Blog Posts

June - 'Life is short, but the music lives forever...'

28/6/2022

Hippocrates once said: “the art is long, but life is short”. What he meant is “It takes a long time to acquire the experience necessary to be a master”.

The lives and music of some composers would demonstrate how that is not always the case. Here, it could be said that life is short but the art lives for ever.

Of the eight composers whose works we heard in the month of June, four of them died early in life: Schubert (31), Mozart (35), Chopin (39) and Beethoven (57). All four lived in the one hundred year period from 1728 to 1828, yet their music seems to be immortal.

Of the other four, their ages and music output covered a wider time frame (Corelli was 60 when he died, Grieg 64, Rachmaninoff 70, and Haydn 75) - nearly 300 years from 1653 - 1943. The two youngest were the most prolific in terms of their compositional life – Schubert with some 1500 works to his name and Mozart perhaps about 1000, although only a little over 600 have been catalogued to date.

You can read about them, the works selected and listen to the recordings by clicking on the links below.

Bill Squire.

10th June

Session Notes

Corelli - Concerto Grosso Opus 6 No.4

Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No. 2

Grieg - Peer Gynt Suite No. 1

Beethoven - Sextet for Two Horns and String Quartet

24th June

Session Notes

Haydn - Sinfonia Concertante

Schubert - Symphony No.3

Chopin - Nocturne in D flat major

Mozart - Clarinet Quintet

Tchaikovsky, Brahms were the main composers in May

30/5/2022

An ancient Chinese philosopher once said: "Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage”. This certainly seemed to be the case with Tchaikovsky and Brahms who were the main composers for our music appreciation this month.

Tchaikovsky’s fourth symphony (played at this month’s 1st session) was an expression of his love for Nadezhda von Mech – a wealthy widow who provided him with a generous stipend annually on condition they never meet. He said in a letter to her: “how much I think of you in every bar”.

Brahms was deeply in love with the widow of Robert Schumann. He wrote to a friend: “I believe that I do not have more concern for and admiration for her than I love her and find love in her. I often have to restrain myself forcibly from just quietly putting my arms around her….” While he could never bring himself tell her as much, his first piano concerto (played at our 2nd session) was composed at the height of his admiration for Clara Schumann.

In addition to these major compositions, there were shorter works by Mozart, Kodaly, Rimsky-Korsakov, Offenbach and Richard Strauss. You can read all about it and listen to the music by clicking on the links below.

Session Notes (13th May)

Mozart - Overture to he Marriage of Figaro

Tchaikovsky - Symphony No.4

Kodaly - Dances of Galanta

Rimsky-Korsakov - Capriccio Espagnole

Session Notes (27th May)

Offenbach - Overture to Orpheus in the Underworld

Brahms - Piano Concerto No.1

R. Strauss - Der Rosenkavalier Suite

Offenbach - Orpheus in the Underworld, Finale

April's varied program - old and new, 'ancient yet familiar', 'modern yet little known', with 'long and short' as well

29/4/2022

“Something old, something new”, “ancient, yet familiar”, “modern, yet little known” is one way of summing up our April presentations. Perhaps we could add in “the long and the short” as well.

Schubert’s ninth symphony, perhaps not so ancient but certainly a familiar work and just about the longest orchestral work in the classical repertoire, was our opening composition for the month. This was balanced by a five-movement cello concerto by Anna Clyne - ‘DANCE’, so new as to have been composed less than 3 years ago and premiered to the world two years ago, yet the inspiration for it dates back to the 13th century.

Our second session included a viola concerto by Carl Stamitz, little known outside of the world of conservatorium students, yet close your eyes and you may think “Mozart” with whom he was contemporary. A couple of very short choral pieces by present day Estonian composer Arvo Pärt were followed by Richard Strauss’ oboe concerto where the story behind the work is as interesting as the music itself.

You can read all about it, and listen to the recordings, by clicking on the links below.

Bill Squire.

Friday 8th April

Session Notes

Schubert - Symphony No. 9

Anna Clyne - DANCE 1

Anna Clyne - DANCE 2

Anna Clyne - DANCE 3

Anna Clyne - DANCE 4

Anna Clyne - DANCE 5

Friday 22nd April

Session Notes

Overture - Der Freischutz

Stamitz - Viola Concerto

Arvo Part - Da Pacem Domine

Arvo Part - Nunc Dimittis

R. Strauss - Oboe Concerto

A short month... Brahms, Mozart and Haydn

31/3/2022

A short month (only the one session) saw us begin with the longest orchestral work in the classical repertoire – Brahms Piano Concerto No.2. Those of our number familiar with the film “Amadeus” would have recognised melodies in Mozart’s 25th Symphony while a trumpet concerto by Haydn written when the trumpet was still in its development rounded out the session. Recordings used and session notes can be accessed below.

Session Notes

Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2

Mozart Symphony No. 25

Haydn Trumpet Concerto

Bill Squire

An exciting beginning to the new year featuring current concert offerings from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

26/2/2022

After all the restrictions and limitations imposed over the past couple of years how exciting it is to get off to a new year with the hope of next to no breaks in our schedule. A record number of enrolments this year for our Music Appreciation presentations adds even more to the excitement.

With the Sydney Symphony Orchestra not giving concert performances until March, our February sessions were all selected from the current concert offerings of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Hence our first session saw us acknowledging Chinese New Year with musical compositions by Chinese composers and Chinese vocalists. The major work was a cello concerto by Zhao Jiping featuring Chinese musical instruments playing in combination with traditional western instruments. The session was rounded off with arias from Puccini operas – Boheme, Butterfly, Tosca and Turandot.

The second session picked up on most of the remainder of the MSO February concerts - Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture, Haydn’s 6th Symphony, a couple of excerpts from Mascagni’s opera.

Cavalleria Rusticana, Cesar Franck’s tone poem Le Chasseur Maudit (The Accursed Hunter), and rounding off with the second of the two Orchestral Suites from Ravel’s ballet Daphnis and Chloe. You can read the programme notes and find links to the music items below.

On a final note, there will not be a Music Appreciation session on Friday 11 March (I will be away taking a short holiday), however I will be home in time for the Friday 25 March session.

Bill Squire.
Convenor

February 11

Session Notes

Wang Xilin - Torch Procession

Pamir, My Beautiful Home Town

Zhao Jiping - Cello Concerto

Jian-Fen Gu - That is Me

La Boheme - Act 1 Excerpts

Tosca - Vissi d'Arte

Madam Butterfly - Un bel di veldremo

Turandot - Nessun Dorma

February 25

Session Notes

Mendelssohn - Hebrides Overture

Haydn - Symphony No. 6

Cavalleria Rusticana - Easter Hymn

Cavalleria Rusticana - Intermezzo

Franck - Le Chasseur Maudit - French National Orchestra

Franck - Le Chasseur Maudit - Salt Lake City Orchestra

Ravel - Daphnis and Chloe Suite No 2

Bill Squire.

'Many thanks to all who formed the 'Class of 2021'...'

28/11/2021

“A love affair with New York’ - a “total embrace” - was how one commentator described Bernstein’s musical “On the Town” , three dances from which began the first of our November sessions. This was followed straightaway by Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto composed while on the run from an embrace of any sort following a disastrous marriage. Something more soothing being deemed necessary resulted in Mendelssohn’s Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage making it on to the playlist before the energetic and uplifting passages of Borodin’s Polovstian Dances from Prince Igor sent us all home in a happy frame of mind.

Vivaldi, the “man of many concertos” (about 550 of them) introduced the second November session with one of his several concertos for four violins – in this instance the most popular of them (the B minor one). Mozart (a man of many symphonies - 41 of them) was our major focus with the very last of his 41, commonly known as the “Jupiter”, so named for no other reason than for publicity purposes. Joaquin Rodrigo known famously for just one concerto – “Concierto de Aranjuez” proved that genius is not necessarily determined by how many, but with the quality of what you produce, while Torvil and Dean showed genius of another sort in their interpretation of Ravel’s Bolero and a wonderful climax to our Music sessions for 2021.

Many thanks to all who formed the “Class of 2021” for your input and encouragement in what may be described (due to Covid) as “Interrupted Melody”.

After a couple of years with “necessity being the mother of invention” at times to “keep the music going” we look forward with hopefulness to a less restrictive and inventive 2022.

Bill Squire

12th December

Session Notes

On the Town

Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto

Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage

Polovstian Dances

26th December

Session Notes - 26th

Vivaldi - Concerto for 4 Violins

Mozart - Symphony No. 41

Rodrigo - Concierto de Aranjuez

Ravel - Bolero

October - "A wonderful mixed bag spanning the centuries"

31/10/2021

Finally, a full month’s programme after all the stop-start imposed by the on again, off again restrictions because of the Pandemic.

The first of our two programmes featured Mahler’s 4th Symphony (or part of it because of its length) – a delightful, almost Schubertian work recalling Mahler’s childhood and finishing with melodies from another work “The Youth’s Magic Horn” in which Mahler imagines a child’s view of heaven. Other shorter woks were a selection of Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances, Copland’s Appalcahian Spring (which had absolutely nothing to do with Spring in the Appalachian Mountains) and “O Fortuna” which book-ended Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana - first as a ballet and ending as a concert piece for choir and orchestra. An added feature was that all works were recordings by youth orchestras and/or choirs.

Our second programme opened with an Overture by New Zealand composer Dougals Lilburn written to celebrate the centenary of The Waitangi Treaty – New Zealand’s founding document. The major work was Mozart’s Grand Sestetto Concertante – an arrangement for sextet of his earlier Grand Sinfonie Concertante, Schubert’s Offertorium written to accompany the procession of the gifts in the Christian celebration of the Mass, a short work by Bach – a musical offering for Prussian king Frederick the Great based on impromptus for a melody given him by the king, and finally a quartet for English Horn by contemporary French composer Jean Francaix.

All in all, a wonderful mixed bag spanning the centuries. Links to the music recordings and the session notes are available below.

Bill Squire

Friday 8th October

Session Notes

Mahler Symphony No.4 (Movements 1 & 4)

Mahler Symphony No 4 (Complete)

Dvorak Slavonic Dances

Copland Appalachian Spring

Orff Carmina Burana O Fortuna Ballet

Orff Carmina Burana Choir

Friday 22nd October

Session Notes

Aotearoa Overture

Mozart Grande Sestetto Concertante

Bach Musical Offering - Ricercar 3

Schubert Offertorium

Francaix Horn Quartet

"It was a joy to be able to gather again"

30/9/2021

After an enforced absence of two months, it was a joy to be able to gather again in late September. Only one session, of course, this month, picking up where we left off in our programming. Major work under the spotlight was Brahms’ “romantic” 3rd Symphony. (Brahms was quite romantically inclined by nature but lacked the courage to commit himself in love and remained single all his days. It is a matter of conjecture where Brahms’ romantic inclinations were at the time of the composition, but it is thought there must have been someone in mind at the time). Other (smaller) works in our programme included Elena Kats-Chernin’s bouncy “Dance of the Paper Umbrellas”; Prokofiev’s light and tuneful 1st Symphony (a delightful foil to the mood in Russia at the time of its composition -1917); and Haydn’s Symphony No. 96, nick-named the “Miracle” symphony, although mistakenly so. For each of the four works the story behind their composition proved as interesting as the music. You can read about them and listen to a performance of each by following the links on the Music Appreciation page of the U3A website.

Bill Squire

Session Notes

Paper Umbrellas (animation)

Dance of the Paper Umbrellas

Brahms Symphony No.3

Prokofiev Symphony No. 1

Haydn Symphony No.96 - Should you have difficulty opening the Haydn Symphony from this link, copy and paste the following link into your Google or other search engine. That should do the trick.
https://www.vimeo.com/367278393

Keep your 'hopes up and hats and coats at the ready'!

2/9/2021

Once again Covid-19 restrictions have got in the way of our twice monthly gatherings. Group members are asked, nevertheless to keep their hopes up and hats and coats at the ready. Should the restrictions be eased sufficiently to allow us to resume, a programme is ready to go a short notice.

In the meantime, attached is a little snippet one of our number has sent in. Sit back (or stand up, even, if you feel so moved) and enjoy. With the hope it brightens your day as it did mine.

Bill Squire

Bach, Mozart, Schreker & Schubert featured in July

26/7/2021

Yet another Covid-19 induced lockdown has seen our July gathering limited to one session. There we looked at the 3rd of Bach’s six (and each very different) Brandenburg Concertos; a Mozart piano concerto once thought to have been inspired by the chirping of Mozart’s pet starling; an early concert piece by Austrian-Jewish composer Franz Schreker who had the double misfortune to arrive on the music scene in the late romantic period as the world was beginning to move away from his style of music and to be removed from it with the rise of anti-semitism in the 1930s; and finally Schubert’s fifth Symphony – a work composed at the age of nineteen and full of the cheerful optimism and whimsy of youth that belied the sickness and suffering that was to come his way leading to a premature death at the age of 32.

Hopefully by the time our next planned session (13th August) comes around, restrictions will have been eased sufficiently to allow us to come together when works by Elena Kats-Chernin, Brahms, Prokoviev and Haydn will be in the spotlight. If you haven’t enrolled for our second semester and maybe would like to check us out, please feel free to come along.

Bill Squire.

Links to Session Notes and Music:

Session Notes

Bach - Brandenburg Concerto 3

Mozart - Piano Concerto 17

Schreker - Intermezzo

Schubert - Symphony 5

June - Schumann's Cello concerto and more

26/6/2021

After a month’s enforced lay-off, the end of June saw our group pick up with the programme intended for the very day after the lockdown came into effect. The major study was Schumann’s one and only cello concerto - a work deemed so difficult at the time that no publisher wanted it. Consequently, it wasn’t published until some years after Schumann’s death – and even this with some amendments. Today, happily, it’s part of the standard concert repertoire.

Supporting works by Handel (Arrival of the Queen of Sheba), Vierne (Napoleon Centenary March), Charpentier (Te Deum) and a flash back to childhood with Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf (narrated and all) made up the rest of the programme.

Next month will start off with music covering a similar time span – from Bach to Schreker (who’s he?) and a couple of points in between. Intrigued? Why not join us? – 2nd and 4th Fridays at 10am – Covid and all that permitting.

Bill Squire
Convenor.
_______________________________

Class Notes (pdf) 25 June: Schumann's Cello Concerto; Handel, Charpentier, Peter & the Wolf
_______________________________

For your listening enjoyment, here are the video links to the music items.

Handel - Arrival of the Queen of Sheba

Vierne - Napoleon Centenary March

Schumann - Cello Concerto

Prokofiev - Peter and the Wolf

Charpentier - Te Deum

May - 'The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry'

31/5/2021

“The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry”, wrote Scottish poet Robert Burns. And so it was. A delightful smorgasbord of music, drawn from a variety of composers and nationalities had been arranged for our sessions this last month until the corona virus raised its head again, forcing us into lockdown and the cancellation of the second of our sessions. Still, “half a loaf is better than none” and we managed one of our planned programmes - a little Beethoven as a prelude to Mendelssohn’s much loved Italian Symphony, rounded off with a Bernstein nocturne and a divertimento by Brahms.

The planned programme for the second May session (a sinfonia by Handel, a festive piece for organ and brass by Louis Vierne, followed by a Schumann cello concerto, a children’s story illustrating instruments of the orchestra from the pen of Prokofiev, with a motet by Charpentier to conclude) has been held over until we can gather again (hopefully in June). If this is your kind of music, why not come along and enjoy.

Bill Squire

Class Notes: 14th May - Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Bernstein, Brahms.

April - 'Music across the ages'

30/4/2021

Music across the ages could be a sub-title to our April musical selections. Spanning from the baroque period to the present day, our group looked at and listened to works by Jean Féry Rebel (Les Élémens – 17th century); Beethoven (4th Symphony -18th century); while Verdi (Macbeth ballet music), Berlioz (Beatrice & Benedict Overture) and Grieg (String Quartet No.1) all belonged to the 19th century.

The 20th century composers were: Ravel (Pavane for a Dead Princess), Shostakovich (9th Symphony) and Aaron Copland (Fanfare for the Common Man).

The 21st century was represented by present day American composer Joan Tower (Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman – although the first of these (there are six in all) was composed by her in the 20th century as a response to Copland’s Fanfare).

All in all, a lot of music over a large expanse of time, but enjoyable and instructive nevertheless.

The music recordings and the notes for each session are all available below if you would like to check things out in more detail. Better still, why not join us – 2nd and 4th Fridays at 10am in the U3A room.

Bill Squire

Notes for 9th April
Recordings:-
Berlioz - Overture to Beatrice and Benedict
Beethoven - Symphony No.4
Verdi - Macbeth Ballet Music
Rebel - Les Elemens

Notes for 23rd April
Recordings:-
Copland - Fanfare for the Common Man
Tower - Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman
Shostakovich - Symphony No.9
Ravel - Pavane Pour Une Infante Defunte
Grieg - String Quartet No. 1

" A bright and varied start to get our year rolling..."

30/3/2021

A bright and varied start to get our year rolling. As mentioned in the previous newsletter our music is being selected from the concert programmes of the same month of the Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras. Our first session for the month of March saw us start off with the Overture to Mendelssohn’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream; followed by the major work for the morning: Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto (below). The “Mother Goose Suite” by Ravel and a couple of different approaches to JS Bach’s “Orchestral Suite No.3”. rounded off proceedings.

The major work to focus on for the second of our sessions was Dvorak’s Violin Concerto - with a scintillating performance by violinist Ann-Sophie Mutter. It was preceded by the overture to Mozart’s “Il Seraglio” (the opera is an hilarious story), and Gabrieli’s “Canzona par Sonar in Echo Duodecimi 10”; with the rest of the programme moving over to more contemporary works : Samuel Barber’s “Mutations from Bach", Lauridsen’s “O Magnum Mysterium”, and Max Richter’s “On the Nature of Daylight” (below), before closing off with a small portion of “The Last Words of Christ” by Haydn.

If you would like to look at/listen to the any of the recordings, the Programme Notes and YouTube links are available here:

12th March
26th March

Bill Squire

Music Appreciation classes to commence on Friday 12 March

4/3/2021

With the U3A room now able to be accessed, Music Appreciation classes will commence on Friday 12th March.

Sessions this year will focus on the concert programmes being offered by the Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras. The general intention is in each session to select one major work from either orchestra’s programme in the particular month - which we will look at in its entirety - and to select a number of shorter works in whole or in part for the remainder of the time available.

A further reminder will be sent to class members prior to our first session together with information about the music for that session.

Bill Squire

Welcome to Music Appreciation for 2021

5/2/2021

Welcome to U3A Music Appreciation for 2021. I look forward to meeting newcomers to our group and, once again, those returning from last year. Class members have been sent flier about our programme for this year and notification about the delayed starting date due to Council renovations currently underway in the Senior Citizens Centre. I will be in touch again when the picture about access to the Centre becomes clearer. Meanwhile, I thank you for your patience.

Bill Squire 5762 6334

'If you like what you see, why not enrol with us for 2021?'

27/11/2020

The final month of our U3A musical journeying has seen us staying close to Beethoven as his world-wide 250th anniversary celebrations draw to a close. There have been a couple of jumps ahead to the 20th century in the first session as we explored the ‘jazziness’ of George Gershwin’s Concerto in F played with “pizzazz” by 18yo soloist Alexander Molofeev, before allowing ourselves to be wafted away by Debussy’s Sonata for flute, viola and harp. But after that it was Beethoven all the way : his one and only Violin Concerto, the Waldstein Piano Sonata, a Bagatelle “Für Elise” (whoever she was), and finally the monumental 9th Symphony with its message of the universal brotherhood of mankind to wrap up both the year and our acknowledgement of the place Beethoven occupies in musical history.

To say that we have explored Beethoven in depth would be to stretch the truth, but amongst the many of his compositions we have featured, we at least have included all of the “Top 20” as voted by the listening public in the ABC Classic FM Beethoven Top 100” survey.

You can check out all of Music Appreciation's twice-monthly sessions on this page. If you like what you see, why not enrol with us for 2021? You would be most welcome.

Bill Squire

Class Notes:

13 November
27 November

The following recording of 18 year old Alexander Malofeev playing Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F with the Russian National Orchestra is conducted by Mikail Pletnev.

'A set menu, with appetizers, entrees, mains and desserts'

2/11/2020

After the smorgasbord of music provided by the MSO in the month of September, October was more like having a set menu, with only a handful of composers represented in the month’s offerings.

To continue the analogy: appetisers courtesy of Francis Poulenc, and Benjamin Britten, entrees by way of Johannes Brahms and Richard Strauss, Mains per Gustav Mahler and Antonin Dvorak, and desserts in both sessions provided by Beethoven (of course) comprised the menus.

Two diverse programmes on each occasion with music stretching from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. It’s all included in the class notes below, with YouTube links to the performances,

Class Notes:    9th October and 23rd October

I’m sure you will find something to satisfy your musical taste if not your appetite for more.

Bon appetit!

Bill Squire

September - "lots of wonderful music items to choose from!"

27/9/2020

With the MSO having a “month off” in August from their planned concert schedule, September saw them making up for it with lots of wonderful music items to choose from – except for Beethoven which we had to invent.

A Mozart violin concerto, an energetically performed Vivaldi concerto played on recorder, and a Mahler symphony (No.1) to finish up comprised most of the first session. To keep up with our obligatory Beethoven work, his Egmont Overture got the programme of to a good start.

The second Session saw us start and finish in the eighteenth century (a Wagner overture to begin with and a scintillating Beethoven Choral Fantasy to conclude) with excursions into the 20th century in between – works by Bernstein, Prokofiev and Copland.

For those who weren’t part of the sessions, why not check them out via the Music Appreciation class notes below. You will be so glad you did!

Class Notes: 11th September

Class Notes: 25th September

Bill Squire

August - 'this month featured Beethoven compositions entirely'

1/9/2020

With the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra not having planned concert performances for August, an opportunity presented itself to indulge in Beethoven in this his 250th year. Each of our two sessions, then, this month featured Beethoven compositions entirely. Works from two marvellous concerts in place of the cancelled Solsberg Festival from Switzerland featuring the festival organiser (Cellist, Sol Gabetta) opened each of our sessions, filled out by arguably the best of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas – the Pathetique – and stunning presentations of two “3rds” - the 3rd Piano Concerto and 3rd Symphony.

The notes for each session provide background information for the works plus interesting insights into the artists involved. They also include the video links in each presentation. Enjoy!

Class Notes: 14th August

Class Notes: 28th August

Bill Squire

July - Dvorak, Brahms, Shostakovitch, Mussgorsky, Elgar and of course, 'Beethoven 2020'

27/7/2020

Our following of the planned MSO concert schedule for July kicked off with a couple of pleasant surprises in Dvorak’s “legends” – 10 piano pieces for four hands and a Beethoven concert aria “Ah Perfido”! To balance out these little known works, a scintillating rendition of an old favourite in Brahms’ Violin Concerto, and maybe “the greatest graduation piece of all time”, in Shostakovich’s First Symphony, rounded out the first session for this month.

“An Anthem for our Time” and “A message of consolation and hope in times of tragedy” is how Brahms’ “Ein Deutsches Requiem” has been described. This was the feature work of the second of our programmes for this month. In a sense then, an appropriate work to listen to and think about as so much of our world is engulfed currently with tragedy and grief on a huge scale. In keeping with that sentiment, Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” bookends our programme – a memorial to a departed friend. In between there was Elgar’s lengthy Violin Concerto - a work steeped in mystery – and a little-known (or not so often played) Beethoven Overture.

Here are the links to the programme notes, which include the YouTube links to the music performances:

10th July Beethoven 2020; Anton Dvorak: Johannes Brahms: Dmitri Shostakovich
24th July: Beethoven 2020; Johannes Brahms, Edward Elgar; Modest Mussorgsky

Interested in joining in the Beethoven Celebrations! Enjoy the video links from the Beethoven catalogue suggested in the notes.

Bill Squire
27 July 2020

'Life is better with music'

27/6/2020

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra was a little light on this month in terms of us trying to emulate the works they had planned to perform. Only five composers to choose from, so naturally all were selected, plus an extra Beethoven work to “make up the numbers” so to speak. Nevertheless, some interesting works as well as a couple of old favourites.

Check out the notes for each session below - they include links to YouTube for the performances.

Here are the class notes, which include links to videos to be watched, for 12th and 24th June.

Class Notes 12th June- Beethoven 2020, Tchaikovsky, Ravel and more

Class Notes 26th June - Beethoven 2020, Anton Bruckner, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Camille Saint-Saens

Beethoven 2020 - selections for June

12th June: "To celebrate Beethoven 2020 and round out this session, "I have turned to the MSO’s “Keep the Music Going” concerts for this time of isolation and to a performance of one of Beethoven’s string quartets which four of the MSO orchestra playing as the 'Quartz Quartet' performed and posted on YouTube last month"

26th June: "How serendipitous that on the planned MSO schedule of recitals for this month is the work that recently came in at No.3 in ABC Classic 100 – the 6th Symphony. A recent recording of it by the Philharmonic concluded the session"...

If you like what you see and haven’t joined up with our group as yet, either email me at [email protected] or give a me call on 0429 626 334 and I will only be too happy to include you in our twice monthly electronic mailout or provide another means if the computer is not the best medium for you.

I know this is not best way of doing what we do, but because it doesn’t look as though we will be back in our normal venue for a while yet, we must do something……. for, as the ABC FM presenters keep telling their listeners: “…… life’s better with music”.

So tune into your favourite music station at least, and keep well and keep safe.

Bill Squire
27June 2020

'The stories and links behind our May selections'

25/5/2020

The MSO’s scheduled programme for May gave us an array of options. We couldn’t choose it all, so some will have to wait for another time – perhaps a month when the orchestra was planning to not be so busy. To find out what our music selections were, simply click on the links below where you will be able to read the stories behind them and listen to the music you wish to enjoy.

Class Notes:

8th May - Johannes Brahms/Gustav Holst/Beethoven 2020
22nd May - Faure/Purcell/Tchaikovsky/Vaughan Williams/Beethoven 2020

Beethoven 2020

8th May - Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) - Quintet for piano and wind instruments, in E flat major opus 16 Klara Würtz, piano / Henk de Graaf, clarinet / Hans Meyer, oboe / Peter Gaasterland, bassoon / Martin van de Merwe, horn

22rd May - Beethoven's 'Emperor' Concerto - A performance on January 14 2017 by soloist Stephen Hough accompanied by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Alan Gilbert.

Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto and Brahms’s Third from New York Philharmonic on Vimeo.

Bill Squire
25th May, 2020

'Keeping the Music Going'

6/5/2020

“Keep the Music Going” has been the catch-cry of the MSO in this time of social distancing Under that banner the MSO has been posting - on YouTube - recordings of recent performances. Given that that April was originally planned as a more or less “off” month concert-wise for the orchestra, this initiative proved serendipitous when it came to selecting music for our one and only presentation this month (one and only because of the Easter holiday break early in the month).

So as our contribution (for this month anyway) to “Keep the Music Going” in our part of the world, the music selected included Beethoven’s “Septet", Vaughan William’s “The Lark Ascending” and Martinu’s “Madrigals” – all by the MSO or musicians from the orchestra. There was a small snippet from Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” performed by the Mariinsky Ballet Company (the MSO had posted a recording of a Stravinsky double bill concert featuring the complete “Rite of Spring” and the melodrama “Persephone”, but a stage presentation is much more appealing) and the programme was rounded off by Beethoven’s “Seven Variation on a Mozart Duet” (from the Magic Flute).

You can read about the session and listen to the music by opening up the explanatory notes below - these include the relevant video links.

24th April: Beethoven 2020; Ralph Vaughan Mitchell; Igor Stravinsky; Bohuslva Martinu

Bill Squire

March - 'Again a mixture of the old and the very new'

25/3/2020

Continuing our celebration of “Beethoven 2020” and shadowing the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s line up of music for March, it was again a mixture of the old and the very new, perhaps stretching a little bit the “Appreciation” side of our musical presentations.

In one programme the very old was a Bach orchestral suite and the very new an excerpt from an Antarctic Symphony by Australian composer – Gordon Hamilton. In between - a Beethoven Piano Trio and the glorious Grieg Piano Concerto.

The second programme - enjoyed “remotely” - featured Beethoven’s 7th Symphony, Kodaly’s “Dances of Galanta”, the finale to Scheherazde by Rimsky-Korsakov, a movement from Schumann’s 2ndSymphony and an Excerpt from “Woven Song” by Australian composer – Deborah Cheetham.

You can read all about it and listen to the music by opening up the explanatory notes for each session below - these include the relevant video links.

13 March: Beethoven '2020'; Bach, Hamilton, Grieg
27 March: Beethoven '2020'; Schumann, Cheetham, Rimsky Korsakov, Kodaly

The handouts this month will print out in two column, booklet format and require folding.

Bill Squire

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