Friends of Cheltenham Symphony Orchestra Newsletter March 2016

Friends of Cheltenham
Symphony Orchestra
Newsletter
March 2016
Notes from the Chair
Since the last Newsletter, the CSO has given
another three super concerts. In October in Pershore
Abbey the overture 'The Bartered Bride' by Smetana was
followed by Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, beautifully
played by Sally Harrop, Principal Clarinet with the
Orchestra of the Swan. The Abbey really 'sang' with the
sounds of the clarinet and the sensitive playing of the
orchestra. After the interval Beethoven's 5th Symphony,
which is so well known, was played with great feeling by
the orchestra. Another memorable evening! It is good to
see so many new playing members too!
In November we were privileged to be in
Cheltenham Town Hall to hear Brahms’ Piano Concerto
No.2 played expertly and warmly by Peter Donohoe, who
together with David Curtis guided the orchestra to new
heights. As an encore we were treated to the lovely
Mozart Fantasia in D minor.
The players surpassed themselves in the
rendering of Shostakovich's 5th Symphony, composed at
the height of the Stalin regime. The intense sorrow that
permeates the work was brought out by David Curtis who
encouraged the very best playing from 'our' Cheltenham
Symphony Orchestra!
The first of the winter/spring concerts has just
taken place with the theme of Russia - Revolution &
Romance. In Shostakovich’s rarely performed 3rd
symphony the orchestra was outstanding. And then the
American/Ukrainian pianist Anna Shelest gave a superb
performance of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. We
can’t wait for her next concert with us on March 12th in
the Pump Room when she will be playing Prokofiev’s
2nd concerto. Please come and support our CSO and
bring your friends too!
Monica Ellis
Simon Cox
As Simon takes over from Andrew Chapman in the role of
Secretary of the CSO, it seemed like a good time to ask
him to pen a few words for the Newsletter
Music? Maths? Career? Hobby? Only one choice,
obviously, and although I'd have loved to read music, a
late start on the piano meant my keyboard skills wouldn't
have supported a degree course - but I had reached Grade
7 organ (good bass notes there then!)
Great revelations: 1 (childhood) - a 78 recording
of VPO playing 'Eine Kleine': what an exquisite piece! (I
still think so); 2 (early teenage) - singing alto: 'the joy of
harmony', much more interesting than melody!
A friend's elder brother had records and scores,
and we'd sing along symphonic bass lines. For teenage
lads, this is really part of establishing your virility — but
it was good ear training too. Add four years playing
school band BBb tuba, and ever since, hearing music, it's
the bass and the harmony I notice, not the melody (rather
dodgy when we're accompanying a soloist though!). At
university I played tuba in the first orchestra for a while,
but tired of the small amount to play; I did, however, play
in an 8-piece jazz band - wonderful chamber music! Then
next year the boat club beckoned...
Simon’s the one in the hat without an oar (St.
Catharine’s Second Eight)
In the late 60s computing was a natural start for a
graduate, though soon I found working with recalcitrant
computers less interesting than working with recalcitrant
teenagers might be - and it definitely lacked the humour;
hence the move to Cheltenham College.
"Ah, Cheltenham," said a friend, "the graveyard
of ambition!" We only intended to stay five years but
Margaret had a good job, children came along, schools
were good... If I did have an ambition, it was to be a
really clear teacher, unlike so many university lecturers,
so getting mathematical ideas across to all from the highflyers to the weakest was always a great delight. Other
commitments came along too: careers master, CCF
officer, rifle shooting coach and squad manager for many
years, and more.
Great moments: 1 - when the 13-year-old, who
initially would cry when an exercise loomed, gained
enough confidence and skill to overcome his fears and
tears;
2 - when the brightest sixth-former I ever taught, on
seeing my explanation of how an apparently horrendous
problem I'd set them was actually quite simple, called out
loud, 'You bastard!' I roared - with laughter, but was
actually flattered.
The head of maths had also been the bass
teacher, so when he retired I took up the bass; I was
given some pupils after a couple of years, and played in
the school orchestras as well as the two annual
College/Ladies' College/St Edward's combined choral
societies' concerts in Chapel and the Town Hall.
Cheltenham College also had an excellent chamber
orchestra - the best string players - playing plenty of
Corelli, Vivaldi, Bach, and works from Mozart to Britten;
as a musical experience I rate this as equal to playing in
CSO, although very different. I've also played for Ladies'
College, Dean Close, GSO, CPO, and Musica Vera.
I joined the CSO in Autumn 1999, and what a
privilege it is to be part of such a talented and lively
group! It's also a great delight to see how we've come on,
especially recently; I'm looking forward very much to our
50th anniversary season 2018-19, and hope we make
something special of it. My bass is Jacquet (Mirecourt)
1887, recently re-worked by Martin's and now sounding
wonderful (despite me).
Great concerts given: 1 - CSO - 'War Requiem',
Mahler 5, Mahler 6, Shostakovich 5; 2 - College - staff
chamber concert Bach Brandenburg 5 and E major Violin
Concerto. Favourite music to play: bass - Bach,
Tchaikovsky; keyboard - Bach, Joplin. Favourite music
to listen to: 16th and 20th-century choral, string quartet
of any era, 20th-century small ensemble, especially the
60's 'Avant Garde', early swing, early jazz.
Great concerts heard: 1 - the Oistrakhs and
Russian State SO playing the Bach double at the Proms
the night after the Russian tanks had entered Prague audience and players alike, we gave all our hearts;
2 - Messiaen's 80th birthday concert in QEH with Boulez,
Loriod, Ensemble Intercontemporain; one third of the
audience French.
Pies in the sky: 1 - play boogie-woogie piano;
2 - write a musicological thesis, probably on Haydn and
Mozart quartets.
Other interests: fell-walking in Cumbria (we
have a small house there), birding, especially song
recognition, poetry, gothic architecture, bridge. Target
rifle shooting: Bisley Imperial Meeting since 1984 (best
results Queen's Prize 15th ex c.1000, Grand Aggregate
26th ex c.1000, plus a few minor trophies), frequent team
member for T.A., and for Gloucestershire (of which
secretary until recently), reserve England 1989, captain
England 'B' 2016, chairman of Schools Committee.
Family: Wife, Margaret (soprano, Cheltenham Choral) paediatric nurse GRH (same ward as Caroline).
Son, Charles (trumpet, guitar, lute) - local architect, parttime yoga teacher; grandchildren Callum (9) drum kit,
Holly (7) violin.
Daughter, Theresa (soprano, a capella group in Bristol) ex-English teacher, now part-time singing teacher;
grandchildren Bethany (15) violin, piano, Gabriel (8)
piano.
Daughter, Katherine (soprano, until recently choir of Old
R.N. Chapel, Greenwich) - corporate development
manager, ROH Covent Garden (raising mega-bucks from
the City for ROH), part-time yoga teacher.
Musical genes? Teaching genes? Weird milkman,
obviously.
Intermission
Apparently the world at large is unaware that amongst
musicians, the viola is often the butt of musical jokes.
Here is a sample.
Q: What's the difference between a viola and a
trampoline?
A: You take off your shoes to jump on a trampoline.
The personnel manager broke up an intermission
disturbance on stage between the principal oboe and the
principal viola. When asked what the problem was, the
oboist said the violist had knocked his reeds all over the
floor. "He had it coming," blustered the violist. "He
turned down one of my pegs, and now he won't tell me
which one!"
But the same jokes can be found with other instruments
in the place of violas and the talented viola section of the
CSO doesn’t take things lying down.
Q: Why are viola jokes so short?
A: So violinists can remember them.
Q: Why are violins smaller than violas?
A: They're actually the same size -- it's the violinists'
heads which are larger.
Fit for music?
At Bisley with Margaret (and beard)
Several members of the CSO indulge in sporting
activities or have their own ways of keeping fit – cycling,
running, swimming, dancing, golf (??) etc. Whenever the
orchestra has been on tour, people in lycra have been
spotted creeping out of the hotels early in the morning in
order to run a few miles (or run a couple of hundred
yards to a café round the corner). It prompted me to take
a look at what sort of advice is available on-line for
musicians about taking care of their bodies. The
Alexander Technique is well-known as a means of
improving posture and minimising the possibility of
Repetitive Strain Injury. But how about weights on
fingers to strengthen them?
school and my mother said it was too big so sent me back
to get something smaller! The result was a violin. After a
few weeks I was able to play with other children in the
county youth orchestra where I quickly realised what
good fun it was to make music with other people and I
never looked back. My mother played the piano and both
my parents sang, but they didn’t push me. I got up to
Grade 8 at school. I wasn’t especially sporty so the fact
that county orchestra on Saturdays clashed with school
sports fixtures didn’t bother me.
What did you do when you left school?
I took double maths and physics at A Level and went to
Manchester University to study Management Sciences
and after that became a Chartered Accountant. I played
the violin for a while in the university symphony and
chamber orchestras.
An American saxophone teacher named Bill
Plake has an interesting website that covers fitness and
exercise for musicians. His observations begin:
“I firmly believe that your fitness has an impact upon
your music making. It’s not as if you can’t play well if
you’re not physically fit (lots of very unfit virtuosi out
there). It’s just that you might do better if you stay fit.
Regular exercise not only helps improve your vital bodily
functions (circulation, breathing, digestion, sleep), but
also has a measurable impact on your mental faculties.
Exercising regularly improves your mood, your memory,
learning and processing information…your overall
mental acuity.
In my experience as a teacher, I find that
students who are physically fit tend to have better
concentration, efficiency and endurance in their musical
practice as well”.
His suggestions for fitness cover balance,
flexibility, cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength,
muscular endurance, core strength and agility. He has lots
of very good advice, but it’s exhausting just to read.
Nevertheless it might inspire the regular pub-goers in the
orchestra to switch to the gym after rehearsals on
Thursdays. David Curtis has suggested that we should
have a CSO Fun Run in the summer – any volunteers to
organise this?
For more of Plake’s advice see http://billplakemusic.org
David Banks
As David has taken over the role of Chairman of the
orchestra from Christopher Sturdy, it was deemed time to
grill him too on who he is and how he got here!
How did you first get into music?
I grew up in Leicestershire, a county well-known for its
schools’ music. I brought home a cello one day from
Did you continue with accountancy?
After a few years of auditing work I decided I wanted to
be more involved in commercial business as a “doer”
rather than an auditor and I joined Thomas Cook at their
Head Office in Peterborough. After 6 years there I
became Finance Director of Group 4 in Gloucestershire
and moved to Winchcombe. It was about this time that
Group 4 became interested in government plans to
privatise certain functions of the criminal justice system
such as prison administration and I took on the task of
developing that part of the business as Managing
Director.
That must have limited your time for music.
Yes – there was a lot of travelling – initially within the
UK but then increasingly to Australia and South Africa.
But I joined the CSO in 2003 and my secretary was very
good at trying to make sure I was home for Thursday
evening rehearsals! Since leaving Group 4 (or G4S as it
had become) in 2011 my work commitments have
reduced considerably and are now limited to nonexecutive board membership of the Youth Justice Board
(an arms-length government body with responsibility for
overseeing the youth justice system in England and
Wales) and some consultancy. This has freed up more
time for music, including the CSO.
Did you manage to keep up your violin playing over
those years prior to joining the CSO?
Intermittently yes. I played under the batons of Norman
del Mar, Michael Tippett and André Previn in the LSO –
the Leicester Schools Orchestra. There is a YouTube clip
still available of Previn rehearsing us in the LSO as part
of a BBC programme – “The Other LSO”. I also played
for a time in the Huntingdonshire Symphony Orchestra
(with our oboist Tessa Pemberton!).
What do you like about the CSO?
It’s fun. Great people and great music! Thanks to David
Curtis and a hard working committee, the orchestra now
has a professional feel to it and has serious ambitions.
Rehearsals have good attendance in all sections and start
and finish on time; David always has well-prepared plan
for using the limited time available and the orchestra is
now capable of tackling even more demanding and larger
works. It has a strategy for developing its programmes
and building its audiences and it has taken on a wider
variety of musical performance such as the Rick
Wakeman pop concert and the filming and recording
work in the studio at the University of Gloucester.
Does your role as incoming Chairman of the CSO
hold any special challenges?
Discussions continue on the orchestra’s strategic
development and there is a wide variety of views on
some subjects. I have to balance the different opinions
and tread a steady path. Although it is sometimes easier
to take responsibility for an organisation on its knees (the
only way is “up”!), Christopher Sturdy has handed me a
thriving organisation. The CSO has very competent
people who take care of so many different aspects –
publicity, library, finances, programmes, concert day
management, newsletters (!), committee agendas and
minutes etc., so in some respects the Chairman’s role is
straightforward!
Tell me a bit about your family and interests other
than music.
My wife Lynne has recently retired from her job as a
primary school teacher. We have two sons aged 31 and
29 who live in London – one a lawyer and the other an
accountant. We have a sailing boat on the Hamble in
which we race in the spring and autumn. It needs a crew
of 8 if we are racing with a spinnaker, but can be sailed
by fewer when involved in social events like the
Dartmouth Regatta in the summer. We also indulge in
skiing – one of our sons spent a winter in Les Deux Alpes
so we know that part of the French Alps quite well.
Thank you David for sharing your thoughts with us,
and good luck in your role as Chairman of the CSO.
Forthcoming concerts
Would you like the orchestra to go on tour again?
Yes indeed! All the tours have been great fun (Annecy
three times and Göttingen/Mönchengladbach in 2015).
They have also enabled all the players who went on the
tours to get to know one another much better – even the
conductor. But we have to ensure that wherever we go
next, we are part of an organised event such as a music
festival, otherwise the challenges of getting decent
audiences are too great. We also need to space such tours
carefully – they disrupt planning for family holidays in
the year that they occur. In the past we have sometimes
struggled to get a sufficient number of string players, and
a full complement of woodwind and brass, and it would
be nicer to tour with greater numbers.
Saturday 12th March 7.30pm Pittville Pump Room,
Cheltenham
Russia – Revolution and Romance 2
Stravinsky: Firebird Suite (1919 version)
Prokofiev: Piano concerto No. 2 in G Minor Op. 16
(Soloist: Anna Shelest)
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 2 in C Minor (Little Russian)
Op.17
Saturday 30th April 7.30pm Pittville Pump Room,
Cheltenham
Russia – Revolution and Romance 3
Tchaikovsky: Fantasy Overture - Romeo and Juliet
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake Ballet Suite Op.20a
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor Op.18
(Soloist: Anna Shelest)
Sunday 3rd July 3pm Pittville Pump Room, Cheltenham
Note the afternoon time!
CSO Family Classics
Bizet: Carmen Suite – movements (BBC Ten Pieces)
Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf Op.67
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F Op.68 (Pastoral)
For more information and details of future concerts, see
our website: www.cheltenhamsymphonyorchestra.info
www.facebook.com/cheltenhamsymphonyorchestra
If you enjoy our concerts, why not persuade your friends
to become Friends?
Editor of Newsletter and Secretary of Friends:
Michael St. John Tel: 01285 651463 Email:
mikestjohn@cotspur60.freeserve.co.uk