Well, that’s it for 2008. I really enjoyed the Christmas concert and the feedback was excellent. Even Pacific 231 had a certain rugged quality, noticeably absent during the dress rehearsal. Many thanks to Martin for keeping up the interest and to our two percussion players who added an extra crucial dimension to the performance. Anyone interested in playing percussion on a regular basis? We would love to hear from you.
It seems that currently no post on the Blog is complete without a rant. How many of you received a ‘PC’ card this year wishing you ‘Winter Greetings’? Perhaps it is just a variant on ‘compliments of the season’, but I think not. Anyway, rehearsals start on 6th January with a deputy conductor. Ewa will be with us the following week.
Until then we wish everyone a peaceful and happy Christmas.
D n C
Two radio programmes of interest to SPO bloggers. First, our musical director found herself on Woman’s Hour, magnificently negotiating the feminist agenda. When asked if women can conduct Mahler, the gist of her reply was, ‘You will have to listen to me and make up your own mind’. ‘Why so few women conductors?’ ‘Conducting involves a lot of travel. Women are very busy’. Sadly, she was not asked much about conducting itself. Hopefully we will soon reach the stage when gender matters are of little interest and subordinate to the real issues of musicianship and conducting skills. Ewa certainly seemed to think so.
Last thursday, Radio 3 broadcast two choral pieces by Christopher Brown, (who has previously written music for the SPO), in celebration of his 65th birthday. First a work from the past: To Musik Sing. A short piece with a spine tingling soprano solo in the slow middle section. Then a setting of some poems by the Scottish poet Henry Marsh. The four songs that make up ‘Sunlight on a Pale Green Ocean’ include a humerous evocation of the poet’s search for a corncrake and a gloriously peaceful representation of Spring in South Uist. Rush to to hear these pieces on BBC iPlayer. I am not sure how long they will stay available; only a week I think. (I tried today, 20.12.2008 and the link is now down. Sorry).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00fsbcz/b00fsb8x/Afternoon_on_3_On_the_Road_Episode_4/
PS The Cristopher Brown pieces are at the beginning, shortly after a few irrelevant bars of piano music.
D
At the last rehearsal various leaflets were on offer. For those who did not get them and for visitors who might be interested, here are much edited details.
International Chamber Music Summer School. Tonbridge. 22 to 29 August 2009. Coached sessions of chamber music for wind and strings in a lovey setting. www.ringwoodhouse.co.uk/icmss.
Jackdaws Chamber Music Summer School. Sat 22nd to Thu 27th August 2009. Delme String Quartet plus wind tutors. Workshops in a lovely Somerset venue. www.jackdaws.org.uk
Contact Natalie or Bridget for more details.
David
The programme for the rest of the year is more or less finalised. I say ‘more or less’ because there are still a few issues about music hire and additional players (you will understand what I am getting at when you see the programme). I am sure all the problems will be sorted soon, so here it is in all its glory.
March.
1) Szymanowski – Etude for Orchestra
2) Poulenc – Stabat Mater , with Escafeld Chorale
3) Brahms – 4th Symphony
JUNE:
Shostakovich – Festive Overture
Karlowicz – Eternal Songs
Lutoslawski – Dance Preludes (With solo clarinet)
Rachmaninoff – Symphonic Dances
It looks a fantastic programme to me, but do you agree? Surely now is the time to click on that ‘comment’ button. I should say that there is also a move to give ‘Star Song V’ a second performance, but the schedule above looks somewhat congested. Perhaps next year…
D
With the Botanic Gardens concert behind us, the orchestra can look forward to 6 weeks rest before we kick off again with rehearsals on September 2nd. Full marks to the hardy Sheffield public who braved a (rightly) pessimistic weather forecast to support us and the Rotary Charities last night. Despite conditions more akin to the South Col the loyal revellers stayed on till the end, which was well past 10pm. The organisers are already talking about next year when hopefully global warming will have got back into its stride.
Ewa has one more concert in London before a well earned brake in her native Poland. She has 10 concerts with the Halle next year, so watch her web site for dates and venues which include Wigan, Bradford and the Bridgewater Hall (also linked from this Blog). People may wish to read the revue of her most recent concert in the Bridgewater Hall to get some idea of what is in store! http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_concert_review.php?id=6071
Keep an eye out for infrequent posts here (to while away the long balmy summer ahead). The SPO wishes that, in the coming weeks, visitors to this Blog will enjoy a few precious moments of relaxation from those pointless treadmills we all seem to have jumped on. (Sorry about the preposition at the end of the sentence).
Finally, I understand that the Botanic Gardens concert was recorded. More information about this will be posted as it emerges.
D
PS Note change of date for the Christmas concert. Saturday 13th December, not Sunday 14th. There is a straw in the wind suggesting the programme might be built around the theme of ‘trains’. Anyone know any good train music?!
Committee members from amateur music associations will know what I am getting at when I say that during meetings there eventually comes a time when, given the option of prolonging the current discussion about interval refreshments or gnawing off your own foot, you would cheerfully opt for the latter. Only rarely do real gems lighten up the proceedings, so a recent event is worth recording.
When our much loved Musical Director decided to lay down his baton, the committee, more in hope than expectation, put out an advertisement for a successor. To our gratified surprise, the applications came pouring in; so much so that an extraordinary meeting had to be called to create a short-list. The problem facing us was that all the applicants were very good (doubly surprising and gratifying). Indeed one candidate was so well qualified that his/her expansive application could not be accommodated on the specified two sheets of A4, despite recourse to a microscopic font. Page 3 spilled over to page 4 where, with the help of a strong pair of reading glasses, one committee member detected that the applicant had helpfully included a number of unsolicited references testifying to his/her singular musical prowess. Screwing up his eyes and holding sheet 4 to the light, another member commented that actually 2 of the 3 referees appeared to be dead. After a suitably respectful pause a third committee member (who shall remain nameless) said in her lilting Belfast accent “Well, I say, if your referees are dead, you are up a gum tree”.
This was the insight we so urgently needed. With a collective sense of relief we moved on to the next application.
TM
Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra & Gordon Giltrap performing ‘Work’ from the Brotherhood Suite by Gordon Giltrap (www.giltrap.co.uk), taken from the DVD of the concert at Birmingham Symphony Hall, March 2005, available from www.voiceprint.co.uk
Geoff
