Originally posted by amateur51
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Cracking painting, HS 
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[FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT] -
The painting, with others was on HS's Troovi pages so Ikept it on my Photo Gallery, also Chris's Prague painting
Both very special to me
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Sunday Morning: 9.00 13 October
James Jolly plays, amongst Verdi and othe rowrks:
Magnificat in D by Jan Dismas Zelenka, in a recording by Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan.
No playlist available.Comment
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Attractive piece, the Magnificat, but a bit anonymously baroque and not vintage Zelenka. For Sacred Music, look for works composed after 1730, but above all those last great Masses ZWV 16 - 21. The oratorios, especially I Penitenti, have many haunting arias but can feel a little static structurally with their unvarying recitative/aria form. The masses have a thrillingly unpredictable trajectory, and much switching between solo/ensemble/chorus etc. He does love his soprano solos, Zelenka - the Qui Tollis from the Missa Votiva really makes you swoon, sung with devastating sensousness by Hana Blazikova on Luks' ZigZag recording. Real flesh-and-blood Christianity...
The best earlier works are those Trio Sonatas (variously Violin, Bassoon, Oboes, Harpsichord & basso) from around 1715-16. Lots to get your teeth into there. And perfect Bedside Tivoli music too.Comment
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Vaclav Czernik, Principal Horn of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra exchanging addresses with BSO hornplayer Alun Francis (now a conductor) outside Dum Umelcu, near the Charles Bridge in Prague. 1965.Last edited by Hornspieler; 08-10-13, 10:17.Comment
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Oh I do love the Czech Philharmonic, especially when Ancerl's conducting say Janacek or Martinu.
Alun Francis! I spent much time in his virtual company with the Basle RSO in July playing Darius Milhaud's 12 (numbered) Symphonies. Made the heatwave even more memorable. He's a wonderful conductor for seeking out the little known.
Prague certainly puts in many an appearance on CD Covers from Zemlinsky to Zelenka, the Charles Bridge especially - it's there again on that Camerata Bern DG box. The original issues of Suitner's Dvorak cycle on Berlin Classics has lovely shots of old Prague on every issue.
I could soon be playing "6 steps to..."Last edited by jayne lee wilson; 08-10-13, 16:57.Comment
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Alun Francis is the son of Emlyn Francis, who was principal horn in the BBC Welsh Orchestra. When Alun joined the BSO horn section, he was so impressed by Silvestri that he asked him to teach him conducting. What better way to start than with one of the most individual and greatest champions of, particularly, the sometimes neglected composers?Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View Post
When I left the BSO to take up the appointment as General Manager of the newly formed Ulster Orchestra, the conductor already appointed was Maurice Miles, who had inherited the job as he had been conductor of the now defunct City of Belfast orchestra - a part time professional/amateur orchestra.
Miles had teaching commitments at the Royal Academy of Music (God help them!) which precluded him from doing a seven day job, so for that (and other reasons) I decided that we must appoint an Assistant Conductor, to manage extra rehearsals, schools concerts and the local choral societies.
So that got Alun started and I recall an occasion when I asked a member of the Belfast Choral Society, "How are you getting on with Mr Francis? Do you like him?"
Her reply took me aback.
"Oh yes. " she enthused "We worship the ground he stamps on!"
Yes, he had a short fuse and could be a bit volatile on occasions and here is a short extract from my memoires which might amuse you, Jayne, as one of his great admirers:
BTW He was a pretty useful horn player.... I must just return you to the City Hall in Leeds for a story which shows how a practical joke can go wrong.
It is a beautiful building; the ceiling is painted with colourful figures, the corridors around the concert hall are of polished stone - and the orchestra's band room is not behind the stage but across a wide corridor.
We had a fairly new member of the orchestra who had trained at Manchester's Royal College of Music. I knew that he was a bit gullible, but I didn't expect him to fall for this old touring company joke.
He'd just returned to the hall after his pre-concert meal and was starting to get changed.
“Hey, Alun” I said. “There was a young girl looking for you just after the rehearsal finished. She wanted to know if we had someone called Alun _________ in the orchestra.”
He looked interested, this wasn't far from his old hunting grounds.
“What did she look like, then?”
“Long blonde hair, nice figure, about 22, I'd say. Said she knew you from Manchester. She had a young baby in a pram.”
Alun went as white as a sheet! “Oh God!” he said “What did you tell her?”
“Well what do you think I said? I'm not daft. I said I didn't know a lot of the new people by name and I couldn't help her, so she said she might come round during the interval tonight.”
Alun turned to his friend Denis. “Go and have a look in the corridor and see if she's there now.”
He urged Alun to stay in the band room until the last possible minute and then, having been assured that the coast was clear, he shot across the passage and onto the stage. He kept his head well down behind his music stand for the whole of the first half. He then got Denis to shepherd him safely back to the band room.
“He's really worried,” Denis told me. “He doesn't want to go on for the second half.”
“It's one of the oldest jokes in the book,” I laughed. “I'd better go and tell him.”
Then I remembered; Alun was known to have a very short fuse and we'd all seen evidence of his violent temper in the past, concerning a certain motoring incident. He'd probably knock my front teeth out!
“Tell him the girl went away,” I said. “Oh, and say that she was wearing a wedding ring.”
I am quite sure that Alun does not know to this day that there was no girl with a pram asking for him at Leeds City Hall.
If he ever finds out, I hope he doesn't come looking for me. I'm rather keen to hang on to my front teeth.
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Have a nice day.
HSComment
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Lovely, HS, thankyou. I wonder if Basle is his new stamping ground... hard to imagine bad-temperedly bandmastering your way through Milhaud's genial 1 & 2...Comment
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Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View Post
Dumumelcu The Hall of the Artists.
I took this photograph when I revisited Prague on a tour in 2001. The guide who was showing us the sights told us an amusing story. True? I leave you to decide:
He said that during the Nazi occupation, a group of SS men siezed the caretaker and took him outside. They pointed to the row of statues of famous composers at the top of the frontage.
"Which one of those is the Jew Mendelssohn?" they demanded.
The caretaker looked along the row.
"That one" he said "Right at the far end. The one with the big nose."
The SS men climbed up to the roof and, taking the statue from its base flung it down to the ground, where it broke into smithereens.
They had just destroyed the statue of Richard Wagner!
This Hall was the most beautiful concert hall that I ever played in. Nobody could have played badly in such wonderful surroundings.
HSLast edited by Hornspieler; 10-10-13, 08:53.Comment
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Any comments on Lucie’s wonderful programme?
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Lucie Skeaping. One of the two presenters of the Early Music Show to which this thread and the Board in general are dedicated.Comment
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By 'the Board in general', I refer to the Early Music Board and not the Forum.Comment
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Originally posted by Hornspieler View Post
Dumumelcu The Hall of the Artists.
I took this photograph when I revisited Prague on a tour in 2001. The guide who was showing us the sights told us an amusing story. True? I leave you to decide:
He said that during the Nazi occupation, a group of SS men siezed the caretaker and took him outside. They pointed to the row of statues of famous composers at the top of the frontage.
"Which one of those is the Jew Mendelssohn?" they demanded.
The caretaker looked along the row.
"That one" he said "Right at the far end. The one with the big nose."
The SS men climbed up to the roof and, taking the statue from its base flung it down to the ground, where it broke into smithereens.
They had just destroyed the statue of Richard Wagner!
This Hall was the most beautiful concert hall that I ever played in. Nobody could have played badly in such wonderful surroundings.
HS
We heard the very same story when we visited Prague in 2008. We visited Vysehrad and its cemetery where amongst other notables Smetana, Dvorak, Fibich and Karel Ancerl have their final resting places. Prague was lovely - although spoiled by graffiti...
Best Wishes,
Tevot
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