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Newsletter for December 2022

This is an edited version of the Havant Orchestras newsletter which is e-mailed in PDF form to players and Friends of the Orchestras (or posted in printed form for those who do not have e-mail).

The Havant Orchestras

President: The Rt Hon Lord Willetts FRS     Patrons: The Mayor of Havant; The Mayor of Fareham

December 2022 Newsletter

www.havantorchestras.org.uk

Welcome to the latest issue of the HADOS Newsletter as we get our woolies and skates on for our Winter Wonderland concert!  Saturday, 10th December at 2.30pm at Oaklands School will see us sleigh riding and dancing on ice so do join us!

Saturday 10th December’s Programme

2.30 The Concert
conducted by Jonathan Butcher
and James Thomas
Overture ‘Carnival’ Dvořák
Nocturne ‘New Year Music’ Finzi
Violin Concerto No 1 Bruch
 Soloist: Madeleine Pickering 
    Interval – 20 minutes
Christmas Overture Coleridge-Taylor
Sleigh Ride Delius
Skaters Waltz Waldteufel
Sleeping Beauty Suite Tchaikovsky
4.30 (approx) End of Concert

Music in this concert—1

Ever since I studied Gerald Finzi’s solo cantata, Dies Natalis (for tenor and string orchestra) with my singing teacher at the Royal College of Music I have loved his music.  Dies Natalis was far too difficult for me, but I could see its brilliance and the wonderful way Finzi sets words so naturally.  His style is unmistakable and it is so sad that he died relatively young.  However, his output is consistently good, with a great range of works from concerti to choral works plus pieces for solos instruments and songs.  The latter, perhaps, being his forte. 

When I was in my early twenties I conducted a choir in Surrey and Finzi’s Lo, the Full Final Sacrifice was once programmed and, although there were some tricky sections to master, the choir and I adored it – words by Richard Crashaw.  I have just looked at my vocal score and am amazed at the detail of articulation and phrasing I had marked in.  All very tidy! 

Later, I did his settings of Seven Poems of Robert Bridges – this time with a chamber choir.  They are all unaccompanied (a cappella) and thus creating extra challenges, but nevertheless very rewarding and enjoyable.  The most famous setting probably being My Spirit Sang all Day. 

I have conducted Finzi’s ’Cello Concerto on number of occasions, most recently with the HSO – with Raphael Wallfisch as soloist.  I hope some of you were in the audience and enjoyed his performance as much as we did. 

For this first concert of our new Season I have programmed Finzi’s Nocturne (New Year Music).  A piece which was unfamiliar to both myself and the HSO.  It is a sort of tone poem and, as expected, much of the work is quiet and reflective, but there are passages where the music broadens out and Finzi uses the whole orchestra, including heavy brass and harp. 

Finzi says of the work – ‘The title, Nocturne, shows this to be music for New Year’s Eve, expressing the “sober sadness” which Charles Lamb has so movingly described.  Here then, are no merry-makings and such-like, but something of a mood which is well suggested by the words of Robert Bridges – “when the stars were shining fared I forth alone.” ’

If this attractive Nocturne is new to you too, I do hope you enjoy it – and the rest of our concert! 

Jonathan Butcher

Music in this concert—2

I am very excited to be conducting Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Christmas Overture.  Using traditional carol favourites combined with a broad and rich orchestration, Coleridge-Taylor provides a fitting setting for the start of the Christmas season and our winter wonderland concert. 

Delius’ Sleigh Ride whilst not as commonly known as its Anderson counterpart, is also effective in transporting listeners into a festive merriment.  Sleigh Bells are a-plenty in this piece which features more sombre moments as well as a jubilant and fast paced sleigh theme.  Be sure to listen out for the technical flute solo at the start, a sprightly opening to this energetic piece.

I am very excited to be debuting as the Bursary Conductor and have very much enjoyed working with the orchestra in preparation for the concert.  It is a fantastic opportunity for me to have regular time in front of an orchestra and that is invaluable at my current stage of career.  Rehearsals have been most enjoyable and I am grateful to the orchestra and to Jonathan Butcher for his trust and continued mentorship.

James Thomas

Peter and Sandra Craddock Fund

We are grateful for all donations to HADOS.  We put these into the Peter and Sandra Craddock Memorial Fund and the committee decides how to use this money.

For the December 10th concert the Fund has been used:

- to purchase the Sleigh Rides by Delius and Anderson for our library
- to cover the cost of hiring the Finzi ‘New Year Music’.

Music added to our library can usually be hired out to other orchestras, thus recouping some of the cost.

Music that is still in copyright, such as the Finzi, is often only available by hiring and this can be expensive.  See the Music Copyright article in this newsletter!

CD recommendations for the more unusual works in this concert

Sourced by Gordon Egerton (HCO clarinet)

In addition to Gordon’s recommended CDs, recordings are easily found on Spotify and other streaming services.  I’m adding here links if there is a live performance or other interesting video on YouTube.

Finzi - Nocturne (New Year Music) Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, David Hill (c/w Dies Natalis and Two Sonnets). Naxos. 8.570417 £8.00 CD.
Recording with accompanying video

Coleridge-Taylor - Christmas Overture BBC Concert Orchestra, Barry Wordsworth (disc entitled 'The Night Before Christmas', consisting of many short pieces with the BBC Singers and Stephen Fry). Naxos 8.570331 £8.00 CD.
Video incorporating photos of the composer
Live performance by a US amateur orchestra

Delius - 'Sleigh Ride' Royal Scottish National Orchestra, David Lloyd-Jones (c/w other Delius works). Naxos 8.557143 £8.00
Live performance by WDR Funkhausorchester

Waldteufel - The Skaters Waltz Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra, Kosice, Alfred Walter (c/w other Waldteufel waltzes). Naxos 8. 553956 £8.00 CD.
Andre Rieu live at the Royal Albert Hall

Gordon Egerton and Stella Scott

Concert Report

Havant Chamber Orchestra performed their first concert of the season at Holy Trinity Church, Fareham in October.

This was our ‘Remembering Brian Howells’ concert and we were delighted to have Amanda Howells in the audience.  As well as being married to Brian, Amanda also played principal cello with HCO for a number of years.

Two items in the programme were chosen particularly with Brian in mind: The Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola by Mozart and Crisantemi by Puccini.  Our soloists in the Mozart did not disappoint!  Laura Rickard and Elliott Perks were superb in performance and great fun to rehearse with.

The audience was not as large as we would have liked so, financially, the result will not be anywhere near positive, (outgoings in the region of £2500  with income only £872) but it was a special event for us which I think hit the right note in terms of celebrating Brian’s enormous contribution to HCO.

Stella Scott

News of a Bursary holder

Did you watch the BBC prom concert featuring the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain this summer?  Their conductor on that occasion was Andrew Gourlay — holder of the Bob and Beryl Harding Bursary for Student Conductors in 2006-7.

During his season with us, Andrew conducted HSO in ‘Fanfare’ by Gareth Woods (no, me neither!), Overture ‘King Lear’ by Balakirev, Smetana’s Three Dances from the Bartered Bride and Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Scheherazade’.  He also conducted HCO in the Overture ‘La clemenza di Tito’ by Mozart.  His Hayling concert programme consisted of Rossini’s Overture ‘The Thieving Magpie’, the Dvorak Cello Concerto (soloist Andrew Joyce), Schubert’s Unfinished and Mendelssohn’s ‘The Hebrides’.  Quite a year!

Andrew recently got in touch to share news of a recent project.  He has created an Orchestral Suite from the music of Wagner’s ‘Parsifal’ which has been published by Schott.  He has recorded it with the London Philharmonic and you can listen in a number of ways or purchase a CD at https://orchid-music.lnk.to/Parsifal.

There is also a video of the LPO playing it.

Bravo, Andrew!

Support for soloists

There are number of schemes which support young soloists.  Typically, young artists audition and are selected for the scheme for one or two years.  Orchestras and promoters such as HADOS are then able to book them in the knowledge that they are definitely of a high standard and sometimes with financial benefits also.

Our soloist for December 10th, Madeleine Pickering, comes to us from the Philip and Dorothy Green Young Artists scheme run by Making Music.  The scheme provides a partial refund to HADOS after we have paid Madeleine an already very reasonable fee.

We are very grateful to Making Music and PDGYA  for making this available to us.


Notes from the committee

The HADOS committee of (currently) 10 people meets on a regular basis  to ensure smooth running of our concerts but also to discuss and decide on more general matters.  In the near future we will be discussing ticket pricing and our visual ‘identity’.

We welcome input into this process from all members so if you have a view on anything to do with HADOS that you’d like us to know, please email havantorchestras@gmail.com.  If you can also offer help, then so much the better.  Participation by our non-playing members is also very welcome!

We can be contacted at:


Subscriptions are coming in for this year—thank you to those players who have already paid.

We’re very grateful to our Gift Aid coordinator for handling the collection of Gift Aid for us.  If you are a taxpayer and you pay a subscription, HADOS can claim gift aid on your payment which means the government gives us an extra 25% of what you have paid.  For a £120 subscription that’s an extra £30 which is a great help towards the costs of weekly rehearsals.

Each Friday evening currently costs around £200 and this will be going up in 2023 as The Pallant Centre strive to meet the increasing costs of heating etc.


We seem to be having  some difficulties with publicity in the Fareham area, resulting in disappointing audience numbers for our Havant Chamber Orchestra concerts.

This is a shame because our current venue, Holy Trinity Church, has a lovely acoustic and we are enjoying playing there.

If you have any suggestions as to how we can raise our profile in Fareham and the surrounding area, please let us know at havantorchestras@gmail.com or publicity.havantorchestras@gmail.com.

Details of the next concert happening there are on the back page.

Schubert, Schumann & especially Strauss

Having made his first appearance at the BBC Proms in 2022, horn player Ben Goldscheider is clearly becoming well known as a top soloist!

We first met Ben when he played the Weber Concertino with HSO in 2019 and are delighted that he is able to come to Fareham to play the Strauss Horn Concerto no.1 with HCO.

There will also be a pre-concert talk by Tim Griffiths at 6.30pm so come along early, learn some more about the music, have a coffee and a chat, then enjoy the concert!

Tickets will be available online soon — keep an eye on our website or contact:
tickets.havantorchestras@gmail.com

Saturday 4th February 2023

Holy Trinity Church, Fareham, PO16 0EL

All details at:
havantorchestras.org.uk


HADOS WEBSITE — havantorchestras.org.uk

Did you know that there is a wealth of information on the Havant Orchestras website which you can see without logging in
People sometimes think they will not be able to see useful information like rehearsal dates without a password but just clicking the ‘Members’ button will reveal three buttons where you can find:

  • The full rehearsal schedule for the current season
  • details of provisional dates for future seasons
  • information about paying a subscription.

Members of HADOS can, of course, request to know the password and this will allow you to also see some background information and the lists of all our concerts, soloists, conductors etc since the very beginning.  Request it from havantorchestras@gmail.com.

Society contact information

Havant and District Orchestral Society (HADOS)
Registered Charity No 288747  Email: havantorchestras@gmail.com  Tel: 023 8026 1372

Website: www.havantorchestras.org.uk

Contact information can be found on the Contacts page within this web site.


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