Rozsa-Lov ett£10 in clud ing p&p from the au thor at 24Redlington Gar dens, Lon don NW3 7RX

What an apt title for thissplendid publication. Weimmediately think of the StringQuartet by that name, viz.Brainin, Nissel , Schidlof andLovett, who charmed us all overthe world for so many years. Afteran auspicious start in WigmoreHall in January 1948, the

Amadeus continued until the end of 1987, after 40years when Schidlof died. This is a book with adifference in that it is more of a scrapbook withsketches, facsimiles of programmes and manyother memorabilia all of which are beautifullyreproduced.

Naturally there is an insight into the life andfamily of each of the four protagonists. And as sooften, great musical abilities manifestedthemselves early in each of their lives. Of coursethey had contact with many other musicians inparticular Yehudi Menuhin, and more directlyBenjamin Britten and Imogen Holst.

For us now the flavour of their musicianshipcomes from the discography. This is faithfullyreproduced and we start with 78s, LPs and finallyCDs. And as expected a substantial number of their recordings are now available on CD. Immediatelyone thinks of Haydn’s Emperor quartet orMozart’s Hunt quartet, but looking at what isavailable there is a fascinating and comprehensiveset of Brahms works and a delightful collectionthey are. And finally this publication is being soldin aid of the Amadeus Scholarship Fund. Thefuture too must be supported.

Hein Kropholler

SOCIETIES/BOOK FRMS

36

NOBILMENTE

Elgar and Chiv alry by Rob ert An der -son468 pp, HB, £20Elgar Edi tions

Robert Anderson is a Vice Presidentof the Elgar Society, has conducted someof Elgar’s choral works, has beenCoordinating Editor of the ElgarComplete Edition. The author hasprovided a comprehensive bibliographyand good index.

The book itself is subdivided into 18 chapters,each designed to suggest the various experiencesElgar enjoyed that, in some way, influenced themanner in which he composed and, in particular,the manner in which Elgar viewed chivalry. Theauthor, sometimes rather exhaustively, quotes from poems, novels, records of encounters with fellowartists and other sources in his enthusiasm to try togive some impression of the many areas from whichElgar may have derived his inspiration.

The main thought running through the book isthat some of his main stimuli for things to do withchivalry were the writings of Sir Walter Scott,Froissart, the poems by his wife and Longfellow,and anything about King Arthur.

Like many artists however, it seemed thatthere was quite an interval in time between thegerm of the idea and its realisation orincorporation into a composition. The comingtogether of different ideas culled from differentsources is quite clearly indicated throughout thebook.

It was some time before Elgar himself becamedubbed as a knight with an Order of Merit awarded by a gracious sovereign in appreciation for hisservices rendered, partly as a Composer of theKing’s Musick but this reward was greatlyappreciated by Elgar and he was glad to receivesuch a chivalrous award.

Of all of Elgar’s compositions, however,perhaps his symphonic study, “Falstaff” gives usthe best autobiography available. Like Elgar,Falstaff started from lowly beginnings, enjoyed anexperimental youth in the country, learning histrade from personal experience, how to cope withlife, reaching great heights and, in very much laterlife, finding himself no longer in tune. The maindifference was obvious that Elgar had a loving andfaithful wife who supported him.

Most artists rely on creation by trying tomanifest what they have experienced in dreams or

in their own imagination, these being ahopeless mixture of some of theirexperiences, both recent and well past.Elgar was a dreamer par excellence andhe composed another part of hisautobiography in his setting ofO’Shaughnessy’s poem Ode whichbegins “We are the music makers, andwe are the dreamers of dreams,wandering by lone sea breakers, andsitting by desolate streams”. He alsocomposed Dream Children and TheDream of Gerontius.

Throughout his life, Elgar always enjoyed“escaping” from his studio and either walking,cycling or motoring on his beloved Malvern Hills. Walking and relaxing in the countryside has beenfound by many as the opportunity to ponderundistracted by other people and to live in one’sown little world, sorting things out. This bookserves to confirm the many different directionsone’s mind may be searching in simultaneouslyusing the artist’s innate senses to put togethersomething highly personal.

In his setting of the “Ode” he quotes quiteliberally from some of his own works as RichardStrauss did in his Ein Heldenleben, which could beconstrued as describing some of his “knightlyexploits” and his fights against his critics.

In this book the author attempts, for the mostpart successfully, to suggest how the variousaspects of chivalry that Elgar had experiencedbecame manifest in his major works, starting withhis early orchestral overture Froissart and moving through his First and Second Symphonies, hisoratorio King Olaf and others, his concert overture Cockaigne and his Pomp and CircumstanceMarches to his incomplete Third Symphony.

It is perhaps particularly significant that one ofElgar’s favourite markings in his scores is“Nobilmente”, with long themes which soar andsurge with intense grandeur and humility.

The author of this book confesses that itcontains merely ideas and suggestions on howvarious things may have come about. He has putmuch effort into his researches into the variouspossible origins of Elgar’s music as related tochivalry and is to be commended for puttingtogether such a comprehensive composition ofthoughts.

Apart from Elgar’s own admissions, however,we may never really know.

John Kemsey-Bourne

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BOOKS FRMS

Mat thew Curtis (b. 1959):

Or ches tral Works: Fi esta; Am ster dam Suite;Pas De Deux; Paths to Urbino.; Ballade; Haunted Woods; Out ward Bound.The Royal Bal let Sin fo nia / Gavin Suther land. Cam pion Cameo 2015

Has your society discovered the music ofMatthew Curtis yet? We at the Uxbridge Society

have known about him since 1984 when a couple of hisworks were broadcast onBBC Radio 3. Romanza andAutumn Song both piecesfor full orchestra wereperformed by the BBCConcert Orchestra undertheir conductor Ashley

Lawrence. Curtis, born in Cumbria in 1959, wasthen in his early twenties but already showing hewas a master of orchestration.

In March of this year, The Gramophonemagazine contained a review of the above newcompact disc. This was by Ivan March.Surprisingly none of the items were included in the Editor’s Choice CD issued by the magazine for themonth.To help readers appreciate the quality ofthe music Ivan made comparisons with EricCoates,Haydn Wood, Ronald Binge, RobertFarnon and Bizet in his glowing review. Despitethose comparisons Curtis is his own man and hashis own style being largely self taught.

I managed (with difficulty — but Harold Moorein London were very helpful) to obtain thisCampion CD and sat in my lounge with baitedbreath to hear this music I had waited for so long.

I was enthralled as tune followed tune for theentire 77 minutes. I would draw your attention inparticular however to the symphonic suite Paths to Urbino which recalls a walking holiday he enjoyedin North Italy. The movement Music of the fields isespecially beautiful, as are Ballade and HauntedWoods.

This is music to stand the test of time. If youfeel unable to trust my judgement, then trust thatof Ivan March who has served music lovers fordecades. Why not get this CD and give yourmembers a treat.

I understand that Curtis wrote a symphonywhilst in his teens, and I urge that a further CDcontaining that symphony plus Romanza andAutumn Song should be considered by Campion.

Murray Nash, Chairman, Uxbridge RMS

BRAHMS: Trio in A mi nor, op. 114Hugh WOOD: Clar i net trio, op.40BEETHOVEN : Trio in B flat, op.11Trio GemelliDi vine Art 25009

The Trio Gemelli, made its debut in Madrid in1994 and comprises John (clarinet) and Adrian

(cello) Bradbury who areidentical twins and EmilySegal (piano). It has given aseries of successful concertsboth in the UK and incontinental Europe.

The Brahms Trio is a late work that shows Brahms athis rich romantic best, it is

not designed as a showpiece for the clarinet as allthree instruments are of equal importance, withthe cello often taking the lead. The dreamy slowmovement is especially fine. The three youngplayers play with maturity and the work soundsmost impressive.

Hugh Wood was born in Wigan in 1932 and has been involved in teaching music for most of hislife. His compositions are mainly in the chambermusic field and the Trio Gemelli premiered thistrio. The work is short, with three brief movements and is uncompromisingly modern in sound. Theopening movement concentrates on each musician as a solo instrumentalist, with long solos for eachinstrument in turn. The second movement is ascherzo march of considerable character.Unusually the finale is a slow movement intendedas a tribute to two friends who died in 1997.However it comes across as a work lacking inemotion and it does not fit in well with theaccompanying works.

Beethoven wrote his Opus 11 trio in 1798 and itis sometimes played in a contemporaryarrangement for violin, cello and piano. Althougha relatively early work, it shows Beethoven at hispeak. The first movement is an allegro con brio and is of fascinating complexity. It is followed by a slow movement, played here with great feeling. The lastmovement is a theme and variations, the theme isa jaunty tune from an opera by J. Weighl — itreminds us that Beethoven is unsurpassed atwriting variations, even based upon the mosttrivial of tunes (see for example the Variations forPiano Trio on Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu.

The playing is exemplary and it is recorded in awarm acoustic. The disc is well presented, withgood notes.

AB

38

CDS FRMS

Cross word

(Mainly Mu sic!) By Hein Kropholler

This crossword has been sponsored by Chandos

Record who will give a prize of a CD from their catalogue to

the winner who will be chosen by a draw from all correct

answers received by the editor before the 1st January. In

the event of a correct answer not being received, the best

attempt (at the discretion of the editor) will win the award.

If you are nearly there, chance your arm!

ACROSS1. Mod ern sackbut vir tu oso [8]

5&1 down. Small? vir tu oso vi o lin ist [6,6]

9. Thus with vi o lin? Certainly not 5 [2,6]

10&21. Fa mous French composer [6,7]

12. Did 24 say this to her when he came to Carthage? [2,4]

13. So 7th and 3rd note? [4,2,2]

15. No dis cord in this form [2,5]

16. A drum can go thus [4]

20. Di rec tion for Chi nese mu sic [4]

21. see 10.[7]

25+27 down. No Rus sian but Ar me nian [12]

26. All to gether at the right rate [2,4]

28. Lu cia? Only the bit that sounds like a sheep [6]

29. Note alone sounds un mar ried [2,6]

30. Sings in the alps [6]

31. We talk of eight & twelve but re ally count thus [2,6]DOWN1. See 5. [6]

2. Prom con duc tor [6]

3. Chem ist with first be comes mezzo [8]

4. Hap pened to Lucrezia! [4]

6. Beauty with ... [1,5]

7. Strong weak weak beats are [8]

8. With nei ther cir cles ... [3,5]

11. When ex as per ated Tortelier might say this [2,5]

14. In stru ment ad justed [5,2]

17. Lennox? [8]

18. When mu sic soothes the trou bled breast [2,6]

19. Jazz when it is blaz ing? [3,5]22. Be seech it in the belfry? [2,4]

23. Alone [6]

24. Hero of the Tro jan war [6]

27. See 25

WHOOPS! Cor rec tions to Cross word 138

8 down clue miss ing 8. Un re quited love air of the 30's.

[5,4] and "ex ist ing 8" be comes 10 down. also 18 across the an swer is two words i.e. [4,3]

Sorry!

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10

11

12 13

14

15 16

17 18 19

20 21

22 23 24

25 26

27

28 29

30 31

Win nerDe spite the prob lems, there was one cor rect so lu tion

sub mit ted for cross word num ber 138, and the prize

has been given to D.H. Page, Orping ton RMS.

Two sub mis sions were re ceived with only mi nor

er rors, these be ing from Paul Web ster and Brendon

Sadler.

39

CROSSWORD FRMS

CHANDOS

1B

2M

3F

4C

5 6 7S

8

N E W O R L E A N S T O Y E

9A R E N

10T O L

T E N D A F T E R R O V E

11O A E T C I

O R C H E S T R A H E A R

13P H

14V

15A

16M S S

D E V O T E D S O L O B A R

17N

18I N T U

19N

20S

21

T S A R T W O S T A G E S

22C B I S

23O I

S O L O C O L O U R F U L

25R Y A B

26N A O

B E S S P I A N I S T I C S

27S R

28T S O

Solution to Crossword 138

Crossword 139

Fed er a tion of Re corded Mu sic So ci eties Ltd.

Website: www.musicweb.uk.net/frms

Pres i dent

Edward Greenfield OBE MA (Cantab) Hon. GSM

Vice Pres i dents

J. R. Shaw; M. B. Williamson

Board Of fi cers

Chairman: John Davies, 18 Hellath Wen, Nantwich CW5 7BB Tel: 01270 627 269Vice-Chairman: Graham Kiteley, 11 Ragley Crescent, Bromsgrove B60 2BD Tel:01527 870549 Secretary: Tony Baines, 2 Fulmer Place, Meir Park, Stoke on Trent ST3 7QF Tel: 01782 399291

E Mail: frms.sec@virgin.net (All Federation matters should be addressed initially to the Secretary)Treasurer: Brian Cartwright, The Woodlands, School Road, Luthermuir, Laurencekirk AB30 1YX

Tel: 01674 840220 E-mail: frmstreasurer@beeb.netBulletin Editor: Arthur Baker, 4 Ramsdale Road, Bramhall, Stockport SK7 2QA

Tel: 0161 440 8746 E-mail: ask.baker@ntlworld.comTechnical Officer: Philip Ashton, 27 Dunsby Road, Luton LU3 2UA

Tel: 01582 651632 E-mail: g0dcs@ntlworld.com

Board/Com mit tee

Bob Astill, St.Urian’s, 102 New Road, Brading, Isle of Wight PO36 0AB Tel: 01983 401009Mick Birchall, 2 Burley Close, Desford, Leicester LE9 9HX Tel: 01455 823 494Ronald Bleach, 48 Ravenswood Road, Redland, Bristol BS6 6BT Tel: 07866 307874Keith Cheffins, 4 Morningside Courtyard, Prestbury, Cheltenham GL52 3BU Tel: 01242 571810Cathy Connolly, 49 Landford Road, Putney, London SW15 1AQ Tel: 020 8785 6809

Na tional and Re gional Sec re taries

Scot landSte phen Grey, 35E Forth Street, Dunfirmline, Fife BH25 7AD Tel: 01383 724 290

North East E Shep herd, 35 Elmfield Gar dens, Gosforth, New cas tle NE3 4XB Tel: 0191 285 7003

S.E. Lon donA.J. Walker, 13 Water er House, Beck en ham Hill Road, Catford, Lon don SE6 3PN Tel: 020 8461 1007

Sus sexA. Thomas, 5 Aca cia Road, Willingdon Trees, Eastbourne BN22 OTW Tel: 01323 509518

W. MiddlesexMrs. P Jiggins, 140 Holylake Cres cent, Ickenham, Middlesex UB10 8JH Tel: 01895 634485

Cen tral RegionMick Birchall, 2 Bur ley Close, Desford, Leicester LE9 9HX Tel: 01455 823 494

W. Sur reyL.C. Warner, MBE The Stiles 22 Mar shall Road Godalming GU7 3AS Tel: 01483 417119

York shireD. Clark, 227 Tinshill Road, Leeds LS16 7BU Tel: 0113 267 1533

Reg is tered in Eng land No.700106. Reg is tered Of fice: 2 Fulmer Place, Meir Park, Stoke on Trent ST3 7QF

FRMS FRMS

40