Crikey. It’s that time of year again. Forces were, once again, reduced, but we still had some good music-making opportunities. For me, these were mainly on the double bass, but also some cello, singing, and a little bit of oboing.
Saturday
Arrival day. And in a return to normal programming, a full orchestral session, with young Long John conducting three works:
- Mozart Bassoon concerto
- Haydn symphony no 104 (London)
- Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll (which I reckon is better as a one-to-a-part thing, rather than a full band)
A good start to the week.
Sunday
The morning started with a quintet session – Dvorak (obviously), and the Glazunov quintet (so over to cello for that). Good stuff – don’t think I’ve done the Glazunov before, and would happily play it again.
The quintets were followed by a sextet session – with both us regular double bassists playing cello parts (on cello). Brahms – so, some good low down stuff and no need to hold back on behalf of the viola section…
The afternoon sessions were not too busy for me; however, this was one where I did have some fun in the Spohr octet (Violin, 2 violas, cello, bass, two horns and clarinet). There oesn’t seem to be anything else available for that combination on imslp, but it’s a big enough work that it takes a full session on its own.
Some choral stuff – doing a bunch of silliness from Encores for Choirs vol 1. Don’t ask me which ones, but I remember there being too much Chilcott.
For complicated reasons involving an absent doctor, the evening trio session planned for me was cancelled, so we had a natter, and an early(ish) night.
Monday
At last, the oboe got its turn – with a decet? dectet? double wind quintet session involving a dodgy Bflat clarinet, so we did Caplet’s Suite Persane (very odd, lots of chromatics, and, unfortunately, not on imslp), and we made a start on Bernard’s Divertissement, which we enjoyed so much we decided we had to book some time later in the week to run the whole thing.
I was aiming to have a quiet afternoon, but got a call “our bassist hasn’t turned up, come and play nonets”. OK. Rheinberger and Rota it is, then. Great fun, and an unexpected bonus session.
By way of light entertainment, some barbershop / male voice choir stuff in the late afternoon, and then a string orchestra session in the evening, doing (among other things – there was a lot of paper flying around that evening):
- A new work by one of us – Aeron Preston’s “Fantasia on Welsh Folk Tunes”. His parents turned up to watch.
- Elgar’s Serenade
- Vivaldi – concerto for violin and cello in B flat, RV 547
- Mozart – divertimento K133
- David Marsh (previously one of us) “Show Some Pluck” – a great little encore style thing
Tuesday
The day of rest, that never ends up being that…
…ending, as it did, with an orchestral session. And, for the rest day, of course it was a nice, light programme…:
- Mendelssohn’s overture for Midsummer Night’s Dream
- Mozart Piano concerto #24
- Beethoven Symphony #8
Wednesday
The day started off with a full workshop session on Elgar’s introduction & allegro for strings. Great piece of music, but possibly not one I would have chosen to do for that length of time.
Some fun string quartets followed, with Haydn’s “Sunrise” (op 76/4), and, for free choice, Puccini’s “Crisantemi” (I’ve never played this before, but I was aware of its existence). A good session.
Unusually, we had a harpist, Olivia Jageurs, come in for the rest of the day, so there was a lot of stuff aimed at keeping her occupied, but we also snuck in a Vivaldi Gloria in D before the main orchestral & harp extravaganza, which included:
- Strauss – “Morgen”
- Elgar – Sospiri
- Debussy – Danses Sacres
- a violin thing from Schindler’s List (John Williams)
- Mahler – Adagietto for strings & harp from his 5th Symphony
- Mozart – concerto for flute & harp. This was the big one for the night – and a very good show. I’ve not played it since 1990, in a student orchestra.
Hopefully, Olivia will be back, as I want to have a crack at Ries’s Sextet for clarinet, bassoon, harp, horn, piano, double bass.
Thursday, already?
Thursday kicked off with the Dvorak serenade for wind (and cello and bass), followed by Max Brauer (me neither)’s Pan suite (for double wind quintet and double bass). Fortunately, no malfunctioning clarinets today.
This was followed by a rather unsatisfactory string quartet session, during which we attempted to play Brahms, and failed. Not good, and I’m not entirely sure why we failed. Maybe we just didn’t gel as a group.
In the evening, after a power cut, we had our most ambitious event for 30 years – a run of Mozart’s Requiem. Almost entirely authentic, the basset horn parts were played on clarinets, and the trombone solo from tuba mirum was done on French Horn. (Does that mean it should now be corno mirum?) Oh, and yr. humble servant was, erm, tenor solo *and* chorus? Really? No wonder I couldn’t speak much the rest of the day.
And after that (yes, really), a late-night emotionally-charged Brandenburg session (not a full set, merely 2, 3, 4, 5).
Mind you, there’s a vicious suggestion that I should learn one of the oboe solo parts from Brandenburg 1 for next year. Urgh.
Friday
The final day of playing? Nooo! But much to do today, starting with Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” music, in the original small form, and a similarly small version of Stravinsky’s “Dumbarton Oaks”.
The final orchestral playing of the day was another bunch of light classics:
- Rossini – “Thieving Magpie” overture (with me slumming on the snare drum before going back to my bass for the other pieces)
- Beethoven – Coriolan overture
- Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony (#3 in A)
Nothing too lightweight there.
The evening was mostly taken up with a Ceilidh, with one of our cellists being the caller for her band.
Musically, we (were) finished off by doing a final chamber one-to-a-part rendition of Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll, forming a pleasant symmetry to the week.
I guess now’s the time to fill out the feedback forms, and hope that we get invited back for next year.
The Lone Double Bass 