What I Did On My Holidays – 2026 – Part 2

This is the big one. Five instruments played, but I won’t be talking about one of them, mainly because I can’t remember the rep we played. Mind you, I can’t remember some of what we actually played (rather than what we were scheduled to play)

This time, we have a new bassist, so I’ve been programmed for quite a lot of Non-Bass. Therefore, I’m going to put in a summary of what I’ve played, grouped by instrument (-ish – cor anglais is being assimilated with oboe) and ensemble size, and sorted by composer. Singing, jazz / swing band (soprano sax) and concert / wind band (oboe) activities are not making this list.

Double bass

String Septet:

• R. Strauss – Metamorphosen. Yup, the string septet (2+2+2+1) version. Much more effort, as there are far fewer rests.

String Octets – rather than the usual combination (4 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos) there are some pieces for 4 violins, 2 violas, 1 cello, 1 double bass

• Bruch – String Octet (1920)
• Carl Schuberth – String Octet Op.23. NB: if you’re using the parts from IMSLP, you’ll need to get the special extra viola 1 part, as there’s a page missing from the big set of parts.

Mixed Octets

• D’Indy – Suite in Olden Style. It says it’s for trumpet, 2 flutes, and string quartet, but it also has a bass part, which is Not Optional.

String Orchestra:

• Bliss – Music for Strings (1935) – as a workshop. The full string effect, actually working on a piece for a bit.
• Dvorak – Serenade op.22

Full orchestra – sessions conducted by various people, including Leeds Symphony Orchestra’s very own John Lyon:

• Beethoven – Symphony #4
• Brahms – Symphony #4 in E Minor op.98. Probably the biggest work we’ve ever done on one of these weeks
• Mendelssohn – A Midsummer Night’s Dream overture op.21
• Mozart – Marriage of Figaro overture K492
• Mozart – Horn Concerto #3 in E flat, K447 (not the one that Flanders & Swann appropriated)
• Schubert – Symphony #5 in B flat D485
• Shostakovich – Piano concerto #1 – which went surprisingly well.
• Stanford – Concerto for Clarinetto Solo
• Suppe – Light Cavalry overture, featuring The Boy doing the euphonium part on his new bariton
• Walton – Richard the Third – Prelude & Suite (1955)
• Weber – Oberon overture

Cello

Quartets, string – standard 2 violins, viola, cello:

• Beach – Quartet for strings in one movement, op.89 – even less convinced by this than I was by the Sibelius… And the publishers, the American Musicological Society, need to have a word with themselves about the printing of a couple of lines of cello part in Alto clef (suspected to be a hangover from a viola cue)
• Haydn – op.76 no. 3 – Kaiser-Quartett
• Sibelius – op.56 – “Voces Intimae”. Not convinced by this one…
• Vaughan Williams – String quartet in G minor. Yeah, not convinced by this one – possibly needed better players (including me) to do it justice. Includes absolute shockers of a pair of keychanges – from 5 flats to 4 sharps, and back again six bars later.

Quintets, piano

• Schubert – Trout. I really need to work on my bowing technique
• Vaughan Williams – Piano quintet in C minor. I quite enjoyed this one – much more approachable / playable than the quartet above.

Quintets, string

• Brahms, Op. 88. This was harder than remembered / anticipated / expected, and we required a palate-cleanser afterwards
• Mozart – Quintetto VI, G minor, K516

Sextets:

• Brahms – String Sextet in B Flat, op.18. My preferred one of the two, and I was on second – hurrah!
• Strauss – sextet from Capriccio – again, on second. Unfortunately, the first cello has an impossible page turn, usually done by the second violaist.

Octets (usual 4 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos)

• Gade, op.17 – accompanied by donner und blitzen (see below)
• Mendelssohn, op.20 – the big one – after which the heavens opened, the thunder boomed, etc. Cello 2, so POWER!

Nonets – NB, not all of these are for the standard “one of each” combination:

• Mme Louise Farrence – Nonetto – op.38. Love this, but I really need to take a look at some of the faster passages… There was some talk about doing the Lachner afterwards, but it was a bit late by then, so we decided against it.
• Stanford – Serenade, op.95 – swap out the oboist for a second violin. I have no recent recollection of playing this, but I’ve done it several times over the years. Enjoyable stroll down memory lane. Done by a group almost entirely from Leeds.

Mixed Whatever

• Dvorak – serenade, op.44. The wind one that includes a cello and double bass, those well-known blowy instruments. I played it again a couple of days later – back on the bass…

Orchestral

• Bach, JS. Brandenburgs 2-6, not necessarily in that order. Including, due to a mistake in handing out parts by the front desk, the continuo part for #6. Hah. Fun times.

Oboe / Cor Anglais

Quintets – for the standard one-of-each combination:

• Agay – Five Easy Dances. I’m sure I played these at a De Mowbray Music event in Thirsk a few months back.
• David Arditti (who turns out to be the SO of a friend of mine in That London, small world, musical mafia innit bruv) – Fantasia on a West-country Tune (originally composed for brass quartet). “I enjoyed that one” – the boychild, who was playing horn
• Chaminade (arr. Merry) – Four Encore Pieces for Wind Quintet. Well, some of them.
• Haydn (arr. Perry) – Divertimento (including the St Antoni Chorale)
• Poulenc – Novelette in C

Sextets (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, bass clarinet)

• Françaix – Sixtuor – not the easiest piece of JF’s done this week…
• Janacek – Mladi – not the easiest piece of anything done this week… but apparently I did better than one of us had previously experienced, so… yay?

Wind Octets – “harmonie” – so, no flutes…:

• Beethoven – Oktett op.103
• Mozart – Serenade in C Minor KV388
• Ruth Gipps – Wind Octet op.65
• Damaso Perez Prado – Mambo Suite (yes, including *that* Mambo #5)

Wind Nonets (1+2+2+2+2):

• Chabrier – Rapsodie Espana
• Parry – Nonet in B flat
• Allan Stephenson – Symphonette (2012)

Mixed Decets:

• Britten – Sinfonietta op. 1
• Françaix – Dixtuor (or “Dixtour” as the parts say – one spelling on the cover, one at the top of the part…)
• Helsted – Decet. Not my favourite.
• Honegger – Pastorale d’Ete

Wind Decets:

• Dvorak – Czech Suite – the reason I bought a cor anglais a few years ago.
• Françaix – Nine Characteristic Pieces
• Ruth Gipps – Seascape – I still need to look at that cor anglais bit, but it was better this time than the previous one. Top tip – it says “ad lib”, so take advantage…
• Ruth Gipps – Sinfonietta
• Raff – Sinfonietta op.188

“Big Wind” (aka Red Hedgehog)

• Elgar – “Wand of Youth” 2nd suite
• Mussorgsky – Night on a Bald Mountain
• Reger – Serenade Movement
• Verdi – Nabucco Overture

Orchestral

• Bach, JS – Brandenburg concerto #1 – 3rd oboe. Much honkage on the last page.

---

I think that’s it – but, as said above, I may have missed something out accidentally. I really should be more organised about taking pictures of everything I play…

Back to reality.

What I Did On My Holidays 2026 Part 1

Round one of holiday music… As usual for this event, just a short summary of what I played, organised (approximately) by size of group. Links go to IMSLP pages where possible. I have this nagging feeling I’ve missed something from the list…

Quintets

• Ruth Gipps – Quintet Op.16 (not on imslp) – for oboe, clarinet, violin, viola, cello. Much easier than the Prokofiev, below.
• Prokofiev – Quintet Op.39 – for oboe, clarinet, violin, viola, double bass. This was not the easiest music to sightread – too many harmonics and high treble clef stuff. Fortunately, we took it well under performance speed
• Strauss (arr. Franz Hasenöhrl) – Till Eulenspiegel Einmal Anders – a reduction of Till Eulenspiegel down to clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin, double bass. Hard work, but worth it.
• Zelenka – another of his sonatas for two oboes, bassoon, continuo. Pleasant stuff. The one we did doesn’t appear to be on imslp…

Septets

• Beethoven – Septet in E flat major, Op20. The last hurrah of the week, and what a way to finish. Thank you.

Octets

• Schubert – Octet in F major – the daddy. String quartet, double bass, clarinet, horn, bassoon. There’s a couple of mistakes on the second page of the bass part in the Barenreiter edition – see below for my corrections and someone else’s fingering… Bar labelled as 176 is, in fact, 175. And the E flat in bar 187 should be a D flat… There are also some bits that should be down an octave, but that would require either a low C or a five string, and I have neither.

Nonets

• Frans Coenen – Nonet. Not on imslp, and, judging by the reaction of some of us, not worth hunting down.
• Mme Louise Farrenc – Nonet Op.38 – lighter than most of the rest of the rep for this combination. Scherzo still my favourite movement.
• Lachner – Nonet in F major – We thought we were going to be doing Spohr, but there had been a change of plan since the initial draft programme that we had seen. Dark and brooding until the last movement. Good fun.
• Martinu – Nonet. His second, if we’re being picky, as his first was written for a different combination (swap out the bass and add in a piano).
• Novak – Balletti a 9. Still tricky to get the timing right, but still fun.
• Spohr – Nonet Op.31 – the benchmark by which all other nonets for this combination (1 each of violin, viola, cello, bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon) are measured. I vaguely recall hearing of a list of 99 other nonets for that combination – and another similar list – but I can’t find it right now…

Decets

• Francaix – Dixtuor. Not available on imslp, because new(ish). Schotts, however, need a slap. There are too many mistakes in the parts – an extra bar’s rest (or something) in the clarinet between figure 8 & 9; possible extra beats in some bars of the oboe part somewhere between figs 30-32, and as for the debacle in the third movement around the “da capo al segno” when there is no segno – apparently, it means go to a non-existent sign at bar 7 of that movement… and the page layout is horrendous too. I recommend getting a photocopy of that bit to avoid having to turn back in zero bars rest. Harrumph. Great fun, though – I do recommend playing this if you get the chance.

Larger groups

• Gary Carpenter – Pantomime. Same instrumentation as Mozart’s “Gran Partita”, but very different in style. un double bass part – for some specific values of fun. Goes two octaves (and a bit) up the fingerboard, and there’s a rather high (but not quite that high) bass solo!
• Dvorak – Serenade for Wind Instruments Op.44 – for wind instruments, plus cello & double bass. Flashbacks to doing this when I was in youth orchestra so many years ago.

Protected: JFCB 2026 Temple Newsam

This content is password-protected. To view it, please enter the password below.

Password:

LSO – Mahler 6

This is aimed at the Leeds Symphony Orchestra bass section for the March 2026 rendition. I’m referring to the imslp bass part for reference – this matches the parts we’re playing from.

This is not an exclusive list, and contains a bunch of generalities as well as some specifics.

Remember two main rules…

• Watch the conductor
• If you don’t know what a marking above the stave means, it probably means watch the conductor

“I don’t know how I feel about conducting with a megalomaniac control freak at my shoulder” (OWTTE, John Lyon, our conductor while rehearsing this.)

Generalities

Dynamics – play what’s written, not with what you can hear – we might be marked as p but that could be that someone else has ff – don’t get distracted!

Cues – distracting. Be careful.

“get” – divisi

Low notes (ie below bottom E string) – if it’s a quiet bit, and you haven’t got those notes, don’t play them up the octave. If it’s loud, play them up an octave. Unless specified otherwise.

There are a couple of spots where, if you have the low notes, we could do with dropping down the octave – eg 3rd & 4th bars of figure [5],

sustained note going into a pizzicato – divide among desks, half hold the long note, half do the pizz. eg from page 10, 8th & 9th bars of figure [55]:

Similar passages exist in other movements – eg between [77] and [78]:

Running Order

Movements are not in the order printed. 1, 3, 2, 4. Prepare your page turns accordingly.

The notes below are presented in printed order.

Movement 1

Start with all of the down bows – for that pattern, when it’s loud, we’re generally doing all down bows.

2 bars before figure [3] – low E

3rd and 4th bars of figure [5] – down the octave if you can

Page 2, figure [7] – fifth bar – this is a *cello* cue. As is the penultimate bar of that first line (2 before [8]). The number of times I’ve put it in is non-zero…

The run into [12] – watch!

4 bars before figure [13] – watch. Yes, that’s a general instruction, but I’ve got a note here that says “Mahler Jazz Hands”, which I suspect means that John was feeling a little stressed.

Bottom of page 2 – we *are* doing the repeat. Sorry. But it is the only thing we’re doing in the gig, so…

Page 3, bar before [19] – if you ain’t got those low notes, don’t play.

Page 4, second line – again, if you haven’t got that bottom D, play nothing.

Page 5, last note before [29] is a semiquaver – printing is not particularly clear on some copies.

Page 6, figure [36] – triplets – steady as you go – it’s easy to rush.

Page 8, bar before [45] – the a tempo subito is on the third beat of the bar.

Movement 2 (3)

Six bars before [53] – low C if you can.

Figure [56]. That thing about low notes? We have a divisi job here – if you’ve got bottom C, play it, but don’t be too shy with that dynamic – think mp, rather than pp. If you’ve not got the bottom C (which is most of us), play the upper note, but keep the volume down.

Page 10 – Note the last two lines are still in 4 sharps, despite what the printing says. So, yes, those Ds are D sharps.

Movement 3 (2)

General point: timing / counting – figure [68], there are a few bars of switching between 3/8 and 4/8, but only a few. Be warned – it gets a lot worse on the next page – page 13 being particularly unlucky if you’re hoping for an easy 1-2-3, 1-2-3 all the way through. And beware the odd bar in 3/4. The quaver is always the quaver, though, so keep those going and you should be OK.

Beginning – “molto nastioso”.

Page 13, 3rd bar of fig [74] – great big pause / silence / halt / watch.

Page 16, 4th bar of [90] – again, a pause/silence/halt/watch “opportunity”… and a different tempo afterwards, so keep an eye on the conductor.

3rd & 4th bars of [91] – accents on the hemiola.

Page 17, figure [93] – note that we are divided here. Upper line / lower line, split between desks.

Figures [94]-[95] – slower than you think – watch, don’t rush.

Page 19, figure [100], divisi in 4. Count where you are sitting before you get there. Positions will change during rehearsals, depending on who’s there, so be prepared to not get stuck on a particular line. It’ll be OK – it’s not difficult!

Figure [102], those first few bars are pizz.

Watch very carefully for the last two bars.

Movement 4

[105]-[106] – watch. The tempo is going all over the place. Yes, I know, standard advice, but I mean it…

[116] – let’s get those top C#s in tune. Hah.

Page 31, a big comma, break, whatever before figure [150]

Page 34, last bar – watch for the placement of that last note.

What I Did On My Holidays – 2025 Part Deux

This is the story of the second part of my musical summer holidays – a wonderful week away with 90-odd (some very odd) people. Some of ’em I’ve known for 40 years, and some are now basically my family. Oh, speaking of family, my father returned after a break of about 8 years – and this reappearance was suitably celebrated by others.

Unfortunately, our founding father died at the start of this year, so a lot of sessions were scheduled with his favourite pieces – fair enough. And some of those were useful practice grounds for a memorial gathering to be held next weekend.

Sunday

Day of arrival. The music libraries had already been set up and the full programme was up on the wall by the time we mere players were allowed in, so we could see what the week had in store.

The week always kicks off with a full orchestral session on the evening of arrival – but this time, I was sent elsewhere to play cello in a string quartet – specifically, Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden”, which I’ve not played since, erm, yes, well… long time ago.

After a suitable refresher, a late night (mixed – ie wind & strings) nonet session. Novak’s “Balletti a 9” (playing off parts hand-copied by my uncle many years ago), followed by Mme Louise Farrenc’s nonet. The Novak was not easy, but definitely would repay proper inspection. Farrenc, though, that’s familiar territory

And so to the bar, and, eventually, to bed…

Monday

Monday morning – time to bring out the oboe for some wind decets. A mixed bag – the schedule had us down to play:

• Raff Sinfonietta – op.188 – yup, done this before.
• Gipps – Sinfonietta – op.75. Cor anglais required!
• Enescu – Dixtuor op. 14
• Dvorak – Czech Suite – but we only had time for one movement so we did the Romance, as the cor was out and warmed up.
• Schubert – Fantasia (arrangement) – yeah, no time for that.

These sessions do get programmed with more than can actually fit in the allotted time…

Coffee (or an approximation).

Finally, the double bass gets a go, and it’s a septet session – Beethoven & Berwald. This was one of the Founder’s Specials, so a bit emotional. And it was also my son’s first attempt at this – he’s mostly a hornist – so a nice easy part oh wait.

Lunch.

Every day after lunch is a series of short wind band (concert band stuff) and sax group sessions, and a bit later some vocal stuff. I’m not going to detail, mainly because I can’t remember, but it was odd to turn up to the wind band and find something I’d performed only the weekend before…

…but there is also time for some other “proper” playing, and so I found myself playing bass in a mixed octet (Schubert combo) by Ferdinand Thierot. Nope, me neither. Not too challenging, but no real memories of it one way or another.

The evening – more wind decets:

• Arthur Bird – Suite in D, op.29
• Frank Bridge – Norse Legend
• Bernard – Divertissement
• Ruth Gipps (again?) – Seascape – cor anglais on deck again! I really ought to look at that bit
• Robert Spittal (no, me neither) – Consort for ten winds. Slightly surprised to find that this was written only 20 years ago.

Bar, Chat, Bed…

Tuesday

A string workshop on a ballet suite, with the high point being the conductor pirouetting while telling the story of the piece. The low point was him deciding to run the entire thing, causing us to not just run late, but completely overrun the coffee break – we finished after the next session should have started.

That next session being string sextets – second cello in a sextet by Frank Bridge, and first in one by Niels Gade. Me? First? yikes.

After lunch / wind / sax group, something a bit gentler – cello again, this time with two flutists and a violaist, and my dad on electronic harpsichord. Bach & Bach (CPE – for a quartet of flute/viola/cello/harpsichord & JS – for trio sonata BWV 1039 – for two flutes, cello, harpsichord). Good to see the old man back playing.

After that, a sneaky string quintet session – double viola quintets this time. Dvorak op. 97.

The evening session was quintets – me doubling cello & double bass. Dvorak op. 77 (aka the one with the bass), and Ethel Smyth string quintet in E op. 1 (I won’t be upset if I don’t play it again… not objectionable, but there’s so much better out there)

Wednesday

The day of rest. Which means just a couple of sessions programmed:

Wind nonets – trumpet, flute, 2 oboes (+ca), 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns.

• Francaix – le Gay Paris – fun times.
• Parry – Nonet op. 7 – harder than it should have been, not sure why.

The evening session – a full-scale orchestra, for a concert-style programme:

• Mendelssohn – Hebrides Overture
• Bruch (renamed as “Brunch” by one friend’s auto-uncorrect) – Concerto for clarinet & viola op.88
• Emilie Mayer – Symphony #1 in C minor – my request. Great to finally get to run the piece having rehearsed it earlier in the year with Leeds Haydn Players.

I borrowed an underhand / german bow from my bass colleague and bow-maker extraordinaire Tim Baker. I may well be persuaded that I should buy one – my bows are french grip.

And finally, a late night nonet session with a couple of twists. I got there to find that Tim (see above) had decided he wanted to play bass, leaving me to pick up the cello part… Martinu nonet was first – cello part. I don’t recall playing this in the last 20 years – if at all. Definitely one to take a look at. We then grabbed a passing violinist for a run at Jean Francaix’s “Dixtuor” (or “Dixtour” on some parts – oops.)

Thursday

Another workshop session, another ballet suite, this time with random trombone and double bass honking solos… fun times, and I hope to get to do it again.

After coffee, first cello (yikes) in some octets – Mendelssohn & Svendsen. Fun, but not easy. Must do some practice…

The afternoon had me back on cor anglais for some oboe trios – Beethoven, and “Three Pieces” by Elizabeth Faulkner – much less intensive (ie a lot shorter!)

…and then a run of Faure’s Requiem in memoriam Our Founder. For this one, one of us had brought along his portable “pipe organ” – a two manual organ with a few combination stops, plus a pedal board, but the whole lot attached to a computer and an amp, rather than a ton of pipework. Very clever.

The evening was a gentle canter through Schubert’s Octet. No, Claire, we haven’t got time to also do the Francaix, given the late night programme…

…which was a run of all six Brandenburg concertos. Concerti? Whatever. All of ’em. In one evening. Running order this time, 6, 1, 5, 2, 4, 3. Third oboe in 1, bass in the remainder. Not our fastest run, as there were too many moving parts – it is doable in two hours, but it relies on people being ready to go (and only having one to a part makes that so much easier…) This time, it was more like 2.5-3 hours.

Friday

Wind Octets – second oboe:

• Gipps (what, more?) – op. 65
• Mozart serenade #12 (switched to first oboe for part of this)
• Hummel in E flat – first oboe – not as bad as it might have been.

After coffee, nonets – Spohr & Rheinberger.

After lunch, another run at Dvorak quintet op.97 – with a different group of players, and a very happy session it was too.

The evening was another full orchestra job:

• Chaminade flute concertino
• Arutiunian trumpet concerto
• Beethoven Pastoral Symphony #6 – always a treat.

Throw in a late-night impromptu quartet session on Mendelssohn’s op. 44 #3 – a new one for most of us in the group, which was unusual.

Saturday

The final day – not so much playing today…

First up, second oboe in a session of “big wind” stuff:

• Strauss – Suite in B flat
• Polovtsian Dance
• Strauss – Serenade op. 7

Second was a mostly-Decet session on bass:

• Poulenc – “Mouvements Perpetuels” (originally for piano, arranged by Plonk himself. There are some mistakes in the printing – bassoon didn’t have the right number of rests at the start, and the oboe part doesn’t say “cor anglais” for the second movement…)
• Finzi – Severn Rhapsody – I found this one hard going, for no readily apparent reason.
• Honnegger – Pastorale d’Ete – again, not particularly exciting
• Dubois – Dixtuor
• Dvorak – Bagatelles – just a couple of them, though.

The final orchestral session was mostly new to me:

• Shostakovich – Concerto #2 for Piano
• Mahler – “Blumine”
• Haydn 96

A ceilidh, packing, loading, driving, unloading, unpacking, laundry… and a sense of “do I really have to do my own cooking again?”

I’m looking forward to next year. Wondering what to request this time…

What I Did On My Holidays – 2025 Part 1

I have decided to break the format a bit – last year’s post was a bit on the big side.

So, here’s what I’ve been up to this last week. Only the double bass stuff is listed – I have had other rehearsals this week, but this post is about the non-normal playing with some lovely people in York. Due to the nature of the event, I have played most of these multiple times over the week with a variety of wind players, and an assortment of professionals tutoring various groups.

Smaller Groups

• Zelenka – one of his six sonatas (ZWV 181) for 2 oboes, bassoon, continuo (piano in this case). I have had bad things to say about Zelenka in the past, in response to him (ab)using an alto clef in the double bass part…

Septets

• Beethoven
• Berwald

Octets

• Schubert

Nonets

• Farrenc
• Lachner – this might just be my new favourite
• Martinu
• Rheinberger
• Rota
• Spohr

We were also going to do the Coleridge-Taylor, but that’s not for the standard formation, and we didn’t have a spare pianist (replaces the flute)

…and bigger stuff

• Dvorak Serenade

In the words of Marvin the Paranoid Android: “I ache, therefore I am. Or, in my case, I am, therefore I ache.” A discussion at some point in the week reminded me of some of his other great works – poetry / song lyrics. To the tune of the lullaby from Hansel & Gretel:

Now I lay me down to sleep
Try to count electric sheep
Sweet dream wishes you can keep
How I hate the night.

Now the world has gone to bed
Darkness won’t engulf my head
I can see by infra-red
How I hate the night.

Sorry, irrelevant mental meandering. Permission to sleep before going back to reality on Monday?

What I Did On My Holidays – 2024

Hmm. I really don’t seem to be posting here very often… But here’s the usual Band Camp-esque reports.

York Wind Chamber Music Course

After last year, I was again invited back for the full week of this course. The format is different to my usual long-termer, inasmuch as it involves Actual Tutoring From Real Professionals, and far fewer scheduled sessions per day. And so, as in last year’s report, I’ll just list out what I played that week in order of ensemble size:

• Septets
  • Beethoven – The Big One
• Octets
  • Schubert – The Even Bigger One. This bookended the week, being both first and last official sessions
• Nonets
  • Coenan – there are several Coenans on imslp; the nonet was written by one that isn’t.
  • Farrenc
  • Lachner
  • Martinu – a double-length tutored session.
  • Spohr – of course
• Larger ensembles
  • Various – 1920s dance band type music. My fingers were extremely sore after that. Great fun, but possibly not the thing to play mid-week…
  • Gary Carpenter – Pantomime. Same forces as the Mozart so-called “Gran Partita”. We subjected the full course to a couple of movements of this in the end-of-course concert. Great fun. One of these days I’ll get that solo nailed.
  • Dvorak – Serenade (the one with cello & bass). Flashbacks to doing this with youth orchestra a long time ago – enhanced by being in the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall in York University, location of various Youth Orchestra summer schools…
  • Schoenberg – Chamber Symphony #1. Yikes. We took a full morning over this – with tuition – and got through it pretty well. Looking at the bass part on imslp just now, I have no recollection of this at all, but this is definitely the right thing, as I remember this oddity of rehearsal figure numbering:
    

After a couple of weeks back at work, it’s on to the usual week of mayhem.

The Main Event

I think I must have been doing this over 40 years now. There are so many memories tied in with the music and the people, it can be a bit emotional at times. But it’s good to be back, and it’s good that we had a few new friends this year, including two new stonkingly good bassoonists. As last year, I had a good mix of oboe/cor, cello, and bass playing – and even a very little bit of soprano sax work. My voice, however, was in no condition to do any singing.

Sunday

The day of arrival, and unloading all the clobber into the hall and accommodation. Fortunately, some friends had already arrived, so I borrowed a couple of their children to make light work of unloading – thank you!

Bar, dinner, introductory orchestral session with me on both oboe and double bass. Oboe for Mozart’s Don Giovanni overture, Mozart’s Flute Concerto #2, and Mozart’s Symphony #25 (is anyone sensing a theme here?), and shifting to double bass for Françaix’s (so much for the theme) “Mozart – New Look” (Oh, Mozart all along). If you don’t know it, and most people don’t, it’s a wind decet (but one of the bassoonists on contrabassoon), with a double bass solo over the top. There’s a recording on Youtube of someone playing it rather better and faster than I ever could. Incidentally, there’s a mistake in the bass part which only came to light when we were trying to run this en masse. There aren’t enough bars rest at the start. Tsk. Note to self: fix this for next time.

The musical introduction was completed with a late-night nonet, this time one by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (not to be confused with the poet). Not a standard nonet combination, but dumps the flute in favour of a piano.

Monday

Wind Decets to start the day – Bernard’s Divertissement, of course, Fauré’s Masques et Bergamasques, and some Poulenc arranged by our old friend Jean Françaix for winds – “Musique pour faire plaisir”, which had me breaking out the cor anglais.

After coffee, we (thanks to some last-minute programme alterations) had a string trio session – a gentle canter at some Mozart and then, as we had a few spare minutes, the Enescu “Aubade”.

The afternoon saw me making my first appearance with a saxophone – I really must spend some time figuring out how to play it.

And, at 3pm, I picked up the bass again – my fifth instrument for the day – for the Beethoven Septet. Many memories here.

The rest of the afternoon is a bit of a blur, so I’m guessing there was tea, coffee, beer, and chatting.

The evening session string quartets – Mozart K575 (first book, #8), and, no, I’ve forgotten the other one we did. This was another late change to the schedule brought about by an absent violaist. The same absent violaist. These things happen…

…as does more beer, chat, and, eventually, sleep.

Tuesday

The day started with a double session of strings, taking the whole morning to look at / work through a string suite. We were coached through it by John Lyon, who is the conductor of Leeds Symphony Orchestra.

My afternoon’s playing was limited to a septet by Mel Bonis – no, me neither – but she has pages on wikipedia and imslp; although the latter doesn’t have this particular “Fantasie en Septuor” for string quartet, piano, and two flutes. We were unconvinced that we would seek to play it again.

The evening session was a return to wind decets, switching between oboe & cor anglais. THe rep was the Dvorak Czech Suite op.39 (nice ca solo, and the reason I started hunting for a cor a couple of years ago), Ruth Gipps’s Seascape, an arrangement of Frank Bridge’s “Norse Legend”, and finally Sergei Taneyev’s Andante. There’s some family attachment to this one, as my uncle had a hand-written copy which several of the evening’s line-up had used previously.

Wednesday

Wednesday’s the usual day of rest; people went for a walk in the countryside, or yarn shopping, or a visit to the seaside. I decided that a rest day was for resting (I came into the week off the back of a few days of illness, and needed the break).

The evening, though, we were back to the music with a big orchestral session – again, conducted by “The original LSO’s” John Lyon. A good challenging set of music – Strauss (J, 2)’s overture Die Fledermaus, Strauss (R)’s horn concerto #1 (first time this particular horn player had ever done a concerto, and she was really rather good – bringing back memories of one of our week’s friends who had done this concerto about 10 years ago, but who sadly died a few years ago). Oh, and as if that wasn’t enough, we ended up with Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony. Great fun.

And the “rest day” ended with a gentle run through Schubert’s Trout quintet… Did I say it was a day of rest? Hah.

Thursday

Another day, another string workshop – this time, Tchaikovsky Serenade for strings op.48, coached / conducted by Dave Chernaik, conductor of the Apollo Chamber Orchestra.

After coffee, another string quartet – Beethoven op.59/1, followed by Verdi(!) – that’s not an easy session – particularly not the Verdi! Note to self: do some practice.

The afternoon sessions involved an emergency (don’t ask) Brahms Sextet, and the CV Stanford Serenade Op.95 – a nonet, but not for the Spohr “one of each” combination; ol’ CVS ditched the oboe in favour of a second violinist.

The afternoon ended with a run of the Nelson Mass – but in the original strings-and-not-much-else version. Apparently, Haydn was not impressed with the money on offer, so wrote for a reduced score; wikipedia has an alternative explanation, which is more likely correct – Haydn’s patron had got rid of his usual wind ensemble, leaving Haydn with just trumpets, timps, and strings… whichever version is true, there are parallels to be drawn with current government lack-of-funding for the arts.

Back to us, though… the evening started with a rendition of Beethoven’s 3rd Piano Concerto, and then Brahms’s Serenade #2 (the one with no violins…)

…and, after a short break, a complete run of all Brandenburg concertos. So, yeah, a late night indeed.

Friday

Friday started with some wind octets – Hummel in E flat (so tired was I at this point, that it wasn’t until the third movement that I realised the first oboist had sneakily given me the first oboe part and kept the second for himself). Then (taking care to make sure Richard had given me the second part) Gipps op.65, and Mozart Serenade K388.

After coffee, some wind decets – Francis Casadesus’s “London Sketches”, Françaix’s “Sept Danses”, Liz Sharma’s “Orange Dances” (tracing the history of the orange from China through to Dundee Marmalade, and finishing off with Raff’s Sinfonietta.

The afternoon started with an invitation to do the Poulenc sextet (wind quintet + piano); I suggested they “find a proper oboist” as there’s no way I’m capable of that! But the oboist had to duck out after the Poulenc, so I stepped in and we did the Thuille Sextet.

After all that wind fun, my face was beginning to hurt from all the playing, so it was good to have the rest of the afternoon off.

The first session of the evening was a rendition of Strauss’s Metamorphosen (the 23 part version) (although we lacked the third double bass… fortunately it looks as though everything is doubled (give or take an octave) with one of the other bassists, but it loses some of the extra intensity and space from having that third player. I could do with getting my hands on a set of parts for the septet arrangement…

The evening ended with an off-piste nonet session, including the Martinu – good pieces, but the Martinu can be a bit frustrating if you’ve not done it before (or if you’ve got too many in the group who haven’t done it before). Still, a nice end to the day.

Saturday

How did it get to be Saturday already? How is this the final day of playing?

Still, a good solid start, getting a run at Gary Carpenter’s “Pantomime”. I’ve done this a couple of times at York (see above), and always enjoyed it, but this is the first time I managed to get it booked with this group of friends. There were some grumbles that we weren’t doing Mozart, I pointed out that I made roughly one request every 20 years and this was mine and I’d bought the music and everything, but they mostly seemed to enjoy it, and I’m aiming to do it again in a few years time… (…or next week, with a different group of friends…)

After that, a session of octets – switching from cello 1 in the Mendelssohn to bass in the Bruch. Fabulous music, but I think we were all feeling a bit tired at this point in the week, so we didn’t necessarily do the programme justice.

The final session was another orchestral session, doing a trumpet concerto, a violin solo, and then one of the biggest challenges for an orchestral wind section – Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony. Fabulous way to end the week.

…well, apart from the ceilidh, but I’m not going to talk about that, because I was in the bar…

Sunday

As on arrival, I borrowed a couple of children to help load the car – thank you!

And now we’re home, instruments haven’t all been returned to their usual places (it looked as though someone had gone home leaving some behind), and there’s a vast pile of laundry to get through, and why am I having to do my own cooking well, ordering pizza…)?

See you all again next year, I hope!

David – Trombone Concertino

David? Who he?

Yeah, me neither. Ferdinand David’s Trombone Concertino (op 4) on imslp. Screengrabs are from the first set of parts on imslp, as that’s the edition we’re using.

There are some awkward bits of printing on this edition, which sometimes makes bits a little bit less than entirely legible when sight-reading… or, indeed, when you’re rehearsing for a performance.

First Movement

For example, the bar at letter B:

The spacing makes it look shorter than it is – the second crotchet is on the third beat of the bar… This problem occurs multiple times.

The bottom two lines of the first page look OK at first glance:

But, here are the pain points:

The bar marked “Arco” – those are two beats of triplet quavers. The subscript “6” is very small, and smeared into the ff dynamic marking – helpful.

The other bars – the third beat (crotchet/quaver in triplets) tends to drag, so that the (2/3rds) crotchet becomes a full beat.

Again, these are repeated

Next, this passage:

The dotted quaver / semiquaver running into triplet quavers. The dotted quaver/semiquaver tends to turn into triplets…

Oh, and the last bar of the first movement seems to be meant to be a pizz rather than arco.

Second Movement

This doesn’t start well, from a printing clarity point of view:

Pizz, and then Arco – different locations, again, badly printed. And, guess what? This happens again…

Third (Final) Movement

Yes, I bang on about dynamics in rehearsal. That’s because they’re important. Consider the first two lines of the final movement of this concertino:

Yes, it looks like a nice gentle crescendo for the first 12 bars, BUT… the cresc doesn’t start until the third bar, meaning the dynamic at this point is meant to be pp still. You could be really mathematical about it, and run something like this:

…but that requires everyone else to do the same. Don’t rush the dynamic – or the notes…

The triple f(!) fff passage on the final page:

Just sit on the tempo a bit – don’t rush, just because it’s getting louder. Watch the conductor – that’s what he’s there for!

So, yeah. Usual mix of dynamics, tempo, rhythm, and just plain watching – the notes themselves aren’t that difficult… Where have I heard that before? It’s a good fun piece, would happily play again. And I really need to get a new set of specs.

What I Did On My Holidays – 2023

What? Again?

It’s been a busy summer – a mixed Septet session at the end of July (Beethoven, Blanc, Kreuzer), followed early August by a day of Nonets (Martinu, Rheinberger, Spohr). And then there was the Largo music course (it’s a wind course, but they get a few string players and a pianist in to provide a bit of variety). Then an evening of Brahms sextets, and finally my normal week of fun.

Largo Music Wind Course

This was a first for me – being involved for the full week. The format is a little different to my main music week, so I’m not going to break it down by day, but just list the pieces I’ve played:

• Quintets
  • Reicha – Horn + String quartet with extremely optional double bass part.
  • Strauss (arr) – Till Eulenspiegel – Einmal Anders! Also great fun. Feels as though someone lost a bet to arrange this mahoosive bit of Strauss for the minimum forces – being violin, double bass, clarinet, horn, bassoon. Not at all easy.
• Sextets
  • Beethoven Sextet Op 81b. Yes, this is normally a string quartet + two horns, but Verlag have an edition which adds in a double bass part, and it is much more interesting than that of the Reicha, above. I enjoyed that one so much that I went out and bought a copy.
• Septets
  • Beethoven – three sessions / different sets of wind players in two days…
• Octets
  • Schubert – of course it’s on the list
• Nonets
  • Farrenc
  • Lachner
  • Martinu
  • Spohr
• Decets
  • Francaix – needed to make some corrections to the part. Movement two has a particularly annoying bit of typesetting where they use the tenor clef for a passage that’s lower than the previous passage in bass clef. Movement 3 has a “Dal Segno”, but without a sign… Should be in bar 7. Other than that (and some really dodgy / impossible page turns), it’s great fun. Much horn blarting to be had.
• Bigger groups
  • Borodin (arr. someone) – Polovtsian Dances
  • “Pantomime”, by Gary Carpenter. For the Mozart “Gran Partita” group – 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 clarinets, 2 basset horns, four horns, double bass. The title age says 13 winds. It’s wrong. This is not a contrabassoon part – unless you can find a contrabassoonist who can do glissando, pizzicato, and double stopping. Third movement is much fun for the bassist. Again, enjoyed this one so much that I’ve just ordered it… This is getting to be an expensive habit!
  • Dvorak – Serenade for wind ‘n’ strings. I first played this in 198-mumble, and it’s always nice to see it again.

The Main Event

New year, new home. After 10-ish years in our previous venue, we’ve found a new home – and there’s significant improvement in accommodation, food, and some of the facilities (the bar area was a definite step up. Or, rather, not many steep steps down into the basement…) Oh, and the week ran Sunday->Sunday this year, and I had a good mix of cello and oboe/cor anglais to go in with the double bass.

Sunday

Arrival at the new site was interesting – this time, there were two distinct ways in, and I chose the wrong one – the one where there was no welcoming party. So I pottered around the site a while until I found some friendly faces who pointed me in the right direction to unload before relaxing with a drink and a meal, and then making a start on the music with two sessions in the evening:

Orchestra – Mozart, Mozart, Mozart. Hurrah. Overture for “Marriage of Figaro”, Sinfonia Concertante, and Jupiter Symphony / #41. A happy start.

Nonets – Well, just the one nonet, actually… Farrenc. First time for at least one of the group playing any sort of larger-scale wind/string mixed chamber group.

Monday

First full day kicked off with some double viola quintets – Dvorak op.97 and Mozart K516. Then over to the oboe for a wind quintet session (Haydn, Holst (too difficult for the group), Poulenc Nouvelette, and, erm, Cambini – who?)

The afternoon was off to a good start with the Schubert Octet, and then followed up by a choral session.

The day ended with a Mendelssohn string quartet (op. 13) – new to me. Not easy. And then a Beethoven Septet session, before bar & bed.

Tuesday

Normally the day off, but as we started late, that was reserved for Wednesday. So Tuesday was another full day of playing, starting off with wind Decets – Raff “Sinfonietta” (an old friend), followed by the Francaix “Sept Danses” – fun – and Gipps Seascapes, which involved a cor anglais solo. No pressure, then.

And then, after coffee… onto the Schubert Double Cello quintet, playing cello 1(!). An, after lunch, more Schubert quintets, in the form of the Trout, and a barbershop / male voice choir session.

The evening was dominated by another wind decet session.

• Poulenc – “Music pour faire plaisir”. Arranged by Francaix. Fun. Would like to do this aain.
• Dvorak – Czech suite. This is the reason I wanted to buy a cor anglais…
• Enescu – Dixtuor. Not enjoyable. Needs to be led through by someone who knows it, and to have an MD waggling a stick.
• Brauer – “Pan” suite. This should have also had a double bass, ironically…

And so to bed for an early-ish night.

Wednesday

The usual day off, but obviously a day later than usual…

The evening was packed with music, though, to make up for th elack of playing during the day:

Francaix – Dixtuor – see gripes above. Going directly into…

Orchestral session – Mozart Cosi Fan Tutti Overture, Mozart Horn Concerto 4 (singing along internally with the F&S words, and getting confused when our soloist did a different cadenza), and Brahms Serenade 1. That was a big session.

And the evening wasn’t over, with a mixed septet/octet session:

• D’Indy – Suite dans le style ancient. Not good.
• Hummel – Military Septet – for, erm, trumpet, flute, piano, clarinet, violin, cello, bass…? Much better.

All that in under four hours. No wonder it’s a tiring week…

Thursday

This is where the week starts to bet a bit less like note-bashing / rep-reading, as we go into a string workshop that ran through the Delius Deux Aquarelles and Elgar Elegy, before working on the RVW Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Tallis. Frankly, we should have dumped the Delius…

After a coffee break, a baroque string & trumpet session of, erm, no, I’ve forgotten the details.

Another choir session in the afternoon, and another orchestral session in the evening, doing the Haydn Trumpet concerto followed by Beethoven 5. And a late late night of nattering and beer.

Friday

Friday started with a bunch of string orchestra stuff:

• Bach – A Minor Violin Concerto was the main event,
• followed up by some film bits:
  • Hans Zimmer – Now we are Free (from Gladiator)
  • Titanic – Nearer My God To Thee
  • Ennio Morriconi – Fistful of Dollars – Sundown (with trumpet)
  • Lord of the Ring medley
  • Pirates of the Caribbean Medley (these last two felt a bit “junior” compared with some of the earlier sessions)

The morning ened with a session of Octets. Well, almost entirely the Mendelssohn (first cello? yikes). And a stab at the Spohr op.65, but we had taken our time over the Mendelssohn, so didn’t get far with that.

The afternoon was dominated by a special Requiem that had been written by the late husbnd of one of our number. She had been asking for it to happen for the last few years, so it was good to finally be able to deliver.

The evening session was taken up with a string orchestra session, running:

• Britten – “Simple Symphony”
• Grieg – Holberg Suite
• Dvorak – Serenade for Strings (op.22

And after that good stuff, we started a full run through the Brandenburgs (not in numerical order), but all of them. For a change, I got to do the 3rd oboe solo in the first one before moving over to cello for one of the others, and then bass for the rest… This session was longer than sometimes, as we were using it as a training zone, introducing some younger players to the rep. More players, more stands, less focus… A late night, once the post-playing drinking had happened.

Saturday

And so into the final day of playing – and a good day it was too, albeit rather short, as the evening was taken up with a barn dance / ceilidh sort of thing, led/called by one of our cellists. But there was playing beforehand…

An actual workshop session, working on just one iece for the whole morning. Bartok Divertimento. Hard. And my bass was not being cooperative – it slipped, somehow managing to cut my forehead with one of the tuning pegs. I have no idea how, and I was there.

The afternoon had one of my all-time favourites, the Mozart so-called “Gran Partita”.

And the playing ended with an orchestral session, running Mozart’s 3rd violin concerto, and finishing us off with Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll.

I don’t think we managed to drink the bar dry (we had taken two extra top-up deliveries during the week), but the last I checked, we were down to the last dozen beers and maybe 3 bottles of wine…

Sunday

Breakfast, load out, home, laundry, more laundry, and a sense of confusion that we have to do cooking again…

All considered, an excellent week, and a much improved venue. I’m already plotting things to try to get onto the schedule for next year.

And I’ve got to do some practice! Francaix “Mozart – New Look” is looming.

It’s the time of year

now that spring is in the air…

No, wait. Not that. I apologise for the earworm (if you got earwormed).

Four weeks, Four groups, Four gigs

That’s what I means to say.

The last few weeks have been, unsurprisingly, busy for music – it is, after all, that time of year.

Gig 1 – West Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra (WYSO)

The first of this run was a good mix of Holst, Gounod, Mozart, & Haydn. No real surprises, but it was nice to not have to play (or, rather, count) my way through the Gounod. The full programme:

• Gounod – Petite Symphonie. Y’know, the wind thing. I’ve played second oboe in it a few times; it was nice to be able to sit back and leave it to real wind players for a change.
• Mozart – Piano concerto #23.
• Holst – St Pauls Suite
• Haydn – 104.

And that last piece was the fun, in terms of having to fix a timpanist at veeeerrrry short notice. Huge thanks to Clive for coming out of retirement.

Gig 2 – LUUMS String Orchestra

Half a gig, really, as they shared the event. First outing for this group – previously, LUUMS had a symphony orchestra and a chamber orchestra; now they have the Symphony orchestra and the string orchestra. The full programme:

• Anderson – Plink Plank Plunk – a new one on me
• Finzi – Prelude for String Orchestra – ditto, I think
• Ben Frampton (one of the double bassists, a student at the University) – a new composition whose name I’ve forgotten, so – ditto. Definitely.
• Tchaikovsky – Serenade for Strings – ah, no, this one I’ve definitely played before.

Good fun, and hopefully the orchestra will go on

Gig 3 – LUUMS Symphony Orchestra

This was the big one, and included:

• Bizet – Carmen Suite #1 – got flashbacks to my youth with this one, having played for LYOG’s production of Carmen back in the day
• Copland – Rodeo Suite – all four movements. Some tricky bits, and one movement where the basses play for two lines, and that’s it.
• Vaughan Williams – London Symphony.

Now that was a gig. Hard work. But it was good to be at the back of a section of four bassists, for a change.

Gig 4 – CLYO

Joining CLYO as an adult player to help beef up the bass section, for a short programme of what they’ve been working on recently. Included:

• Smyth – Wreckers overture (well, chunks of it – a mahoosive cut in the middle, for reasons.)
• Grieg – Norwegian dances (the first three)
• Kreisler – Praeludium and Allegro in the style of Pugnani – for strings & violin solo (the leader is stepping down this term)
• Borodin – second symphony, fourth movement.
• Selection from “Polar Express”
• Anderson – Sleigh Ride

I dunno, you play no Anderson for *years*, and then two come along at once…

/

I think that’s it for the year, for playing. There’s not much chance of fitting in any more, given that I’ve got a couple of singing things lined up. I’ll have to remember how that works.