This is an edited version of the Havant Orchestras newsletter which is provided in printed form (or e-mailed in PDF format, if requested) to players and Friends of the Orchestras.

From the Chairman ...

‘What a delight to be at a concert where I don’t know any of the works’.  This was the one of many similar comments that reached me about the Chamber Orchestra’s very well received concert in February.  Well you won’t be able to say that about the first half of this programme  with its two major pillars of the orchestral repertoire to look forward to.  The unfamiliar second half will be a treat, too, as we explore further the works of the Dane, Niels Gade who is so overshadowed by his German contemporaries.

The Chamber Orchestra concert received generous sponsorship from Brian Boughton and from David and Alison Goodall and we are grateful to Crawford Wright and supporters from Swanmore (our President has christened them the ‘Swanmore Super Supporters’) for purchasing the music of the Symphony and contributing towards the soloist’s fee in this concert.

You will be aware that Rosemary Snoad, Pauline, our President and I have been trying to keep the Friends’ organisation running now that Beryl Harding has stepped back.  We are extremely pleased to announce that Geoff Porter, a supporter of the Orchestras until he left the district, has returned and agreed to take over as Friends’ Secretary.  He is full of ideas and energy so now you have even more reason to join the Friends and support them in their work.  Many thanks, Geoff, best wishes in the post and here’s to a long and fruitful association.

At our May concert we shall unveil the new season’s programme but don’t forget that on top of our current programme we have the additional pleasure of a Chamber Orchestra concert on June 12 in Gosport.  (Details below.)

It would be wonderful to have a full turnout to meet Niels Gade and to renew acquaintance with Beethoven’s and Brahms’ dramatic works and our fine soloist on Saturday.  We look forward to seeing you all and all your friends at the concert.

Tony Gutteridge

Ferneham Hall, 27 March

6.30	Pre-concert talk – David Goodall talking about Brahms’ 1st piano concerto in the auditorium – all welcome
and	Upbeat Club in the Meon Area
7.00	Interlude in the Octagon Lounge (details not yet available)
plus	Friends’ Table and Sheet Music and CDs on Sale in the Meon Area
7.30	The Concert Overture Leonora No 3  Beethoven  Piano Concerto No 1  Soloist  Alexander Karpeyev  Brahms  Symphony No 7 in F  Gade
9.30	approx end of concert then have a safe journey home

We Extend A VERY Warm Welcome

on Saturday to the Deputy Mayor of Havant, Cllr Mrs Yvonne Weeks with her Consort and the Swanmore Super Supporters who are sponsoring parts of the concert.

The Conductor’s Winter Ramblings!

written 8 March ……

The Art of Composition can be a labouring toil for some composers and an act of inspirational fecundity for others.  Beethoven, for example, as evidenced by his copious sketchbooks, worked hard at honing his symphonic themes into exactly the right pitches, rhythms, shapes and lengths in order that they fulfilled the prime criteria as ‘cells for development’.

Brahms on the other hand, seems to have spent a little less time in the forge and more in the workshop putting things together with freshly-flowing heroic romantic ideas.  However, Brahms did have periodic bonfires of completed works that did not come up to his highest expectations - a long road to pursue only for ultimate destruction.  Perhaps a little more time in the forge would have created better building blocks.  Who knows?

The two works by these composers that we are performing on Saturday each showed a degree of dissatisfaction in their early conception.  Beethoven went so far as to produce FOUR different overtures to his solitary opera Fidelio !

• Initially  1805  Leonora No 2 - composed for the opera’s premiere but burst its seams in a colossal unwieldy structure that promised much but ended limply.

• Subsequently  1807  Leonora No 1 - written for a Prague performance that never took place.  It was withdrawn by Beethoven as being too insignificant and lightweight for the opera’s substance.

• Meanwhile  1806  Leonora No 3 - was being re-fashioned from material used in No 2 with a much better formal cohesion and encapsulating all the drama of the opera - a stunning symphonic movement.

• And finally  1814  Overture Fidelio - using fresh themes, none from the opera, less than half the length of Leonoras 2 or 3 and an almost Rossinian frothy curtain-raiser.

Brahms’ 1st Piano Concerto also went through the wringer - first as a sonata for two pianos; then as an abortive symphony; and finally, combining the expressive eloquence and strength of a solo piano with a powerfully symphonic orchestral score into a large-scale piano concerto.

The end result in both compositions seems to justify the vacillations without truly reflecting the cerebral torments of their gestation.

By contrast, Gade wrote his 7th symphony speedily between August and September 1864, eventually adding the finishing touches to its scherzo in February 1865.

It is a remarkably genial, free-flowing work that sounds as if it had little to do with forges or workshops and yet is tightly constructed.  Curious, really because its composition came at a time when Denmark was right in the middle of its second war with Prussia.  Gade was at pains to mention that his new symphony was not influenced in any way by the war.  You may muse otherwise when you hear the 2nd movement Andante.

Elsewhere listen out for shades of Schumann, Mendelssohn and Brahms whilst remembering, in the case of the latter that this symphony pre-dates Brahms’ 1st by over a decade.

Do read Lance Dearsley’s excellent programme note for a fuller background and for aural guidelines.

---

We are all eagerly awaiting the return of the brilliant young Russian pianist Alexander Karpeyev - who joins us for that feisty Brahms 1st Piano Concerto, a monumental work of concentration and application for all of us.

Peter Craddock

UPBEAT CLUB!

HELLO to all our young listeners!!!  Come and enjoy your very own pre-concert club in the Meon Area at 6.30pm on Saturday for some musical exploration starting with “What is so special about a ‘red hedgehog’????”

Bring your friends and family, and hear the answer to this and lots more questions.  They all have something to do with Brahms and his music, such as:

• Which country did Brahms come from?
• How many symphonies did he write?
• Which other composers were his friends?

I'm looking forward to seeing new and familiar faces but if you need any additional details, please contact me by mobile: 07966 216 887

or e-mail: becky.hill@rocketmail.com.

See you there!  Becky Hill

CDs for the May Concert Music

Sourced by GE

Arriaga  Overture - Los Esclavos Felices
Algarve Orchestra, Cassuto.  c/w Symphony in D
+ works by Carvalho, Moreira, Portugal & Seixas
Naxos 8 557 207  Bargain price

Nielsen  Little Suite for Strings
Danish National Radio SO, Ulf Schirmer
c/w Symphonies 4-6 and Hymnus amoris.
Decca 460 988-2  2 Mid-price discs

Haydn  Trumpet Concerto in E flat
Alison Balsom, trumpet and conductor
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.
c/w concertos by Hummel, Neruda and Torelli
EMI 216213-0  Full price

Beethoven  Symphony No 7 in A
LSO, Haitink,  c/w The Triple Concerto
LSO Live LSO 0078  Bargain price

CDs & Sheet Music FOR SALE

Browse in The Meon before the concert, during the interval and afterwards as well! 

10% of Sale Price to Orchestra Funds

LET US FIND NEW HOMES FOR YOUR OLD CDs …

... by donating them for resale.  The full sale price will be added to the funds.

All contributions gratefully accepted at the table in the Meon at concerts or phone Peter on 023 9248 3228

NEXT SEASON’S DATES

Final Decision!

After a visit to Oaklands School by the Chairman, Musical Director and Administrator, plus very careful thought and discussion at a recent Committee Meeting, it was unanimously decided that the date and venue for HSO’s first concert next season will be Oaklands School at Waterlooville.

So the dates and venues for next season’s concerts  will be:-

25 September 2010	HSO, Hayling Island
16 October	HCO, Ferneham Hall
4 December	HSO, Oaklands School, Stakes Hill Road, Waterlooville
12 February 2011	HCO, Ferneham Hall
26 March	HSO, Ferneham Hall
14 May	HCO, Ferneham Hall
2 July	HSO, Ferneham Hall

In order to take into consideration the fact that travelling to Waterlooville may cause problems for some STHs the Season Ticket will be reduced to the five concerts at Ferneham Hall with a suitably reduced-price ticket for Oaklands for those who wish to attend.  Full details will be circulated when the Brochure for 2010-11 is launched at the May concert.

There is a possibility that groups of STHs could organise mini-bus hire in order to attend what will be a traditional pre-Christmas concert, probably including an after-the-concert party.  Again, more details in May - but please volunteer to be a mini-bus organiser if the idea appeals to you!

The Silent Auction

As the picture donated for the Auction failed to achieve its reserve, we planned to re-present it at this concert.  However, an offer  well above the asking price was received recently so the picture now has a new home and the Society has a generous amount - from the sale and giftaid from the donor - to support our activities.

Grateful thanks to all supporters of this project.

Poster ‘posters’

Several of our very long-standing deliverers have retired in the past few months and as posters are an important method of informing people of our concerts, it’s really important that they are displayed.

PLEASE will you help?  Suggested locations are: Warsash, Park Gate/Locksheath, Bursledon, Hamble and as many more as you can suggest.  Leave a message for Sandra at the table in the foyer on Saturday.  Thanks for your support.

A Former Member of HSO

The Chairman has received a letter from the son of Ray Carter, a former member of HSO’s trombone section who regretfully died in January.  Ray was listed in the Silver Celebration booklet as having played in the very first concert in 1962 and he was made an Hon Vice-President in 1986.

The V & A’s Musical Instruments

There is a plan to put the V&A’s collection of Musical Instruments into storage, with no plans to reinstate it at any future date.

For more details and to register your regret at this action go to the 10 Downing Street website: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/VandAchange/

Our ‘Upgraded’ e-mail Newsletter

The e-mail newsletter is now sent out in .pdf format and looks exactly as the printed copy only in A4 size.  Would you like to try the new version?  An e-mail message to: sandra.craddock@ntlworld.com will forward a trial copy.

Gosport and Fareham Music Society 40th Anniversary Concert

at The United Reformed Church
Bury Road, Gosport, PO12 3UD

Saturday 12 June 2010 at 7.30pm

Havant Chamber Orchestra
Conductor Peter Craddock  Leader Brian Howells
Soloist  Karen Kingsley

Sinfonia in E flat, Op 9 No 2	J C Bach
Serenade for Strings	Elgar
Piano Concerto No 2 in G	Haydn
Two Elegiac Melodies	Grieg
Symphony No 29 in A	Mozart

Tickets £6.00 on sale on Saturday, or see the Gosport and Fareham Music Society web site.

The G & F M Society began life 40 years ago simply as The Gosport Music Club which ‘catered for those who enjoy listening to good music in pleasant surroundings’ with the aims of ‘promoting first class concerts in Gosport and giving those interested in classical music an opportunity to meet others with similar interests’.  The Club expanded; and in 1987 changed its name to G & F M S purchasing a Yamaha Grand piano along the way to the delight of their many piano soloists who, of course, include local favourite Karen Kingsley as well as Joseph Cooper, Roger Vignoles and Richard Shepherd.  Other visitors have been Leon Goossens, Jack Brymer, Marisa Robles and Richard Harwood.  A large audience enjoyed the first concert of this season when the vocal group Mozartissimo entertained an audience of 100 to a spectacular evening of Mozartian opera and the Society looks forward to this final concert of their anniversary season and hopes to welcome many ‘Havant’ listeners to their celebration concert.

Congratulations on 40 years successful music-making from The Havant Orchestras!

Other Musical Offerings

St Swithun’s, Southsea

Sunday 28 March at 7.30pm
Portsmouth Philharmonia
Works by MacCunn, Glazunov and Beethoven

Tickets at the door £2.00, in aid of The Rowans

MUSIC ON SUNDAYS at  Christ Church,

Old Market Avenue, Chichester

11 April at 2.30pm
Ronan Magill, piano
Scarlatti, Bach, Beethoven, Liszt and Chopin

9 May at 2.30pm
The Anemos Ensemble
Helen Walton, flute, Fiona oboe, Bridget horn, Rob clarinet and Richard Moore bassoon
Including works by Danzi and Hindemith

Tickets £8.00; students £4.00 from 01243 527425 and at the door.

Southampton Guildhall

24 April at 7.30pm
Southampton Philharmonic Choir, New London Sinfonia, conductor David Gibson
Beethoven - Overture Coriolan
Mozart - Requiem,
Dominic Muldowney - The Fall of Jerusalem

Tickets £8 - £19 with concs from 023 8063 2601

Ferneham Hall, Fareham

1 May at 7.30pm
Fareham Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra
Schubert - Mass in A Flat,
Mozart - Sparrow Mass,
Brahms Song of Destiny,
Mozart - Overture Marriage of Figaro
Mendelssohn - Hebrides Overture

Tickets £11 (£9.50 concs), children £2, from Fareham Well, West Street 01329-318731, or FPC Box Office 01329-664948.

MUSIC IN THE ROUND at

New Theatre Royal, Guildhall Walk, Portsmouth

7 May at 7.30pm
The Doric Quartet
Alex Redington and Jonathan Stone violins, Simon Tandree viola, and John Myerscough cello
Haydn  Quartet in E flat, Op 76 No 6
Britten  Quartet No 2 in C, Op 36
Schumann  Quartet No 3 in A, Op 41 No 3

Tickets £13.50, (concs) £11.00 - from 023 9264 9000

A MUSICAL EVENING at STANSTED HOUSE

Rowlands Castle, PO9 6DX

13 May at 7.30 pm
Chamber Music for a May Evening
Eight chamber musicians playing music by Mozart, Marcello and Bach.

Tickets £7.50 including light refreshment from Stansted House 023 9241 2265

Hayling Island Amateur Dramatic Society

Amadeus by Peter Shaffer

10th and 12th - 17th April at 7.30pm
Station Theatre, Station Road, Hayling Island

Tickets £6.00 from 023 9246 6363
Monday-Saturday 10 am - 12.00 noon.

Society Contact Details are at the back of the current Programme Book.

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