OK so a busy few days to comment upon. Last Saturday I played cello in orchestra in our spring concert. The theme was spring and the countryside. The weather decided to have a laugh and it snowed... it was around 0C (32F) and with wind-chill around -4C (24F). The programme started with Hamish MacCunn's
Land of the Mountain and the Flood which is a romp through Scotland. MacCunn was 18 when he wrote this popular concert overture. (Cue: Hamish, you'll have had your tea? Some will understand). This was followed by Vaughan Williams'
English Folk Song Suite. This was then followed by three short works which our clever MD transcribed by listening to recording and scoring (we couldn't find performing copies). This included
Barwick Green from My Native Heath (more Radio 4 connections...). Unfortunately I can't find a full recording online that actually has the full introduction and uses orchestra apart from some very dodgy ones... We finished part 1 with some 1970s TV nostalgia, also arranged by our MD....
Galloping Home the horns had some fun...
Part 2 was a full performance of
Beethoven Symphony #6 'Pastoral', which is decidedly tricky in places...
Sunday was sax ensemble day, which as reported elsewhere was thinned by the weather and St. Patrick's night revelries, so we were a quartet. We sight-read an arrangement of some Star Trek themes. I'm so pleased with how much progress the guys have made since we started a couple of years ago.
Monday was the ensemble's trip to Ronnie Scott's which meant trains down to London and an overnight stop. I've wanted to go to Ronnie Scott's since I was in my 20s back in the 80s. It needed the impetus of a group wanting to go to make it happen. Now that it's been done, I think second visit will be sooner. The politest thing to say about the Lee Konitz session is people should know when to retire. The late session was an eclectic quintet (piano, bass, drums, sax, trumpet) who knows how they met - they came from Vienna, Munich, Huddersfield... They were phenomenally good. This was then followed by a jam session, at which the standard was very high.
On Tuesday morning I introduced the guys to Foyle's bookshop. They're no longer in their rambling eccentric building (that's now ground zero for a new development). The new site is next to where they used to be. The second floor is the music department: turn right for classical CDs, music books, music theory and sheet music, turn left for jazz CDs...
I bought some four-part arrangements for the ensemble... the pic is courtesy of
@nickh this is the sheet music section, but suggested captions have included "... and this is the Yamaha mouthpiece drawer..."
