DRN 122

Double Reed News The magazine of the British Double Reed Society www.bdrs.org.uk

I SPRING 2019

Royal Fireworks Music 270th London Anniversary

© Gerald Coke Handel Foundation

No.122

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“

Notes from the Chair

Geoffrey Bridge

In this Issue...

”

It is with great enthusiasm that I welcome two new members to the BDRS Committee in bassoonist Anthea Wood and oboist Philip Haworth.

They joined the committee at the last AGM held on 6th December 2018.

I also welcome Katy Ashman to the committee as secretary as Ian Finn has demitted the post after many years service in various membership and secretarial roles. He remains on the committee as an ordinary member where his experience will be of inestimable value.

Also on 6th December I and other members of the committee attended the Memorial Concert for the late Neil Black at the Wigmore Hall. It was a lovely occasion celebrating Neil’s life with speeches from pianist Mitsuko Uchida and BDRS founder member George Caird. There were wonderful performances of Bach, Mozart, Barber and Beethoven by oboist Jonathan Kelly, baritone Roderick Williams and the Endellion String Quartet.

The evening was made extra special as so many ‘senior’ British oboists and former colleagues of Neil were in attendance, some of whom I hadn’t met for many years. The après-concert chat went on way into the night!

1

Chairman’s Comments Geoffrey Bridge

2

Editorial Clive Fairbairn

4

New BDRS Committee Members Katy Ashman, Philip Haworth Anthea Wood

6 IDRS Conference Granada 2018 Roger Birnstingl, Karen Goss 10

The Bassonicus Interview: Ursula Leveaux Jefferey Cox

12

Airs from Another Planet Celia Craig

14

Storytime with Michael Cox Michael Cox, Josie Hawkes

18

A story with some controversy unfolded in November when the wonderfully gifted Spanish oboist Ramon Ortega Quero suddenly departed from the Principal Oboe post of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.

The rumour mill then really began as Ramon was only in post for two to three months. I had initially been surprised when I heard, in November 2017, that he was to join the LAPO in September 2018 on leaving the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. (If you recall, Ramon won the first prize at the ARD Munich Oboe Competition in 2007 – the first “First Prize” in 40 years! In the BRSO he has held a joint Principal Oboe chair with Stefan Schilli since 2008 and continues to do so).

Springtime Double-Reed Festival Laurence Perkins

After he was heard for the first time in the LAPO there were some very nasty press comments and social media had a field day. Was it the European sound that was unacceptable and a perception of lack of blend? When he suddenly departed, out it all came: old-fashioned vibrato, dull sound, didn’t blend, couldn’t lead a section, the brass didn’t like his playing, shouldn’t employ Europeans when there are fantastic virtuosic American players around, and so on.

American Oboe School hyper-zealots then seemed to rise up in arms trying to prove their superiority over a perception of a European School. I found it all quite racial and disturbing.

24

Ramon with such charm and grace – for that is the nature of the man – defused the issue beautifully by explaining that the decision was his and his alone: a completely personal family decision to leave. Most critics were then able to say that the wind section of the LAPO had never sounded better than when Ramon was the first oboist. Funny old world!

20

Reports & News

Robert Bourton

22 On Playing French Music Jeremy Polmear Bassoon Reed Selection & Adjustment (Part II) Oliver Ludlow

26

Long Service Medal?

Chris Gale

28

Reviews Meyrick Alexander, David Cowley Christopher Hooker, James Kopp Jessica Mogridge

33

Noticeboard

35

Classified

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Advertising, Membership, etc

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The Editor’s Comment Clive Fairbairn British Double Reed Society www.bdrs.org.uk enquiries@bdrs.org.uk Joint Presidents

Roger Birnstingl, Sir Karl Jenkins Chairman

Geoffrey Bridge chairman@bdrs.org.uk Secretary

Katy Ashman secretary@bdrs.org.uk Treasurer

Miles Nipper treasurer@bdrs.org.uk Committee

Robert Codd, Ian Crowther Ian Finn, Sarah Francis, Stephen Fuller, Philip Haworth, Laurence Perkins, Anthea Wood * Membership

membership@bdrs.org.uk * Advertising

advertising@bdrs.org.uk Education

education@bdrs.org.uk

Legal Services Co-ordinator Nigel Salmon 4 Portelet Place, Hedge End Southampton, Hants SO30 0LZ

BDRS Web Manager website@bdrs.org.uk

Double Reed News Clive Fairbairn, Editor drn@bdrs.org.uk * Advertising, Membership and other BDRS/DRN details – see back page ISSN 1460-5686 2

Double Reed News 122 l Spring 2019

International Edition Whether the UK’s future relationship with the rest of the world is about to flourish or flounder, the BDRS and DRN intend to maintain the best possible exchange of information and articles with double reeders and their societies throughout the globe. Indeed we kick off 2019 with a decidedly international edition, including articles from Australia, reports from Spain, and a piece by Jeremy Polmear illuminating the subtleties of playing French music.

Granada 2018 appears to have broken all records and many hearts with the IDRS’s first truly international conference (ie outside the US) since Tokyo 2015. IDRS overseas conferences are always substantial affairs and they require significant bravery by the hosting country to carry them off successfully. Nevertheless, with the many advantages of a wonderful location, the splendid climate and an impressive hosting team, the Granada experience has encouraged Karen Goss and Roger Birnstingl to pen their enthusiastic reports which I hope you will enjoy reading.

Committee member Stephen Fuller was one such British double-reeder who headed for Granada and enjoyed making some new contacts.

Amongst them was my opposite number Josie Hawkes, editor of the Australian Double Reed Society magazine, Reeding Matter.

Rather like DRN, Reeding Matter has, over time, graduated from a news sheet format into a full-colour members’ journal. Stephen rightly suggested that the two societies and their magazines might do more to exchange articles and so we begin straight away with items which you will spot in this and the next issues. In particular both oboists and bassoonists will find much of interest in the distinguished British flautist Michael Cox’s exhortation that performers should ‘think in stories’ when interpreting music.

Talking of the BDRS committee, the recent AGM welcomed three new members to its ranks for which bounty there was much jubilation, especially since one of them has taken on the position of secretary, and the other two – ‘young professionals’ – have already presented lots of suggestions to fuel the continuing development of the society. Read all about them on Page 4.

We hope to see many of you at the BDRS’s Park Place Courses and Double Reed Day and the exciting commemorative Royal Fireworks Music event at the Royal Academy of Music. And don’t forget to send me your comments and reviews about these to add to the reports for the next issues of DRN.

STOP PRESS BDRS regrets to announce news of the death of Alan Hammond. He was for many years the second bassoonist of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and was married to the soprano Joan Davis. Written contributions from those who knew him towards an obituary tribute in the next edition of DRN will be much welcomed.

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New BDRS Committee Members Clive Fairbairn surveys three decades of support to the double-reed community.

At the recent Annual General Meeting, three new appointments were confirmed and welcomed to the committee. Of these, Katy Ashman is filling the position of Secretary, held for many years by Ian Finn. Ian remains a member of the committee and he was thanked for his long service to BDRS. Read about Katy, Philip Haworth and Anthea Wood below: we are confident they will be making a significant contribution to the society going forward.

engineering and manufacturing, horticulture, SAGE software support, and more recently with the Church of England and the National Trust in Wales.

She runs Conwy Community Music to further her work in care homes and is one half of The Wandering Winds with Miles. Katy loves conducting too: she was Music Director at Sturminster Newton Community Orchestra between 2016-2018 and has continued to pursue this in North Wales. Katy has a seat this year in the bassoon section of the Bangor University Symphony Orchestra and is very excited to be rehearsing her first Firebird on contrabassoon!

She is looking forward to meeting many of you at events over the coming months.

Katy Ashman is an award winning community musician who lived, studied and worked in the West Country, until moving to Wales mid-2018 with her partner Miles Nipper. She is a trained flautist and came to the bassoon as an adult. She taught woodwind in North Dorset (and her students are no strangers to the pages of DRN).

As well as bassooning in, and directing, amateur orchestras she is passionate about using the power of music to improve well-being, particularly working in the community with older people who are living with dementia.

Katy and Miles founded the Blackmore Vale Orchestra in 2017 and Katy carried out all of the support roles from managing the library and membership to finances, advertising, fundraising and event management. Katy’s administrative experience has come from diverse fields: she’s worked as an administrator in 4

Royal College of Music with Christopher Cowie and Christine Pendrill.

As a keen chamber musician, Philip has performed with many chamber groups in venues across the UK and in Europe and Japan. He is also a tutor on several wind ensemble courses including Malvern Winds, Wind Ensemble Retreat in Yorkshire and Dartington International Festival.

As part of the Atéa Wind Quintet, which is the Associate Ensemble in Residence at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Philip has recently become an oboe tutor at the Conservatoire, working with some fantastic young oboists. Previously Artists in Residence at the Purcell School, Atéa was also a double prize winner in the 2015 Carl Nielsen International Chamber Music Competition. The group is very thankful for the support of the Tunnell Trust, Live Music Now and the Kirckman Concert Society schemes, with whom they gave their Wigmore debut in 2015.

With a passion for new music, Philip is also a member of the award-winning Riot Ensemble with which he has performed in the UK, around Europe and beyond. Philip has recently worked with the Orchestra of Opera North, the Philharmonia, Hallé Orchestra, Birmingham Contemporary Music Ensemble, Den Fynske Opera in Denmark, London Mozart Players, Orchestra of St Johns and the London Musical Arts Orchestra.

Philip Haworth was born in Lancashire and took tutelage from Rachael Clegg at Chethams School of Music.

He then went on to study at the Royal Northern College of Music with Melinda Maxwell and Rachel Pankhurst. Whilst still at the RNCM Philip had the rare opportunity to record a premiere of Edwin Roxburgh’s oboe trio, Shadow Play with the renowned oboist Paul Goodey.

During his time at the RNCM Philip won numerous prizes including the Cronshaw Lancaster Prize for Wind, Evelyn Rothwell Oboe Prize and a Henry Wood Scholarship. He then moved to London and studied for MMus at the

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Anthea Wood is one of the leading freelance bassoonists in the UK today and has worked with orchestras, ballet and opera companies from London to Glasgow. Anthea originally hails from Chesterfield in Derbyshire.

Whilst a student at Huddersfield University she worked with Stockhausen, Ligeti, MacMillan, Berio and Maxwell Davies. On completing her studies with William Waterhouse at the Royal Northern College of Music she began regular work with Manchester Camerata and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

Her teaching credentials have stretched to being on the bassoon staff at Chethams and Napier, Lancaster and Liverpool Universities, as well as regularly coaching National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and examining at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Now resident in Glasgow she has worked with every major ensemble. Her freelance work with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra saw her playing Principal Bassoon at the BBC Proms in 2013 for the Proms premiere of MacMillan’s Violin Concerto.

Her love and knowledge of chamber music has seen her appear with Ensemble 360 (Music in the Round), Goldberg Ensemble, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Royal Scottish National Orchestra Winds amongst others.

Anthea plays on an early 8000 series Heckel bassoon made in 1938. Its previous owner was the late Manfred Arlen, former Principal bassoon in the RLPO and co-writer (with Fritz Spiegl) of the Radio 4 UK Theme.

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IDRS Conference Granada 2018 introduced by Roger Birnstingl.

Every few years the IDRS gives its annual conference outside the US, and so last August it was hosted by the Asociaciòn Fagotistas y Oboists de Espana. The hosts were José Masmano and Joaquin Osca, respectively President and Vice-present of the AFOES and what a superb convention they gave us. The number of participants was 1545 who came from 40 countries. Truly amazing.

A more beautiful city than Granada is hard to imagine, although with some 100 events in the five days, there was not too much time for sight-seeing.

The Arabian or Moorish feel of the city is still there, even though Ferdinand and Isabel (la Catolica) forced them out in 1492 (the same year that Columbus discovered America) after they had been in Granada for some 300 years.

Walking the streets of the old city at midnight had me thinking of Morocco and Tangiers with the restaurant smells, the shops still open and happy people everywhere.

Clearly the AFOES must have plenty of clout because it managed to obtain the use of all the important venues in town for the recitals and concerts. The Palacio des Congresos with its three halls, one of which, Sala Falla with over 500 seats, was where the majority of the concerts were held. There was plenty of space for the trade stands and this area became a meeting and chatting venue for everyone. All the visiting musicians were really interested in the opportunity to try instruments, plastic reeds (now greatly improved) or the LefreQue metal instrument joint links to get more resonance.

That was the Palacio; however the really beautiful room in the town hall, the Ayuntamiento, was perfect for small ensembles. Up on the Alhambra hill is the Auditorio Manuel de Falla with 1200 seats and for the opening concert this was absolutely packed for a superb musical experience. All the concerts were conducted by Catherine LarcenMaguire and Gordon Hunt. Catherine was formally principal bassoonist of the Komische Oper in Berlin but now has blossomed as a conductor. Gordon, who did so well in 2014 in Steinhart NYC, is a London-based oboist who also clearly enjoys wielding the baton.

The printed programme was superbly 6

Inside the Auditorio Manuel de Falla thought out and a mine of information including a list of world premiers to be performed, a good city plan and clear printing of the many events.

The IDRS ‘officers’ past and present all did their bit including President, Eric Stomberg who gave a concert demonstrating his clean, clear playing and ability to sing in the bassoon.

Martin Schuring played cor and oboe in this concert and I could hear the influence of Marcel Tabuteau in his tone production, something that sadly is getting lost in America now.

Past-president, Nancy Ambrose-King with Jeffrey Lyman resurrected the romantic French trio de salon by the amazingly named Marie Félisie Clémence de Reiset.

This was a beautiful performance of a beautiful work which I wish I had found earlier in my long career. Sarah Roper, the conference coordinator who did so much to make everything work, is Solo Oboe in the Royal Symphony Orchestra of Seville and Vice-president of the IDRS. She played in Mozart sextets and a Zelenka trio with Gordon Hunt. Ryan Romine, bassoon editor of Double Reed magazine, joined with Yoshi Ishikawa, Keith Schweger (past president IDRS) and Eric Stomberg in an extraordinary work by the Dutch composer Chiel Meijering called The Reed that Blows in the Wind for no less than 12 bassoons and chamber orchestra, which made a fitting end to the second evening concert.

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There is so much more I could write about. On a more personal note I should say that my pleasure during the entire convention was naturally the music and the talent displayed. However, meeting old friends had a great deal to do with this. People like Elisabeth Waterhouse, widow of William the bassoonist and musicologist Jim Kopp, author of The Bassoon (certainly the definitive book on the instrument), Richard Meek who has been honoured with 50 years of service to Texas Technical College, and my friend of well over 50 years, Lenny Hindell, member of the NY Philharmonic for over 30 of them. A visit to a Convention of the IDRS must be one of the best vocational weeks one could imagine.

Thoughts on a wonderful week in Granada

by Karen Goss who is a bassoonist, contrabassoonist and woodwind teacher in the Midlands.

The Spanish hosts and IDRS conference coordinator deserve high praise indeed for the organisation of this event.

No pre-conference enquiry was too trivial to be responded to promptly.

The range of venues was superb albeit a little spread out for those not keen on walking; a wide programme was on offer

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and the city of Granada proved a magical setting. This is a personal appreciation of the event which I hope will give a flavour of all that we enjoyed, and inspire others to take the plunge to attend future conferences. The double reed scene certainly seems to be flourishing in Spain; let’s hope another IDRS conference will soon head to our UK shores.

The opening evening concert was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the whole conference. Some of the most skilful players of our time performed varied repertoire, traditional and modern accompanied by some stunning orchestral playing from the City of Granada Orchestra with several showy solos in the orchestral woodwind and horns which were a joy to hear.

Having been up since 4.30am to begin our journey to Spain and having made the ascent of the Alhambra hill to the Auditorio Manuel de Falla in near 40degree heat I wasn’t sure I would stay awake, but I was totally captivated throughout.

Matthias Racz’s interpretation of the Weber Bassoon Concerto drew me to the front of my seat from the opening phrase and there I remained, totally drawn in by his refined and witty rendition and his unbelievable dynamic range. I think this was the most remarkable performance of the Weber – either live or recorded – that I have ever heard. Le chant du Cyne for oboe and orchestra by Gudefin was a refreshingly beautiful and lyrical piece superbly performed by Sebastien Giot with beautiful tone and perfect intonation.

Ramon Ortega’s outstanding performance of Oscar Navarro’s Concierto drew a standing ovation from a near packed concert hall rounding off an evening of enough double reed delights to last a good few years. What really impressed about this concert was that it contained some of the most wonderful expressivity, beauty of tone and fine examples of musicianship that I have heard for several years. What a treat then to be able to re-visit these wonderful performances on the IDRS live-stream.

(Access to these amazing performances on the IDRS website is more than enough justification for joining the IDRS, even if only for one year.)

The concert hall’s understated exterior…

colleagues became part of our loose social circle for the week so it was good to be able to pick the brains of someone who has considerably more experience and success than I do. Teaching in two of the central counties of England, I find there is still a reluctance to invest in these small instruments and establish properly thought out progression routes to ensure that our orchestras, whether youth, amateur or professional, are well stocked for the future.

This leads me on to another issue: the seeming lack of UK attendees at Granada 2018. I realise it is not exactly cheap to fly to southern Spain from the UK, but the Australasian Double Reed Society seemed to be sporting a strong contingent and double reeders from the other side of the Atlantic had endured up to three flight transfers and hours spent in airports for the privilege of attending. And that’s what it was, an absolute privilege.

and the breathtaking view. . .

The lovely Auditorio Manuel de Falla, venue for four of the evening concerts, deserves special mention; this must surely be one of the world’s most stunningly situated concert halls.

Perched on the hillside adjacent to the Alhambra complex and the Manuel de Falla house and museum with a quite unpromising exterior, it commands a view of the whole of Granada and beyond. Be warned though if you ever visit: unless you are fairly fit and enjoy hill walking, better take a taxi up and then walk down best to enjoy the views!

Another notable and unexpected highlight came when tempted by the two little words ‘jazz’ and ‘Brazil’ appearing together in the title of one concert. Jean-Luc Fillon presented a highly entertaining 45 minutes of jazz played on oboe, cor anglais and d’amore. The oboe d’amore was, to our surprise, the most perfect of the three instruments for this job, reminiscent perhaps of the soprano sax.

I was disappointed to have missed Clare Payne’s presentation on her considerable experience of teaching ‘fagottino’ or mini-bassoon as we tend to refer to it in the UK. Happily for me, however, Clare and her Australian

Having discovered the music of VillaLobos as a teenager, anything Brazilian is always high on my agenda. So alongside Amy Gillick’s bang-up-to-date account of Mignone’s widow’s recently published love story, nothing could have been more fitting than to have Brazilian bassoonist Fabio Cury perform six of Mignone’s 16 Valsas for solo bassoon.

Clare Payne had confessed that she was completely unfamiliar with both performer and composer before the performance but afterwards labelled it one of the highlights of the whole Conference. It seems we are regrettably unfamiliar with the music of Francisco Mignone on this side of the Atlantic which is a shame as it brings something totally new and fresh to our repertoire.

The most interesting and novel ensemble performance I attended was by Les Francs Bassons, a quartet of young professionals formed in Paris in 2011.

All played on French system instruments.

They presented themselves as lively, dynamic and informal, with good audience interaction; their sound was beautifully balanced even when they rotated parts, which they did with almost every piece. Sefara by Philippe Hersant was a particularly satisfying new commission for the conference, making excellent use of the spatial acoustics, the players being positioned well apart at the

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sides of the hall. The programme was varied, both in style and chronology, ranging through Vivaldi, Bach, various Renaissance dances and Mignone. In all, an excellent concert.

The only criticism I would make of a superbly planned and organised conference is the decision to restrict most of the lecture/presentations and masterclasses to just 30 minutes. Sophie Dervaux chose to ignore all attempts from the conscientious volunteer who tried several tactics from the side of the hall to get her to draw her masterclass to a close. A late substitution of a student for Laia Magri Pont’s contrabassoon masterclass meant that by the time the borrowed instrument had arrived and the student settled in, there was little time left for much at all. This was disappointing as one doesn’t get to hear gems of wisdom from top-notch contra players all that often. The time restriction also meant that Amy Gillick’s fascinating and illuminating presentation about Francisco Mignone’s life felt rather rushed although she certainly managed to cover considerable ground.

I would have liked to have spent longer than I did perusing the spacious and well laid out trade stand area. Several visits to the Püchner stand to try instruments reassured me that my chosen brand is still among the best. Particularly impressive in terms of value for money and responsiveness were the relatively new generation of Moennig instruments: definitely worth looking at for students on a budget.

Late on the Friday evening 31st August, around 520 players of oboe, cor anglais, bassoon and contrabassoon assembled in the floodlit outdoor area adjacent to the Palacio de Congressos in front of a sizeable audience for an extraordinary spectacle. This was the setting for three Guinness World Records: largest oboe ensemble, largest cor anglais ensemble and largest double reed ensemble.

(Apparently there is already a substantial sized bassoon ensemble record in existence.)

The organisation of this attempt was exemplary. There were six pieces to be learnt; music was emailed to everyone a few weeks in advance for practice; we had to commit to at least two rehearsals; 8

everyone knew exactly where they were to go and well-organised volunteers marshalled us onto the vast concert stage. To understand how it felt, imagine the opening ceremony of an Olympic Games as each country’s athletes enter the stadium and are announced to the cheering spectators in anticipation of the great events to follow. Only we weren’t athletes. My desk partner from Northampton, Donna and I were desk 5, oboe part 5A. A few bits were beyond us but that didn’t matter.

The adrenalin took over and we played on until 12.30am, world records safely in the bag, and all helping Granada’s bid to be European capital of culture in 2031! My only regret was that I wasn’t playing contrabassoon. Not wanting to make our Spanish trip seem too much like going out to work, I had opted to leave the bassoon at home and travel light with just my beginner oboe. It had meant having actually to practise the oboe during the holidays (very hard work in the heat of last summer!); but it was a useful reminder of which keys to press for Eb, C and C# just in case an oboe pupil comes to light. Credit due to my friend Donna, who had taken up the oboe just a couple of months earlier especially for the conference. The whole experience has convinced me that I’m definitely not an oboist and never will be. I returned to England, however, with an undiminished enthusiasm for all things bassoon and contra.

of Pedro Diaz in the Cancion para Ulri Steck by David Chesky, and Sophie Dartigalongue couldn’t fail to impress with her performance of the Jolivet Concerto. Etched on my memory for ever will be that bright red dress and, oh those heels! Does she practise for hours in them so that she feels comfortable in the concert?!

It’s hard to believe that just six days could offer so many rich experiences but that is part of the wonder of musicmaking, of travel, of friendship and of the IDRS and its associated national double reed societies. My thanks go to Matt, Alison, Donna and Will for wanting to go in the first place and for being such easy companions along the way. I hope we shall repeat the experience elsewhere some day. My aim now is to share this inspiration and experience with the young people and adults with whom I work and in turn inspire them on their musical journey.

The beautiful gardens of the Generalife

Iconic view of the Alhambra complex Donna and I stocking up on carbs before our big performance. Spanish omelette as a baguette filling. Different!

All too soon it was the closing concert, again accompanied by the superb City of Granada Orchestra. I especially enjoyed the sultry, seductive cor anglais playing

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OBOE REED MAKING EQUIPMENT A large amount of Oboe reed making equipment for sale; almost brand new or barely used.

1 Howarth Router: 1 Glotin Mandrel 1 unlabelled Mandrel (larger so possibly Cor Anglais) 1 Easel Oboe: 1 Easel Cor Anglais Assorted reed knives ( Right Handed) 5 rolls of coloured nylon assorted thread 1 Cutting Block 1 Smith’s Fine/Medium Combination Stone 1 Smith’s Honing Oil 2 Black Reed Cases (each fit 12 reeds): 1 Black Cor Anglais Reed Box All with Red velvet interior 5 plaques (3 metal, 1 plastic and 2 ebony) 1 copy of Evelyn Rothwell’s Guide to Reedmaking Nova Music Some cut cane and shaped cane and cork bases for free.

Double Oboe and Cor Anglais Stand: large worn Case.

A huge selection of Oboe/Wind Quintet music for sale.

Some of it has barely been used.

Contact Sophie Milton on 07788 750391 or sophie.milton@sky.com for further details.

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The Bassonicus Interview Ability and Versatility: Ursula Leveaux, Bassoon

by Jefferey Cox.

In addition to the modern bassoon she is holding in the photograph she also has a classical one. It is in fact a modern copy

by Peter de Koningh of a bassoon by Heinrich Grenser, made at the very end of the eighteenth century.

In 2011 Ursula was appointed Principal Bassoon of the Academy of Ancient Music, a position which she feels has brought her full circle to her first love of baroque music. To be playing Handel and Bach bass lines on a baroque bassoon (hers is a copy of an instrument by Prudent, also from Peter de Koningh) and playing Mozart and Beethoven on instruments from their period is still a huge thrill and, as she says, sometimes a bit terrifying!

I met Ursula in London on 26th November when she was able to spare a few moments from her busy schedule. As a freelance player she can make her own decisions about what she plays and where; but, being based in the Lake District with a glassmaker husband and a nearly teenage daughter to look after, she has to choose carefully what work she takes on. Perhaps most importantly it has to be work she feels is worth being away from her family for.

To give you some idea what she gets up to: her chamber music skills and experience have led to her becoming the bassoonist of London’s Nash Ensemble, one of the world’s leading chamber groups. The Nash is an ensemble which reconstitutes itself as required to meet the requirements of a season’s programme.

Some members may find themselves playing in most of the concerts; others in many fewer. Looking through the 2018/19 programme at the Wigmore Hall (theme ‘German Romantics’), the bassoon figures in three out of ten concerts.

Ursula can look forward to playing Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder, Brahms’s Serenade in D, and Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll, great pieces with plenty of opportunity for the bassoon to shine.

The ensemble’s residency at the Wigmore will end with a concert on the theme ‘Nash Inventions’, with music by Birtwistle, Carter and Knussen, including Study for Metamorphosen for Solo Bassoon! If you are free on April 12th, think of making your way to the Wigmore Hall and hear what demands Knussen makes on Ursula.

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Ursula is also the Principal Bassoon with the City of London Sinfonia. She tells me that she loves the variety of situations the orchestra plays in. These include unusual mixed programmes often involving other art forms and ‘non-classical’ musicians at the Village Underground in Shoreditch; concerts at St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Queen Elizabeth Hall; the summer season at Holland Park Opera; working in East End schools, and even doing ‘Mindfulness‘ concerts in unlikely venues.

Ursula was formerly the Principal Bassoon with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (1987–2007) with whom she appeared many times as soloist and has recorded the Vivaldi Concerto in D minor and also the Mozart Concerto. Over the years she has also performed solo concertos with a number of orchestras including the London Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, and with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields at the Barbican.

I asked whether Ursula had forged her career along conventional lines including, for example, several years at music college. Not really was the reply. She had met Brian Pollard, Principal Bassoon of the Concertgebouw Orchestra just at the end of her time at Chethams School of Music where she had studied with the ‘simply amazing’ Charles Cracknell. In spite of insisting that he didn’t give lessons, Brian Pollard encouraged her to visit Amsterdam and became her teacher, mentor and friend until his death in 2013.

Having spent a year in Amsterdam she returned to the UK to take up a place at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama

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where her teacher was the distinguished Martin Gatt. As a first year student at the Guildhall she won the Shell-LSO scholarship, which she says gave her the confidence to make the decision to return to Amsterdam as a student, even though by this time she was becoming busy working with various orchestras in London.

Ursula lived, worked and studied in Amsterdam for another four years. In that time Brian Pollard also encouraged Ursula to take up the baroque bassoon, something she had wanted to do whilst still at school, and taught her enough to get a place to study with Danny Bond in The Hague. It was during her first year on the baroque course there that she was offered the principal position in the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Asked how much teaching she did, Ursula replied ‘very little’. It was true that she had given masterclasses at most of the music colleges in Britain, and overseas as far afield as Toronto and Hong Kong, and been on the senior faculty of the Marlboro School of Music in the USA for two summers, but a regular teaching commitment didn’t really work within the life she leads at the moment. She says that she is always happy to listen to and help people who ask for lessons either in London or even those willing to make the journey to the

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Lake District, but she says she usually learns as much, if not more, than any of her students!

the thought that this kind of opportunity might not be available to young British musicians in the future is a huge loss.

Ursula has also been a member of the jury for the prestigious ARD competition in Munich and for the Eurovision Young Musician. She says that the responsibility of doing this is huge and she wouldn’t take such an opportunity on without a lot of thought; but, having said that, she feels that she has learnt a huge amount through each experience.

Given the importance of the French repertoire, all wind players should acquaint themselves with the music which flowed so articulately from the pens of twentieth-century French composers. It is witty, beautifully written, imaginative, and usually cleverly tailored to the instruments for which it was composed. Was Ursula an admirer?

Yes, absolutely; she was the bassoonist in the recording of the complete chamber works of Poulenc and Saint-Säens made by members of the Nash ensemble.

Had she thought of using a French ‘basson’ for the recording? She had, but only for a moment. It would have required many years of study for her to play the basson to the same level as her colleagues in the Nash Ensemble playing on their usual instruments, much as the Buffet is so suited to that music. There are some great recordings by French players who are ‘native’ to the basson, but it would be wonderful to be truly ‘bilingual’ and to be able to swap to the modern basson whenever appropriate.

She admits that for now, baroque, classical and Heckel System bassoons are enough to be going on with!

Given that Ursula had benefited a lot from EU players and teachers, I asked her whether she had any idea how her career might be affected if we left the European Union. Her response was that with no model to refer to it was difficult to say.

The EU had been a positive influence and opened up new avenues of cooperation and movement of musicians, and some of this would almost certainly be put into reverse. There might be problems for British members of EU orchestras, and the United Kingdom might impose limitations on EU musicians. Students might also have problems finding places. One of the things she says makes her saddest is that, as a young musician, she got so much out of the experience of playing with the EUYO (ECYO as it was in those days), and

I asked Ursula which modern instrument she played. A 13000 Heckel which used to belong to her late partner Chris Robson which his family had kindly given to her after his death. The instrument is one of the first Post-War instruments to be ‘made in Germany’ (as opposed to West Germany!). Prior to that she had played a Püchner. She preferred the Heckel because, ‘Although any instrument is only as good as its player, you can make a good Heckel sound any way you want it to’.

My last question to Ursula was to ask what she found most challenging in her busy musical life. Her response was: ‘For everyone, of course, juggling family and professional life is always hard; but what I have learnt is that, if you’re not rehearsing and performing all the time the amount of preparation you have to do at home, to play at the highest possible level, increases exponentially. If it wasn’t for the sheer love and enjoyment of playing all this wonderful music it would be incredibly difficult to keep all those balls in the air’.

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Australian Alliances Two Articles from down under

but not surprised to hear the news in 2014 that Judith Weir had been appointed the first female Master of The Queen’s Music.

Commissioning

Airs from Another Planet Celia Craig writes about the background and process of commissioning an oboe concerto from Judith Weir CBE – Master of the Queen’s Music.

Meanwhile, having joined the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra as Principal Oboe and discussed their support for commissioning a concerto about five years ago, Judith’s was the first name that sprang to my mind. I felt that her oboe experience and compositional inspiration would add up to a truly significant work.

I was very happy when she replied so positively, whereupon the process of commissioning commenced and subsequently the relatively short process of the actual composition. We continued to keep in touch and Judith discussed a few range or pitch issues with me, but otherwise I just needed to stay patient until it was completed.

The music arrives

Celia Craig with Judith Weir

It was a very exciting day when the music and score eventually arrived from Chesters and I started exploring the piece. My object during my practice was to get to know the music as well as possible in every way that we process our information: mentally, physically, harmonically. I practised it by repetition, by analysis, on the piano, listening to the recording, with metronome and with other colleagues.

How I came to discover Judith Weir I was hooked in the late 1980s (at the University of York) by Airs from Another Planet, a fabulous piano and wind quintet work by Judith Weir – hauntingly beautiful, stark, windswept –which revealed an original and exciting voice.

I only realised thirty years later, when Judith came to Adelaide, that our student performance had been very soon after the World Premiere by the Nash Ensemble.

A few years later on I worked with Judith, then Director of the Spitalfields Festival in London, as a member of the chamber group Jane’s Minstrels. Judith programmed for us to play the Oboe Sonata by Poulenc and that’s when I learnt she was first an oboist. Judith went on to be a resident composer in several orchestras and to create a well-deserved reputation for serious work. Like many, I was pleased 12

Learning It takes a while, of course, to learn a new work well, and come to recognise the harmony, rhythm and textures. For that I have to thank our wonderfully accurate, dedicated and musical pianist Michael Lerace, with whom I rehearsed and explored the music. When we felt it was in a close enough state to play through with some sense, we recorded it in my studio and sent it to both composer and conductor to give us all a starting point for rehearsals. Tempo, intention and mood were easily agreed upon from this recording (even if we had played too slowly or too loudly, etc). We discussed various aspects from afar – a very useful process before we all met in person in South Australia.

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Douglas Boyd, Michael Lerace, Celia Craig and Judith Weir Preparing Rehearsals were energising and fun, with the orchestra and conductor working closely together to achieve the best result. The news that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation would be recording the concerts live for a CD added greatly to this.

As the concert got closer – and being in South Australia – many reeds were considered and discarded. The dry atmosphere here is so unhelpful to reed life.

Significance This is a highly significant new work for oboe: perhaps the most significant since Martinů’s in 1956, which also originated from Adelaide! Jiří Tancibudek, the former Czech Philharmonic Orchestra Principal Oboist, came to Australia in the 1950s and, while employed at the University of Adelaide, commissioned that oboe concerto from his countryman Martinů, producing the wonderful work that has become so important in our repertoire. It was poignantly sad that his widow Vera Tancibudek recently passed away, too soon to hear this newest successor from Judith Weir. Vera and I had become good friends: she was Patron of the Australian Double Reed Society. I was now holding Jiří’s former position as teacher of oboe at the Elder Conservatorium. I felt myself part of this South Australian history as I premiered the work, and keenly aware of the absence of colleagues who might have been interested to hear it: not only Vera and Jiří Tancibudek, but also our recently departed oboe teacher, Rosemary Stimson, and a mutual friend the late Sir Jeffrey Tate (Artistic Advisor to ASO).

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Hosting Judith

Pre-concert talks with Judith and ASO’s Artistic Planner Simon Lord were both interesting and relaxed. Simon had pulled together this commission with two other Australian orchestras, Tasmanian and Western Australia, and had known Judith for many years himself. The ASO looked after us and our visitors royally.

It was lovely to get a personal letter from the Premier of South Australia. (Perhaps he discussed the visit with The Master of The Queen’s Music when he went to Buckingham Palace just afterwards.)

Our double reed musical community here is small, close knit and supportively enthusiastic. This unites the professionals and amateurs. Many of us travelled to Granada for the IDRS conference. Emails flew fast and Judith soon became well aware of our engaged ADRSSA committee, and such matters as the orchestra’s recent appointments (including composer/oboist Catherine Miliken), the Adelaide University Wind Quintet, the Martinů commission, and our current crisis in oboe education.

Hosting a visit by The Master of The Queen’s Music was a big event; there were many local, national and international interviews, and extra events were planned during the week of the concerto’s performances. Gradually the big nights drew closer. The concerto was to be recorded for disc over the three performances, which put the pressure on a little but which captured some of the atmosphere of the excited audience and our developing interpretation.

Performing the Concerto I had a very supportive audience, with many friends in the Town Hall and in the orchestra. Some of the media interest was increased because I had just announced my retirement from the ASO. I found myself giving an interview to a pop radio station on stage just two hours before the world premiere, explaining the

pressures on classical music education in South Australia and how, due to its cost and rarity, the oboe suffers more than most. (For the record, I am joining Sydney Omega Ensemble in 2019 while concentrating on advocating for the oboe within South Australia and beyond, and still teaching at Elder Conservatorium of Music.)

So the week was tense, busy and pressured, but also exciting, productive and rewarding. Thanks to our wonderful committee member Josie Hawkes and husband Tom we had a super ADRSSA Oboe Social Evening in the company of Judith and our conductor, Douglas Boyd (former Principal Oboe and soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe).

In her Oboe Concerto, Judith’s music is dramatic and striking. It is modern but very accessible: lyrically and harmonically inspired. The slow second movement is stunningly beautiful. I feel it is going to become a mainstream work, and so does the orchestra.

I relish the prospect of playing music to fresh ears; ears that have not yet decided what they think about a work before it starts. This is the same for performers and audience alike. A new work breaks all preconceptions and surprises everyone.

It has been a challenge and an honour to have launched and recorded this lovely new Concerto: in effect to have given it wings. It is beautifully imagined for the instrument, with great expression and emotion. I hope you like it.

The UK Premiere will take place in Cardiff on 27th September, with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Andrew Gourlay.

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Storytime with Michael Cox Flute player, recording artist, teacher and pedagogue Michael Cox is introduced by Josie Hawkes, Editor of Reeding Matter (the magazine of the Australian Double Reed Society), reprinted by kind permission.

As well as a list of current and previously held principal flute tenures reading like the Who’s Who of musicians – London Symphony Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Britten Sinfonia, BBC Symphony Orchestra and Academy of St Martin In The Fields – Michael Cox is renowned as a dynamic teacher and pedagogue. He relishes the wonderful variety of belonging to symphony and chamber orchestras and avant garde ensembles of international renown, in combination with travelling as a soloist and teacher.

The University of Adelaide’s Elder Conservatorium hosted the Michael Cox Flute Symposium from 11th to 15th April, organised and convened by Associate Professor Elizabeth Koch AM, a rare and not-to-be-missed opportunity to see and hear him in full flight. The ten flute players accepted to play in the symposium were selected from applicants around Australia.

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Sessions were centred on particular pieces of repertoire and excerpts, with Leigh Harrold in attendance as resident accompanist extraordinaire.

• Does the structure contain repeated sections and if so, do individual phrases undergo development or change?

So, you may ask, what has this to do with double reed players? In one word, everything!

• What imagery does a particular phrase conjure up for you?

The mantra in every session was ‘optimise musical opportunities’: seize every opportunity to colour and shape every note and phrase. Cox frequently uses the analogy of a painter’s brush and palette to bring every moment of music-making to life. A player needs to ‘get’ the psychology of the piece before selecting a particular sound. So how do you ‘get the psychology’? You need a story for every piece. How do you find a story? Make it up!

To help provide a sense of narrative, start by analysing the structure of the piece or movement. You need to consider the answers to the following questions: • What type of mood is communicated by the tonality?

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• Do any phrases sound like particular actions/movements or evoke particular emotions?

• What impact does tempo have on the scene in your head?

• Are some phrases musical signals?

• Is it a musical journey through particular harmonic progressions?

• Is there a musical dialogue happening between different voices?

My thanks go to Michael Cox for agreeing to tell us a story about the Mozart Oboe Concerto in C, K.314 (which was re-worked as the Flute Concerto No.2 in D).

Once upon a time…

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The Story of Myrtle & Percy

followed by a landing of unruffled grace (bars 46–47).

Mozart Oboe Concerto K.314 (first movt)

by Michael Cox Allegro aperto Myrtle had on her best and most beautiful skates as she was intent, as always, on making a good impression. With an extravagant twirl she launched herself onto the ice (bar 32) and into a glide.

She was renowned for her impossibly long glides (bars 33–36) which had such extraordinary allure that onlookers always held their breath.

There was an appreciative buzz of approval from the spectators and even some rapturous applause (bars 47–48).

Notably, one particular admirer seemed so completely hypnotised

by Myrtle’s spectacular display that he involuntarily embarrassed himself by continuing to applaud well beyond the others (bar 49).

She succeeded it with a chain of figures which showcased her trademark style; exact and elegant simplicity combined with perfect technical work (bars 37–43).

Hearing it (bar 50),

She reflected pleasingly that, when all was said and done, there was not a single person there to rival her. Her supremacy, as though there was any room for doubt, was placed utterly beyond question when she concluded her display with four double-axel jumps executed faultlessly (bars 44–45),

Myrtle lifted up her pretty eyelashes to see who this might be (bars 51–52).

Still his applause continued unabated (bar 52)

and, whilst the pleasing sound still reverberated in her ears, (bar 53)

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she raised her eyes further up to see who it could possibly be (bars 54–55).

She elaborated it gracefully (bar 68 beat 3 & bar 69 beat1),

In an instant a feeling of triumph and joy flooded over her (bars 56–58)

but his skates would still only stutter a staccato reply (bar 68 beat 2).

as it was evident that it was the only man (amongst her many admirers) she’d truly ever wanted to fascinate and attract. It was none other than shy (but ridiculously handsome) Percy!

She skated over to him (bars 59–60)

Yet other attempts failed again (bar 69 beat 2 & bar 70),

and three times tried to encourage him onto the ice (bars 60–64).

With quite exceptional style and sleek athleticism, she encircled him (bars 65–67) crying out, ‘You can! You can do it!’ before – fourth time lucky – he finally gained a little form and flow (bar 71).

Percy knew, however, that much as he wished it to be otherwise, he would never be able to impress Myrtle as a skater. He was, nonetheless, clever enough to realise that Myrtle would never be able to commit herself truly to anyone unless they at least showed a willingness to be on the ice.

And now that’s where he was and Myrtle was showing him a simple move (bar 68 beat 1).

Frustratingly, he could only clumsily imitate her (bar 68 beat 2).

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Enough, at least, to have her twittering around him in happy approval (bar 72-76).

‘Here,’ she said, ‘hold my arm and I will steady you’ (bar 78).

He did so and was surprised at her strength as she guided and supported him in seamless flow (bar 79).

His heart filled with a feeling of warm pleasure (bar 80-81).

to end in a dishevelled heap on the ice (bar 88-89).

Myrtle tried twice to suppress her laughter (bars 90 & 91) because, despite her vanity, she was kind at heart.

It was to no avail, however. Eventually she could hold it in no longer and exploded in a trill of mirth (bar 92).

Before long they were both consumed in an escalating cadence of helpless laughter (bars 93–95) which only cemented what they already knew; this, conclusively, was the love and happiness they’d always dreamt of (bar 96-97).

Hers did too (bar 82). Indeed, without thinking (and forgetting Percy was depending on her), she found herself joyfully doing an impromptu little routine of pirouettes and leaps (bars 83–85).

The End. Percy, in the meantime, had gained speed (bar 86),

and then – oh dear, oh dear – tumbled with a series of bounces (bar 87),

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A 2019 Springtime Double Reed Festival!

Laurence Perkins reports on an exciting sequence of events in the BDRS calendar.

Come and take part in a special Handel celebration.

It was on 27th April 1749 that the ‘Musick for the Royal Fireworks composed by Mr. Handel’ was first performed in Green Park in London.

This was a major event in the city.

Even the rehearsal, held a week earlier in Vauxhall Gardens, attracted more than 12,000 people, each paying half-a-crown (approximately £15 in current-day money), and the event caused major traffic jams on London Bridge!

Exactly 270 years (to the day) after this legendary first performance, BDRS will be promoting a performance of this great music in London to commemorate the anniversary, and if you play oboe or bassoon, YOU could be a part of this historic event! This will be on Saturday 27th April and it will be held in the Duke’s Hall at the Royal Academy of Music. There will of course be the original Handel oboe and bassoon parts, which are suitable for players of around grade 7-8 upwards, but if you are not quite at this level, you can still come and play. The performing edition I have prepared from Handel’s original for this event also includes some easier parts for players of between grades 3-6 standard.

All parts will be put up on the BDRS website in March for you to download, print and practise in advance.

Royal Academy of Music Event fees There are of course numerous costs involved in promoting an event of this kind, but we have kept fees down to a minimum (interestingly, fairly similar to what people paid to listen to it in 1749!).

Adult non-members £20 Adult members £15 (including those joining on the day) Full-time students £5 (no BDRS discount, as this is already subsidised) Application Please go to the BDRS website www.bdrs.org.uk/ At the top of the home page click on BDRS MUSIC COURSES and in the drop-down options click ‘Music Course Application Form’. Places on this event are limited by the size of the Dukes Hall platform so book soon! Places have to be booked in advance for RAM security reasons: you need to be on the players list. If you turn up on the day without prior booking, you may not be able to take part.

Here is the outline timetable for the day: Saturday 27th April 15.00 Arrive at Royal Academy of Music, Marylebone Rd, London NW1 5HT 15.30 Rehearsal of Royal Fireworks Music 17.00 Break 17.30 Informal public performance (free admission to audience) 18.00 Event ends

Updates Plans and details are still evolving for this event, so please do keep a close eye on the BDRS website for updates and any possible changes. The one detail that will not change is the finishing time – it will not end later than 6pm.

This schedule enables players from many parts of the UK to travel and take part – the start and end times fit with train services to and from many destinations.

© Gerald Coke Handel Foundation

If only classical concerts attracted the same attention nowadays! But this astonishing response was because the music was indeed the ‘pop music’ of its time. With our modern division of ‘classical’ and ‘pop’, this work is now firmly in the ‘classical’ category, but it remains one of the most popular works of the baroque era. It is hugely significant for double reed players: in fact the original performance featured

24 oboes and 12 bassoons (multiple players on each part), and the work is one of the earliest to incorporate the contrabassoon.

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Be there!

This is arguably one of the most important musical and historical events in the calendar for oboe and bassoon players.

The Royal Fireworks Music is a fantastic celebratory piece to play: it will undoubtedly be a unique, special and very memorable day for everyone involved. So, make sure that YOU are a part of this!

We are very grateful to the Royal Academy of Music and the Junior Department for kindly hosting this event.

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A major musical anniversary in London, specialist courses for oboists and bassoonists, and the BDRS Double Reed Day – all in the space of just eight days!

 ‘Have your first go’ at playing oboe or bassoon: for woodwind teachers, or anyone interested  ‘Making your way’ for students and young professionals  Dealing with tension in performance  Trade stands with help and advice on a range of instruments and accessories

5-Day Oboe and Bassoon Courses These popular courses are not just for advanced players: anyone at any playing level who is keen to develop their skills is welcome. The 2018 courses were a fantastic success, and we will be continuing with their attractive mix, as well as a lot of fun in the social events.

Here are the details: Tuesday 30th April to Saturday 4th May at Park Place, Wickham, Hampshire 5-day Oboe Course, led by John Anderson (soloist, Principal ECO and other London orchestras) 5-day Bassoon Course, led by Laurence Perkins (concert soloist and Hyperion recording soloist) Resident pianist for both courses: Yoshiko Endo (The final day of both courses is the BDRS Double Reed Day which is also at Park Place)  Technical sessions: help and advice to improve your technical skills  Reed adjustment: improving response and tone quality  Performance classes: try a solo piece in class, accompanied by Yoshiko at the piano  Ensemble playing: single-instrument or double reed ensembles  Mid-week Tutors’ Concert  Performances by course participants  Social events and some free time to relax, practise or explore the local area

of these very special in-depth courses, book now! See the BDRS website for the various price options by going to www.bdrs.org.uk/ At the top of the home page click on BDRS MUSIC COURSES and in the drop-down options click ‘30th April – 4th May 2019’.

BDRS Double Reed Day Saturday 4th May, 1000-1730 at Park Place, Wickham, Hampshire This is the legendary annual event which is for anyone involved in playing the oboe or bassoon at any level, or is simply interested in exploring and finding out more. A whole range of relevant and useful topics are covered in one wellpacked and highly enjoyable day! Here’s what you can look forward to:  Concerts by tutors, course participants and students  ‘Brush up your technique’ session  Help and advice with reeds  Large ensemble playing for everyone

Photo: Mike Bell

There are only a small number of places left on each course (applications are on a first-come first-served basis), so if you’ve been thinking about participating in either

See the BDRS website for more details – go to www.bdrs.org.uk/ then at the top of the home page, click on BDRS MUSIC COURSES and in the drop-down options click ‘30th April – 4th May 2019’.

Come and join in a fantastic day of inspiring events and a lot of fun!

Park Place: April 2018

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Reports & News Would you like some bassoon music?

Later Martin Gatt commented on the enlargement of playing tone generally and that the nationality of orchestral sound was harder to detect now than in the 1970s and 80s. He alluded to playing chamber music with the likes of Gervase de Peyer, John Ogden and Barry Tuckwell and then his period in Hong Kong during the 1980s.

Roger Birnstingl has a considerable collection of bassoon music and chamber music which he is very keen to dispose of in return for a reasonable donation to the charity HELP MUSICIANS. If you are interested yourself, or have suggestions of worthy homes or institutions he might follow up, please contact him at rpbirnstingl@gmail.com or telephone 01373 228556, mobile 07715 673211.

Amongst many stories Martin Gatt told one about Gervase de Peyer. At a reunion day, Gervase said: ‘I don’t know if you agree, but I think the present principals are more big-headed than we were’. Martin responded: ‘Come off it, Gervase. When you were playing the big clarinet solo in Kodaly’s Galanta Dances with Kertesz, he told you that Kodaly (who was his professor at the Conservatoire) said he wanted no rubato. And you replied: “But he never heard me playing it!”

Martin Gatt at the Royal College of Music A large audience met in the Parry Room of the RCM to hear the distinguished bassoonist Martin Gatt launch the college’s new lecture series, ‘Music and Ideas’ on 25th October.

He declared that amongst his first musical interests were the pedal notes during his father’s organ playing and hence the bass line. The french horn was suggested for him to start on but, aged 13, bassoon became the chosen instrument. Eventually a Heckel was purchased (his father needed to sell his prized Bechstein piano to pay for it) and he was taught by Archie Camden. He remembered Camden being strong on teaching technique, but tending to let his students make their own way on tone and style. No players made their reeds when Gatt was a student.

Military service soon interrupted his studies but this proved an invaluable period for extended serious practice!

He recalled being greatly influenced as a young professional player by working with amongst others Benjamin Britten and Daniel Barenboim.

Recorded musical excerpts were interpolated in his talk, including the Elgar Romance and orchestral examples played by the LSO, ECO and LPO. He talked about the Rite of Spring and the advice he received from Boulez on playing the opening solo: once Boulez had explained the structure of the passage he allowed Gatt freedom of expression within it. He found the strangest conductor he played under to be Constantin Silvestri; he admired the horn player Dennis Brain enormously.

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Gatt referred to his experience of playing and editing Schubert lieder for the bassoon and his advice to young players to ‘tell a story and relate to the human voice. Virtuosity is much more common in today’s young players but still only a few make it to become really top instrumentalists.’

Attendance rates at IDRS Conferences to change from 2019 The International Double Reed Society has announced a change of its policy regarding conference attendance rates by members of its associated organisations. BDRS is an associate organisation.

Beginning with the 2019 Conference in Tampa, Florida, members of associate organisations will need to become members of IDRS in order to attend the conference at the member rate. Nevertheless, members of BDRS will be given a special rate for this purpose of 35 USD. (Those members who would like a print version of the IDRS magazine The Double Reed, however, will still need to join at the regular member rate.)

Membership will provide full access to the new www.idrs.org website where members can find all publications, archived video from past conferences and full access to the Forum. Numerous research-based databases are also available, soon to include the launch of a new fingerings database.

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Antique Reed Case

St. Fagott’s Eve 2018 Robert Bourton reports:

Stephen Fuller (BDRS member and committee member) took these photos of a reed case belonging to Gilbert Vinter, which is now in the possession of Josie Hawkes, editor of Reeding Matter, the magazine of the Australian Double Reed Society.

‘Some six or seven years ago I was having a drink with a couple of bassoonists and it occurred to me that there are many bassoonists around that are good company, like a pint or two and just enjoy a chat. The problem is that we are in different orchestras, different chamber groups, generally different circles, and I thought it could be a bit of fun to get together once a year for the three reasons in the last sentence. After all, other instrumentalists get together – tubas, trombones, horns and so on.

‘I had a chat with Gavin McNaughton and we thought we could go one better than just having a get-together, we should celebrate something or someone. So we invented the Patron Saint of Bassoonists, obviously St. Fagott!

‘I chose Monday for the meeting on the basis that it is the least likely day in the week to have a concert and a rehearsal would probably finish by 9pm. We get together once a year in a pub near Baker Street station to enjoy a pint, catch up on the latest gossip and make uncomplimentary comments about those who don’t show up! My only duty is to contact the pub, who will cordon off a part of the bar, send out around seventy emails then wait and see what happens.

‘There are the stalwart bassoonists who turn up each year: Roger Birnstingl, Deirdre Dundas-Grant and Mike Boyle can be relied upon; Chris Gale catches the train from Bournemouth and a few years ago we were delighted that Geoffrey Gambold made the journey all the way from Cornwall. John Orford arrives in need of a pick-me-up after a day teaching in the Royal Academy of Music; some are there from 8pm settling in for the evening and others arrive after work.

‘Forget Bolero, Rite of Spring or Tchaikovsky 6th: the most important date in the bassoonists diary is St. Fagott’s Eve.’

The interestingly designed case was passed from Vinter to Tom Wightman, presumably when the former’s conducting career was waxing and his bassoon playing career was waning.

Wightman was a British professional bassoonist who emigrated to Australia post-war. Gilbert Vinter was born in Lincoln where as a youth he was a chorister at Lincoln Cathedral, eventually becoming Head Chorister. In 1930 he joined the BBC Military Band as a bassoonist where he also did much of his early conducting and also began to compose. During World War II, Vinter played in The Central Band of the RAF and later led several other RAF bands. He was the first Principal Conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra (1952–1953).

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On Playing French Music

by Jeremy Polmear.

It was at a recording session a few years back; we were doing the second movement (andante tranquillo) of the Quartet for Cor Anglais and Strings by Jean Françaix. It felt like a good take, we were really getting into the feeling of it, when the Producer stopped us and came out. This is a bad sign: comments like ‘watch the intonation in bar seventy-six’ are normally done over the tannoy.

‘It’s beginning to sound,’ he said, ‘a bit English.’ So it went into the digital dustbin.

What were we doing wrong? That is the subject of this article. The simple answer is that we were beginning to play too indulgently, too Romantically. But that’s over simplifying it: the French can be Romantic too, of course, but in a French way.

To step back a little: the French composers I am thinking about are those that flourished after World War I and wrote for the oboe and bassoon: Poulenc, Milhaud, Tailleferre, Ibert, Auric, Arrieu, Françaix, Damase. In the 1920s and 30s, France (specifically Paris) was at the centre of the Western Classical music world, and we can include Stravinsky in his neo-classical phase, and early works from composers who came to study there with Nadia Boulanger such as Martinu and Bacewicz. The category stops with Dutilleux; I can hear the style in the third movement of his Sonata, but he has suggested that performances should omit it. And actually in a way it begins with Saint-Saëns.

In the 1850s, as a young man, he was an advocate of the music of Schumann, Liszt and Wagner; but the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 led to exile in London.

On returning to Paris he found antiGerman sentiment high and became Vice-president of the Société Nationale de Musique, with its motto, ‘Ars Gallica’.

During World War I, Saint-Saëns led a group trying to organise a boycott of German music.

I mention these things because for the French of that time, their musical identity is very much bound up with their sense of nationhood: not something that was felt in the US or the UK. So how should we play the Oboe Sonata? The French musicologist Jean Gallois has commented that it ‘begins like a conventional Classical sonata, with an andantino theme. The central movement has rich and colourful harmonies, and the molto allegro finale is full of delicacy, humour and charm with a form of tarantella.’

No German Romanticism there.

Their musical philosophy came particularly from Cocteau, who wanted to suppress affectation and artifice, and get closer to a simple realism.

He suggested using absurdity to prick illusions of grandeur, and he praised the virtues of simplicity and naiveté.

When I think of these things, I think of the pleasure (sometimes joy) I get from walking through countryside. There is nothing sophisticated about this, but the experience can be as great as reading Hamlet for the fifteenth time. I see this philosophy in other French art forms too, particularly movies, and in French life.

One of my favourite reviews was of a recording of the Trio for oboe, clarinet and bassoon by Claude Arrieu, when the critic commented that it ‘could not be any more French if it were shrugging at you over a pastis’.

This is all very well, you may be saying, but how do I actually play this music?

Going back to my original example of Jean Françaix, one clue is in the speed marking for that movement of crotchet equals 63; resist the temptation to go slower! Françaix was a consummate performer as well as a composer.

He knew what he was doing. As the music gathers tension, he specifically indicates to speed up, not slow down.

And his dynamic marking is pianissimo throughout. This means he doesn’t want any Romantic surges; the motto is ‘less is more’. Let the simplicity of the music pluck at the listeners’ heartstrings.

The next movement of the Françaix Quartet is Latin, marked Vivo assai.

Fair enough, but can he really mean

Jean Cocteau

Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns The lovely Saint-Saëns Sonata of 1921 is written in a style of some thirty years earlier. He is clearly a Romantic, sometimes on a very grand scale.

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Coming back to the main group of postWWI composers, where did they look for inspiration? Back to their own Classical tradition as with Saint-Saëns, but also to circus music and American jazz. Quite literally, on a Saturday night, ‘Les Six’ (the informal group that included Auric, Milhaud, Poulenc and Tailleferre) might have dinner with their mentor Jean Cocteau, then go to the circus, and on to jazz at the bar La Gaya. Following the examples of Debussy and Ravel there was Spanish music too, and (after Milhaud returned from a spell in Brazil) Latin rhythms.

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Jean Françaix

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Music-making in Beautiful Places Laurence Perkins reflects on how landscape and surroundings can enhance a special music-making experience.

crotchet equals 192? Yes! French music is often marked very fast, and this is how the original performers did it. I’ve also heard performances by non-French people who, noting the marked speed, set off at it and then unconsciously settle back to a more comfortable tempo. If you listen to the original performers, it’s usually the opposite – the music continually dashes forwards.

We know this because we can listen to this music as it was originally played; most of it is available on CD and on the web. I’m thinking particularly of the Trio d’Anches – Myrtile Morel (oboe), Pierre Lefebvre (clarinet) and Fernand Oubradous (bassoon) – who recorded extensively in the 1930s and for whom the Trios by Ibert, Auric, Milhaud and others were written. But there is a problem: their style of wind playing is completely out of fashion, even in France.

It’s a very bright sound, with a sharp staccato. There is either no vibrato or a small and fast one. Oubradous was playing a French bassoon. Nowadays players look for a rich, velvety sound over the whole range of the instrument and beautiful legato phrasing. How can we reconcile these two opposites?

The trick is, I think, to set the reedy sounds on one side and listen to the qualities they bring out in the music: perhaps the simplicity, naiveté, or simple joy that Cocteau recommended. Then look to see how one can reproduce these qualities in one’s own playing. There’s no need to copy slavishly; indeed that could be a mistake. In the early years of the Authentic movement, some baroque players took Johann Quantz’ book On Playing the Flute as a kind of Holy Writ, which led to some very unmusical performances. It’s more a matter of taking on board how the music was conceived.

Then one can play in a ‘historically informed’ way without aiming for historical reproduction.

have lots of contrast, we found that we had smoothed things out compared to Damase himself. And there is a tender theme that occurs in the middle of each movement, which we played as a contrast to the more ebullient moments, while taking care not to get too Romantic.

Damase and his players sometimes dash through this music, as if to say ‘I have written something beautiful here, enjoy it if that’s what you’d like to do’.

Jean-Michel Damase This was brought home to me recently, while preparing to record a CD of British and French music that included the Trio for flute, oboe and piano by Jean-Michel Damase. I have always had a high opinion of this piece, and as we worked on it our opinions went up further. We listened to many competent versions, but were wondering if the musical material fully justified the 20-minute length, until we heard Damase’s own 1966 recording on piano with Jean-Pierre Rampal (flute) and Pierre Pierlot (oboe). Much of it is outrageously fast, with abrupt changes of tempo and mood not marked in the score. Yet by the last movement, which is a valediction of what has gone before, they had created a moving unity in a performance that, while you are listening to it, seems to be all contrast.

Having admired this version we then put it away while preparing ours, only listening again after we had finished. The differences are instructive. Although we

Does this sound rather perverse?

Or casual? Nevertheless it is, I assert, a very French attitude. I remember going to a masterclass with Maurice Bourgue many years ago. Apart from fear, the main emotion of the group was earnestness.

Clearly trying to dispel this, Bourgue would interpolate comments to a student such as ‘you play not to play well, or badly, but to give pleasure’ and ‘playing is not more serious than drinking coffee.’

We were very puzzled; after all, trying to get better at the oboe is a serious business. Looking back, I think he was trying to give us the musical equivalent of that Gallic shrug.

So I invite you to bear that shrug and its associated attitudes in mind when you approach this French music.

There is a lesson here from the Authentic movement. What they did was clear the layers of nineteenth-century varnish from baroque music to reveal a new level of beauty and vivacity. And as we try to let go of our natural urge to cloak French music in the warm embrace of Romanticism, we may find that the clarity and lightness that emerges uplifts the soul of both player and listener.

Jeremy Polmear’s Damase recording is on Vive la différence (CC2035), with Anthony Robb (flute) and Michael Bell (piano). See also the Reviews section in this edition.

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Bassoon Reed Selection & Adjustment (Part II) Oliver Ludlow, in-house Bassoon Specialist and Director at Double Reed Ltd, continues his advice for those who find the mysteries of the bassoon reed frustrating with tips on scraping. (For the first part of the article see issue 121.)

Reed blade thickness

Unresponsive high notes

With a reed plaque inserted, closely examine the reed blades; each should have a smooth, evenly-sloped surface.

If you can see any protruding ridges anywhere on either of the blades, this will indicate that the cane hasn’t been scraped evenly enough. It will result in a stiffer reed, with a flatter, mono-phonic crow.

Higher notes are produced in the channels between the blade edge and the reed spine. Scraping this area will allow higher notes to be more responsive.

In addition, if you can see that any particular areas are uneven, thicker or lumpier than others, this will affect the reed’s ability to vibrate and blow freely, and therefore impact negatively on the sound it produces. It is important to note that the reed blade thickness should be as similar on each blade – and on either side of the reed spine – as possible.

Unresponsive low notes Lower notes are produced in the bottom quarter of the reed, above the reed collar.

Scraping this area will allow lower notes to be more responsive.

To adjust the thickness of the reed in any particular area you can scrape the blade with a sharp knife or a file, with a mandrel and reed plaque inserted. I recommend you take very small amounts off at a time so as not to over-do the adjustment. You may find that one reed blade will scrape more easily than the other, so be careful to adjust the amount you scrape accordingly.

Stuffy and unresponsive higher registers If the notes in the higher registers are stuffy and unresponsive, the reed may be too thick on the edges and corners of the blades. Scrape the reed in these areas (as highlighted on the diagram).

Tips on scraping bassoon reeds: Sharp middle C If the notes around middle C are sharp and stiff, it may be that the cane is too thick at the tip of the reed. Scrape the reed at the tip (in the area highlighted on the diagram).

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Stiff and hesitant notes If the tone produced is stiff and hesitant across all notes, it may be that the cane is too thick across the whole reed.

Scrape it taking care to avoid taking too much from the spine and heart of the reed. Scrape more from the brighter areas as highlighted on the diagram.

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Too much cane in the eyes of the reed

After scraping

To test whether your reed has too much cane in the ‘eyes’ of its blades, put it on your bassoon and play a middle C. Then play a harmonic by fingering low F with the C vent key. If the harmonic blows sharp there is a little too much cane in the eyes/tip of the reed. Scrape or sand these areas a little at a time to get them to the same pitch.

Once you have scraped the reed, sand it off very gently with some very fine polishing sandpaper to smooth the surface, and then clean it off with a small brush and clean water.

Paul Carrington Woodwind Instrument Repair Specialist Pease Hill Cottage Town End Lane Flintham Newark Nottinghamshire NG23 5LT

Double Reed Ltd. specialises in the repair, overhaul and sale of bassoons and the supply of top quality bassoon reeds and accessories.

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Long Service Medal?

Chris Gale writes: ‘I recently met up with Roger Birnstingl at the annual get-together of bassoon colleagues (known as St Fagott’s Eve). We were trying to decide whether I held the record for the longest serving bassoonist in one position in an orchestra in this country. If anybody knows any different please let me know!

Roger asked me to set down some memories of my decades in the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and you don’t ignore a request from Roger!

Try this for a service record: I joined the BSO in 1967 when I was 19 and stayed for 44 years, 4 months and 1 week!

I studied with Vernon Elliot at Trinity College of Music (now Trinity Laban Conservatoire) for two and a half years, then did three weeks freelance work with the BSO and was offered the job.

(I was replacing Jane Bennet who has remained a close friend.)

For the first 25 years Eric Butt was the Principal and we never had an argument in all that time: a great musician and a true gent (by which time I was on my third wife!) By the time I retired I had worked with Bob Walker (contrabassoon) for 38 years. I believe that Vernon had joined the BSO in 1938 and, until I retired in 2011, there had always been a pupil of Vernon’s in the orchestra.

Jacoba, my wife, has been in the BSO for 39 years so we have clocked up 85 years combined service so far.

When I joined the BSO in 1967 it was a golden period for the orchestra and the music world in general. Jennie Lee was Arts Minister and actually believed that, 1) the arts were important, 2) they should be available to all and 3) musicians should be paid properly and treated with respect as professionals. Somehow this seems to have been forgotten!

The Principal Conductor at the time was Constantin Silvestri, who was not only a great musician but a considerable character and a lovely man. You never 26

knew exactly what would happen in the concert as every performance was different according to his mood that night. As he hated his work being edited he even took this approach into the recording studio. He also attracted great soloists and guest conductors so we had a diet of interesting work, especially in 1968 which was the orchestra’s 75th anniversary. Suffice it to say that when Sviatoslav Richter cancelled through illness he was replaced by Segovia on one night and the next by Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, who sang the Strauss Four Last Songs. Other highlights were cellists Rostropovich, Tortelier, Fournier, Navarra and du Pré, and violinists Oistrakh, Szeryng, Menuhin, and the lovely Ida Haendel, who had been working with the BSO since the 1930s and continued into this century.

Pianists included Brendel, Richter-Haaser, Katin, Frankel, and John Lill, who is still performing with the orchestra. Many of these players were regular guests with the orchestra as were conductors such as Horenstein, Dorati and Boult.

You never knew exactly what would happen in the concert as every performance was different Some of the conductors could be quite tricky but in those days ‘disagreements’ tended to stay in rehearsal. I remember vividly the day the Principal Flute stopped the rehearsal to tell the conductor just how bored he was. The conductor took it on the chin, turned it into a joke for the rest of the rehearsal and did not go running up to management to complain.

Some conductors could learn from that these days. I can only say that it increased the players’ respect for said conductor.

Sadly, Silvestri died in 1969.

In 1968 the company increased the number of players to 105 and the Bournemouth Sinfonietta was formed.

The office staff including Stage Managers – they were known as porters in those days – increased to 11. The Sinfonietta was specifically formed to serve the 11 million population (roughly the size

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of Greater London) of the south and west with a remit to go into smaller venues which the symphony orchestra couldn’t access. It was financed solely by local government and when it finally became unviable in 1999 the Arts Council of Great Britain (now Arts Council England) had not paid one penny towards its costs in 30 years. I believe this is something the AC should be thoroughly ashamed of.

During this period the BSO also spent a month playing for the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff and a smaller group toured the West Country. In those days the WNO played in the New Theatre which had no pit and the orchestra was separated from the audience by a curtain.

Unfortunately, this curtain contained a healthy population of fleas and was not replaced until the violins refused to play because of incessant bites. Other things which made life interesting were the mostly amateur chorus; and one half of the audience standing up for the Welsh national anthem and the other half standing up for the British national anthem! Both were played at every performance. I am pleased to say that touring rules applied and a good time was had by all with many close friendships cemented. It has been wonderful to watch WNO transform into the great opera company it has become. Both orchestras fulfilled a remit to bring classical music to the children in our patch and, although these could be somewhat rowdy affairs, those ‘children’ now form the core of our present audience.

Paavo Berglund took some getting used to as he loved musicians and music but couldn’t care less about audiences

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In 1972 Paavo Berglund became principal conductor and a new golden age of music-making ensued. Paavo took some getting used to as he loved musicians and music but couldn’t care less about audiences; although they grew to love him in the end. It was not unknown for him to stop the performance, yell ‘Quiet!’ and start again. He had the vocal style and delivery of Kimi Raikkonen, the Formula 1 racing driver.

He once sat next to the Queen at a reception in Finland and his only comment later was: ‘She seemed like a nice woman’. History does not relate what she made of him but she did award him an Honorary OBE. He also had a fine collection of Finnish proverbs, my favourite being: ‘Women first, especially on dicey ice’. His stories about Sibelius, who he had known personally, were revealing and often very funny. Sibelius was a womaniser, drinker and gambler and didn’t treat his family awfully well. I once had the unnerving experience of walking down a street in Helsinki and meeting Paavo, who immediately introduced me to an oboe player who was Sibelius’ daughter.

Unfortunately she spoke no English and had just left the alcohol shop carrying a very discreet bag. After a couple of rather embarrassing minutes she clanked steadily up the street.

A surreal experience.

During this period we did a lot of broadcasts, recordings and TV work.

(In those days they were all paid over-and-above your salary and were often very lucrative.) Paavo‘s attitude

continuing. I have worked for eight principal conductors, some good some average and one I thought a complete charlatan. I have also worked for six managing directors and much the same applies! never changed, much to the annoyance of the TV producer of ‘Music In Camera’.

It was amazing what you could hear coming from the cameraman's headphones. ‘Music in Camera’ ran from 1973 to 1978 with a total of 52 programmes which, apart from the Proms, I believe is the longest running TV series dedicated to music ever broadcast. Interestingly, it was made by Southern Television (an ITV station) and not by the BBC. In my long career in the BSO I have seen many changes in the profession. As a salaried orchestra these changes have often differed from the London scene.

When I first joined the orchestra we only had six days off in every four weeks and travelling time was not counted within hours! We went to Plymouth once a month with a 9am start and a 2am return to within seven miles of Bournemouth town centre. In reality this meant an 8.30am start and a 2.30am arrival home.

You might then start the next day at 10am. There was no overnight if you arrived ‘home’ before 2am. The 40-hour week started in about 1970 and revolutionised playing conditions.

Sadly, these continue to be eroded, as do salaries. In real terms I have calculated that pay has been eroded by 25% to 30% and this trend is

If I have picked out only two particular conductors and periods as great times for the orchestra you must excuse me, but most of my long-serving colleagues would agree with me.

If I sound like an old-timer saying ‘It was better in my day’, in many ways I think it was. The political and financial neglect of music in this country is shameful.

Orchestras and players are better than they ever have been and I admire and respect the current musicians that I meet. I have no regrets about having worked in the BSO all my working life.

The orchestra remains one of the friendliest groups of people you could ever hope to meet and I have had the privilege of working with its great woodwind section.

I must also add that if you must earn your living playing in an orchestra, you couldn’t find a more beautiful place to live than the West Country. My bassoon colleagues in that time have been some of the best players in the profession and if I haven’t mentioned them by name it is because it would seem invidious to single out any individuals. Many have remained lifelong friends, and every time I meet up with any group of bassoonists I am always amazed at what a diverse and nice selection of great characters have been drawn to the instrument.

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Reviews BOOK REVIEW Music for and with Bassoon between 1700 and 1900 from Bohemia–Moravia–Silesia: A Thematic and Bibliographic Catalogue František Červenka and Jiří Seidl, compilers Prague: Academy of Performing Arts, 2018 ISBN 978 80 7331 473 6 Recommended price 249 Kč; paperback www.namu.cz/music-for-and-with-basoon* Many bassoonists reading this review will know the characterful Concert Studies Op. 26, of Ludwig (Ludvik) Milde (1849–1913), a staple of bassoon pedagogy.

Perhaps you also know the Six Sonatas with Two Oboes and Continuo by Jan Dismas Zelenka, cauldrons of virtuosity dating from the 1720s. These works are only samples of a rich repertory for the bassoon that arose in Bohemia (centred in Prague), Moravia (Brno) and Silesia (Breslau or Wroclaw).

In this book are details of nearly twenty more of Milde’s bassoon compositions: concertos (including one with oboe), a concertino, concert pieces (including one with clarinet), trios and quartets of bassoons, and a woodwind sextet (with extra bassoon). Here too, in Zelenka’s arresting musical style, are more sonatas, overtures and vocal works involving bassoon.

The editors, two bassoonist-scholars, document about 457 works composed during the baroque, classical, and romantic eras. Červenka, formerly principal in the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra (Olomouc), offered an advance peek at this repertory in ‘Unknown Concertos by Czech Masters’ published in The Double Reed 12/2 (1989).

Seidel, formerly principal in the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (Prague), is also a winner of two international competitions and professor of bassoon at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.

Entries, arranged alphabetically by composer’s name, follow the detail-rich format used by RISM (Répertoire International des Sources Musicales). RISM’s database (www.opac.rism.info/index.php) will direct the user to a wide array of music manuscripts and printed music, listing incipits (first few measures in staff notation), physical locations, and other essential identifiers for handwritten or printed music sources. For many of these works, links to full-text images of the scores or parts are given. The authors do not cite modern editions, but advise that ‘via an open RISM online database you can easily view contact information on the holding library by clicking on the library siglum; obtaining reproduction of the originals is arranged in accordance with the holding institution’s policies’.

(For modern editions published before 1993, see also the Koenigsbeck bibliography, discussed below.)

RISM doesn’t yet cover the entire domain of bassoon music; after combing through the archives of the Prague

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Conservatory, Seidel is able to list dozens more works from these three lands. Many other entries derive from thematic catalogues of composers (Fiala, Kalliwoda, Krommer, Mysliveček, Rosetti, Sperger, Carl Stamitz, Wanhal and Zimmermann) or collections (Eichstatt, MecklenburgSchwerin, Oettingen-Wallerstein, Regensburg). Still other entries come from imslp.org, the well-known online collection, or from historical writings and early publisher’s catalogues. Some such works have vanished, but their documentation in this catalogue may one day contribute to some rediscoveries.

Červenka and Seidel include sonatas or solos for bassoon with harpsichord, piano and/or other instruments; concertos, concertantes and other solos with orchestra; obbligatos to vocal arias; chamber music with strings or other winds; and educational works such as methods and etudes. The earliest composer cited is Zelenka. Before 1730, Antonín Reichenauer wrote concertos for bassoon in a Vivaldian idiom, and František Jiránek during the 1750s.

From the early classical period are concertos by Fiala, Koželuch, Laube, Makovec, Neruda, Rössler (Rosetti), Stamitz (Stamic) and Wanhal (Vaňhal). Beginning in 1796, the trend was away from concertos and toward variations with orchestra (Kalliwoda, Nudera – no relation to Neruda – Reicha (Rejcha), Carl Ferdinand Schmitbach and František Schmitbach). A bassoon joined strings in quartets and quintets by Kramář (Krommer), Rausch, Sperger and others.

The woodwind quintet medium, in eclipse after Reicha’s well-known offerings, was revived by Sobek (1879) and Weber (1900).

Among the most famous bassoon virtuosi of his day was the Bohemian Václav Wenzel Neukirchner (1805–1889), who concertised in Paris before settling in the Stuttgart court orchestra. He is represented by forty surviving compositions: concertos for one or two bassoons, a concertino, variations, fantasias, potpourris and other works. Curiously, the editors list Neukirchner’s substantial bassoon method (1840) as ‘Not found. Probably lost.’

But www.worldcat.org lists copies in the libraries of Harvard and Columbia universities.

Only sparsely represented are opera arias with bassoon obbligato: two by Benda, three by Brixi, one by Gassman and three by Müller, plus one oratorio aria

by Mysliveček. Interested readers can also consult www.jimstockigtinfo.com/arias_with_obbligato_bassoon/, which covers 104 composers of all nationalities.

Stockigt lists four relevant arias unknown to Červenka, while Červenka lists ten unknown to Stockigt.

One intentional omission from the book is Harmoniemusik, a vast repertory of original compositions (partitas, parthias, etc) and arrangements for six or more winds, usually including bassoons in pairs and sometimes contrabassoon.

As the editors note, a dissertation by David Gasche documents about a dozen pieces involving bassoon(s) by

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seven of their composers (www.othes.univie.ac.at/7870/).

Also of interest is Susan Nita Barber’s dissertation, which includes a performance edition of a topical opera involving two Bohemians: Kaspar der Fagottist by Wenzel Müller, arranged for harmonie ensemble by Georg Druschetzky (www.digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/2272/).

The editors make no mention of the 613-page compendium

by Bodo Koenigsbeck: Bassoon Bibliography (Montreux: Musica Rara, 1994). This is possibly because RISM covers much of the same ground, and in more detail. Of 103 composers named by Červenka and Seidel, thirty-nine are absent from Koenigsbeck, whose entries are also terser.

But Koenigsbeck’s entries are vast in number including, for example, dozens each of partitas by the Bohemians Druschetzky, Dušek and Sperger. Moreover, Koenigsbeck lists modern editions and provides a rigorously detailed index organised by performing forces. Enthusiastic researchers of the bassoon repertory will want to have all these sources available.

For every included composer adept in the international musical idiom of his time (like Milde), another wrote in a highly distinctive voice (like Zelenka). For bassoonists longing to explore this beguiling repertory, the language barrier has fallen. Červenka and Seidel have unlocked a rich treasury, and the international bassoon community is in their debt. This book belongs on the shelves of libraries, conservatories and adventurous bassoonists.

James Kopp [* Note: ’Basoon’ is the correct spelling for the purpose of this link.]

CD REVIEWS Vive la différence Music by Damase, L. Boulanger, Ibert, Delius, Jacob, Naylor and E. Goossens Anthony Robb (flute), Jeremy Polmear (oboe) and Michael Bell (piano) Oboe Classics CC2035 ‘Vive la différence’ is the fruit of the latest project from Oboe Classics and the seemingly ageless Jeremy Polmear. As usual, Jeremy has unerringly identified a gap in our knowledge and appreciation of repertoire that I (and I suspect many others) hardly knew existed.

This is a disc of trios for flute, oboe and piano from France and England dating from the half century from 1910 to 1961, played with great sophistication and wit by Anthony Robb (flute and piccolo), Jeremy Polmear (oboe and cor anglais) and Michael Bell (piano).

The underlying idea is set out in two quotations in the excellent liner notes. One is from Debussy: ‘French music is clarity, elegance… above all, French music wants to please’ and the other from Yehudi Menuhin in which he says of English music that ‘…it is a very human music, not given to shattering utterances, to human emotion in the abstract, but to a single person’s experience’, whilst noting the influence that flowed from the French composers to the English.

Indeed it is not difficult to recognise a relationship in style and mood between the trios of Ibert and Damase and those by Gordon Jacob and Eugene Goossens, rooted in the aesthetic of Erik Satie, Jean Cocteau and Les Six. The works by Lili Boulanger, Delius and Edward Naylor in their different ways lie outside the post-1918 narrative of the other pieces; in the case of Delius’ Intermezzo from Fennimore and Gerda and Boulanger’s D’un Matin de Printemps, being both composed earlier (and arrangements of orchestral pieces), and Naylor’s Trio of 1924 having its origins in the tradition of nineteenth-century English church music.

The performances on this disc are delightful; subtle, intelligent and idiomatic, capturing precisely the spirit of Debussy’s aphorism. The individual playing is notable for the excellence of the accompanying – Jeremy Polmear’s mastery of soft dynamics in low register is, to the ear of a fellow oboist such as myself, little short of astonishing – at least as much as for the panache of the solo playing.

As an ensemble, they convey a real sense of enjoyment of the music and pleasure in each other’s performance, capturing perfectly the kaleidoscope that is the Damase, the

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exuberance of the Boulanger, the Spanishness of the Ibert, the quirkiness of the Jacob and the unaffected lyricism of the Naylor. If I have a reservation, it is with the Intermezzo from Fennimore and Gerda which to my ears comes across as unduly chaste, the piano harmonies seeming to demand a more voluptuous melodic expressiveness, the more so when one considers the subject matter of the opera from which it is drawn, a passionate love triangle set in nineteenth-century Denmark.

with wild acclaim and resulted in this new CD, ‘Reinvention’, albeit without some of the original members.

Richard Harvey has been replaced by Andy Findon, one of London’s top performers on a number of wind instruments in a variety of styles, and he is just the man for the job.

As I would expect from him, and from all the musicians here, the level of technical expertise is hugely impressive; intonation, ensemble and virtuosity from the entire group is at a very high level throughout.

Overall, it is a most enjoyable selection of repertoire beautifully played – better suited for dipping into than binge listening and to which I see myself returning repeatedly with increasing pleasure – the highlight of which for me is D’un Matin de Printemps in Jeremy Polmear’s own superlative arrangement.

The opening track introduces us to the group with recorders to the fore, but also the guitar, soprano crumhorn and Brian’s mellow voice (he was once a chorister I recall).

The instruments featured on the CD are as follows: bassoon, soprano and bass crumhorns, flute, piccolo, soprano and baritone saxophones, clarinet, sweetheart fife (what is this?), recorders, electric bass, double bass, violin, mandolin, harmonica, acoustic and electric guitars, piano, keyboards and, last but not least, ‘pestle ‘n mortar’! There’s a lot to keep your ear occupied.

Christopher Hooker Reinvention by Gryphon Brian Gulland (bassoon and crumhorn) with Andy Findon, Rory McFarlane, Dave Oberle, Graham Preskett and Graeme Taylor.

GRIFCD01 (Available from Amazon, etc.)

There were many bassoon students during my time as a student at the Royal College of Music, most of whom have pursued successful careers as bassoonists; but one of the more remarkable is Brian Gulland, who took an unconventional route. Brian studied with Kerry Camden at RCM, later learning privately with Martin Gatt. He played on a beautiful pre-war Kohlert, which he decorated with stars! This, allied to his immense hair, beads, massively flared trousers, flowery jackets and general air of hippiness, raised eyebrows in the ivory tower of academe which was the RCM in the late 1960s. However, while his more conservative contemporaries, myself included, were playing grubby little venues in search of a few pounds, Brian was backing Pentangle in the Royal Albert Hall and making a series of big selling LPs. How did this happen?

Was it due to his hours spent on Weissenborn and Milde?

Of course not.

Brian fell into good musical company early on and teamed up with Richard Harvey, a clarinet student, who was adept at all woodwind instruments, especially the recorder. (He also had big hair!) They started working in the ‘prog rock’ genre with their band Gryphon which, as the title implies, had a medieval flavour, helped by the use of recorders, crumhorns, bassoon, acoustic plucked instruments and traditional percussion. Other bands at this time included Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span, The Incredible String Band and Pentangle: but none of these had the bassoon as their magic ingredient. Gryphon made five successful albums between 1973 and 1977 and toured extensively after which the members went their separate ways.

In 2017 they emerged from various parts of the world to put on a concert in Islington’s Union Chapel which was met

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There are a variety of styles, but mostly in the folk/rock/medieval world and each track is harmonically very sophisticated. The bassoon has an important part throughout and there are several extended solo moments especially in Rhubarb Crumhorn, Haddocks’ Eyes, Dumbe Dum Chit and Sailor V. This latter is an example of Brian’s excruciating puns for which he apologises in the sleeve notes. His bassoon playing is accomplished throughout with a neatness of articulation and fine control. (Gryphon’s first LP featured the bassoon in Sir Gavin Grimbold, perhaps a tribute to the distinguished former teacher at RCM). The instrument is miked up in a number of ways producing several different effects.

The crumhorn, I should point out, is also a double reed instrument and this should be noted in this publication. It is a wonderful instrument in many ways but there are no dynamics; it is either on or off! Any attempt at diminuendo results in an immediate and disastrous drop in pitch… in my hands anyway. The two crumhorns on this disc add a charming middle-ages flavour to the texture, except when they freak out and become rock ‘n roll in Hospitality at a Price. The songs must be incredibly challenging to sing as the melodies twist and turn unexpectedly, and there is constant word play and punning: ‘once bittern, thrice shrike’ for bird lovers!

Gryphon have a sound all of their own and I recommend this without hesitation to all bassoonists and to anybody with an enquiring mind who wishes to be richly entertained for an hour.

Meyrick Alexander

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Artaria: Music by English composers for oboe and strings Celia Craig (oboe and cor anglais) www.artaria.co

as a CD or download from www.artaria.co, where programme notes, biographies and behind the scenes footage can also be found.

David Cowley

British born oboist Celia Craig, until recently Principal Oboe of the excellent Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, is Creative Director of Artaria, the Australian-based chamber ensemble. Celia’s new release of music for oboe and strings (with Elizabeth Layton and Anne Horton, violins; Caroline Henbest, viola; Michael Dahlenburg, cello) is a delightful collection of twentieth-century English pastoral music written between the two World Wars. Three original works for oboe and strings by Bax, Britten and Finzi, all dedicated to Léon Goossens, are complemented by Robert Stanton’s arrangement for cor anglais and string quartet of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Six Studies in English Folk Song.

London-born Arnold Bax wrote his Quintet for Oboe and Strings in 1922. Although the arabesques and flowing melodies of the first two movements are firmly embedded in the English pastoral tradition, the finale seems to be more influenced by the fascination Bax had with Ireland and Celtic culture. The initial merriment of its jig-like opening is transformed into something altogether darker in the central section. The jollity only returns briefly in the closing bars.

Celia’s evocative and individual sound blends beautifully with the excellent strings in this technically brilliant and passionately committed performance.

Benjamin Britten’s Phantasy Quartet (1932) is one of his earliest published works but already bears the stamp of the composer’s unique talent. The strings take a prominent role right from the beginning, with the oboe sometimes protagonist and sometimes ensemble member.

This performance conveys the arched structure of the work perfectly and fizzes with rhythmic energy and emotional intensity.

Gerald Finzi’s Interlude for Oboe and Strings (1932) was originally intended as part of a longer suite but, following a successful premiere given by Goossens and the Menges Quartet at the Wigmore Hall in 1936 was, in the end, published as a piece in its own right. Artaria’s reading, with subtly nuanced dynamics and colouration, captures the gentle lyricism of the work exquisitely.

Before moving to Australia in 2006, Celia held, in turn, the position of Principal Cor Anglais in the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. So it is not surprising that, as with her oboe playing, she brings an expressive eloquence and singing clarity of tone to this touching arrangement for cor anglais and string quartet of RVW’s Six Studies in English Folk Song (1926).

This superb recording, in addition to being beautifully performed, is well engineered and presented. It is available

CONCERT REVIEWS Celebrating the life of Neil Black, OBE Jonathan Kelly (oboe), Roderick Williams (baritone) and the Endellion Quartet Wigmore Hall 6th December On a Thursday in December, a packed Wigmore Hall heard a recital given by some of the world’s finest musicians in celebration of the life of the oboist Neil Black. Warm spoken tributes to Neil were also offered by Mozartian extraordinaire, Mitsuko Uchida and by oboist George Caird.

The recital opened with an exquisite rendition of the elegiac aria Ich habe genug from JS Bach’s Cantata BWV 82. The Endellion Quartet were joined by Paul Sherman, double bass and Harold Lester, chamber organ, accompanying baritone Roderick Williams and Jonathan Kelly, Principal Oboe with the Berlin Philharmonic. Jonathan Kelly’s sweet, liquid obbligato blended perfectly with Roderick Williams’ light, expressive baritone.

For the second item Jonathan Kelly was joined by three of the Endellion, violinist Ralph de Souza, violist Garfield Jackson and cellist David Waterman, in a performance of the Mozart Oboe Quartet K370. Originally written for the oboist Friedrich Ramm, the quartet pushed the boundaries of what was technically possible for the oboe in Mozart’s time. It not only remains to this day a technical tour de force for the oboe but also demands superlative control and fine musicianship. Jonathan Kelly and the Endellion rose effortlessly to these challenges in the piece, interweaving the oboe and string writing in a performance of great beauty and subtlety.

The first half of the concert concluded with Samuel Barber’s setting of Matthew Arnold’s haunting poem Dover Beach.

Written in 1851, shortly after he was married, Arnold takes comfort in love against the ‘eternal note of sadness’ he hears in the waves breaking on the beach. Barber was 21-years old when he set the poem for baritone and string quartet. Violinist Andrew Watkinson re-joined his colleagues in the Endellion to accompany Roderick Williams in a tenderly melancholic and beautifully structured performance.

The second part of the evening was devoted entirely to a performance of Beethoven’s String Quartet in F major, Op.59 No.1, written in 1808 and the first of three quartets

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commissioned by Count Andreas Kirillovich Razumovsky.

This is a work of epic proportions and makes huge demands on the technical prowess and the physical and mental stamina of the players. The Endellion gave a stunning performance, remarkable for its musical unity.

The sweeping grandeur of the opening Allegro was in marked contrast to the fragmented and very modern sounding Scherzo. A serenely beautiful Adagio was swept away by the fiery passion of the final Thème Russe.

This was an evening of the highest calibre of music making and a fitting tribute to Neil Black, a wonderful musician and a kind and gentle man.

This concert was in aid of the newly established Neil Black Award which will be awarded annually by the Munster Trust to an outstanding postgraduate woodwind student. Anyone wishing to donate to the award can do so online at www.munstertrust.org.uk/neil-black-award.

David Cowley Oboes in Concert Festival Chamber Orchestra, Canterbury St James Piccadilly, London 3rd November It was thanks to the modern miracles of Twitter and Facebook that I spotted this concert on the horizon.

Organised by Ian Crowther, it featured himself, Melinda Maxwell, Alison Teale and James Turnbull, all interesting players who approach playing the oboe from different perspectives. I arrived early as Ian had set up an oboe stall at the back of the church for people to try new instruments.

This was a genius idea as it turned the concert into an event. The ‘oboe area’ quickly became a hub of activity, and from my point of view a place for catching up with friends and colleagues.

I was concerned, looking at the programme, that it might be like an end of term school concert, with each player getting up to do their ‘party piece’. The reality was that the evening had a collaborative feel to it, with no one person dominating; more a sense of players sharing their expertise and contributing something individual. The concert opened with Melinda, Alison and James playing the brilliant Intercession by James MacMillan. They performed this upstairs at the back of the church. From my position sitting at the back and virtually underneath them it was incredibly atmospheric: St James has the perfect acoustic for this piece, the idea being that there is a single line which passes between the players. Next was a string orchestra piece – a palette cleanser – the St Paul’s Suite by Holst. Peter Warlock’s Capriol Suite was played in the second half to break up oboe repertoire there too. Both pieces are full of familiar tunes and the perfect way to offset some of the more ‘out there’ oboe repertoire.

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Zipoli’s Adagio for Oboe and Cello, made famous from incessant repeats on Classic FM around 15 years ago, was played by Ian and principal cellist Julia Vohralik. It was lovely to hear the piece in its entirety, and the solo lines were sensitively played and beautifully matched. Last in the first half was The Departure of the Queen of Sheba. I heard this first a few years ago, and I think it’s a great piece. In contrast to The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, which is lively and heraldic in nature, this is much more sensual and full of colour. Scored for oboe and cor anglais, Melinda and Alison were the soloists against a backdrop of strings.

Ian’s contribution to the second half consisted of two baroque arrangements, the Andantino from the Pergolesi Concerto, and the Prelude and Allemande from the CorelliBarbirolli Concerto. These are reasonably ‘easy’ pieces, but Ian put his own innovative slant on them. Accompanied by pianist David Rees Williams, the performance moved away from baroque style and into jazz café mode. I half expected a waiter to serve cocktails during this. It was a simple twist, and it worked brilliantly. And then Melinda played jazz. I’ve heard one or two jazz oboe renditions before on YouTube, but nothing like this. Melinda not only has an incredible imagination in this style, she also has a jaw-dropping flexibility of sound and control over the oboe. If there was an Olympic medal for popping out extraordinarily high notes with no preamble, Melinda would surely win gold! She played two pieces, the first based on Varese, which I particularly enjoyed for its angularity, and the second was the classic Autumn Leaves.

Albinoni’s Double Oboe Concerto (Alison and James) brought the concert to a close. I do hope more events like this take place in the future. Highly recommended, not only for an evening’s entertainment, but for the social warmth and feeling of collaboration amongst the artists.

Jessica Mogridge

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Noticeboard Items – both for this page in DRN and for ‘Events’ on the website – can be sent to noticeboard@bdrs.org.uk Use the entries below as a guide to suitable length.

Sunday 17th February: the BIG Double Reed Day is back! This year’s event will be held at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and as ever we are offering a very full programme of events for students of all ages and abilities. Workshops on offer to students this year include sessions focusing on articulation, posture, practice, reeds, sound and technique, opportunities to try the contrabassoon and early instruments and, for more advanced students, orchestral repertoire sessions and advanced audition preparation classes. To register visit: www.bigdoublereed.com/apply.php

Saturday 23rd March: CBSO Woodwind Team presents ‘All About The Bass!’ at CBSO Centre, Birmingham. A one-day workshop for cor anglais, bass clarinet and contrabassoon; all about taking chances, making mistakes and sharing knowledge.

The day is for players aged 18 and over and it will be a fantastic opportunity to work with CBSO players Margaret Cookhorn (contrabassoon), Rachael Pankhurst (cor anglais) and Mark O’Brien (bass clarinet).

All participants must bring their own instrument. Applicants please visit our website for more details: www.cbso.co.uk/take-part/all-about-the-bass-woodwind-playalong

Sunday 14th April 2019: a Bassoon Day with the popular Laurence Perkins.

The venue is the beautiful village of Dorchester-on-Thames.

Suitable for amateurs of all ages, it will include ensemble playing, 20-minute individual master-classes for up to 6 players, and a detailed Q&A session. £40/£25.

Apply at www.oxfordrehearsalday.org

30th April to 4th May: BDRS 5-Day Course – four days plus a Double Reed Day – at Park Place, Wickham, Hampshire.

Further details on Page 19, also on www.bdrs.org.uk and distributed via social media.

Led by Laurence Perkins and John Anderson. An outstanding opportunity to tackle a wide range of technical aspects including posture, breathing, tone, tuning, dynamics, projection, and of course reeds! Give your playing the boost it deserves!

The final day is the BDRS Double Reed Day: a fantastic well-packed event with guest players, trade stalls and lots more! Details at www.bdrs.org.uk/music-courseapplication-form/30-april-4th-may-2019-5-day-oboe-bassoon-course-double-reed-day/

Sunday 26th May 2019: Visit to the Waterhouse Collection of historic bassoons near Cheltenham. £Free but do let us know if you want to come.

Speakers include David Chatterton on the classical bassoon, Meyrick Alexander on playing instruments of different types and ages, Laurence Perkins, and a photo study of professional bassoonists by Clare Glenister plus a massed play-in. Bring your instruments. £Free but do let us know if you want to come.

Details at www.oxfordrehearsalday.org.

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WIND CHAMBER MUSIC 2019 in the Lake District at Higham Hall, tutored by Laurence Perkins.

A very small number of places on the SPRING course (3-7 March, high intermediate/advanced) and the SUMMER course (7-12 July, high-advanced).

There is also a new AUTUMN course (16-20 October, intermediate/elementary) which (alongside the chamber groups) includes instrumental sessions to help you brush up your technique and pick up valuable tips.

Details at www.laurenceperkins.com/wind-serenades/

For oboe and bassoon courses in 2018/19 at the Jackdaws Music Education Trust, Great Elm, Frome, Somerset, BA11 3NY, telephone 01373 812383 or email music@jackdaws.org

For oboe and bassoon courses in 2018/19 at Benslow Music, Benslow Lane, Hitchin, Hertfordshire SG4 9RB, telephone 01462 459446 or visit www.benslowmusic.org

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Classified Bassoonists!

Free your hands and neck and use a spike.

Tel: 01206 382567.

Nissen Bassoon Crooks made for professional players.

Order with full details from www.nissenbassooncrooks.co.uk on a sale or return policy.

Billerbeck Oboe Reeds Hand crafted reeds made by Marjorie Downward.

Oboe, oboe d'amore, cor anglais and bass oboe.

Gouged and shaped oboe cane.

Tel: 01343 835430 www.billerbeckoboereeds.co.uk Oboe and Cor Anglais Reeds David Cowdy. www.reedmaker.co.uk Tel: 07905 322381 Email: davidcowdy@gmail.com Unique Trios and Quartets for Bassoon! javalinapress.com Triple Case (oboe, flute, clarinet).

Custom made. £99 +p&p. Tel: 07817489905 for photos.

Much sought after ADLER BASSOON 1357/2 One careful owner, beautiful condition, free blowing, resonant sound, suit beginner-serious amateur. Recent o/haul including recorked joints.

25 silver-plated Keys/5 rollers/High D/3 Trill keys/RThumb Bb/Ab. One No 2 Schreiber crook. Hard case/sling/cleaning rods/thumb rest etc. £3,500.

Tel: 07800 780898 Email: beccyroberts1@hotmail.com. Notts UK. One Oboe for sale – Howarth XL thumbplate in cocobolo wood – a superb professional model ideal for an excellent student or just someone who wants an outstandingly good oboe!

Five years old, one careful owner. Valued by Howarth's at £5.500.

Tel: 07948 407209 Email: ian.lightowler@virgin.net Bassoon for sale – Adler Sonora 1357/2 (No 5322, c1974).

Bosnian maple, 25 nickel plated keys (some a little worn) and 5 rollers, cork joints. Good condition. Recently serviced. 2 Adler crooks.

Hard Protech case. Plays beautifully. £2,750 ono. Warwickshire.

Tel: 07305 815679 Email: cvincett1@msn.com

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Advertising in the Double Reed News Next copy deadline: 15th April 2019

The following rates apply for camera-ready copy.

Any additional artwork will be charged at cost.

To place an advertisement or obtain further information please contact Miles Nipper, email: advertising@bdrs.org.uk

Whole page Half page

(265mmH x 190mmW) (130mmH x 190mmW or 265mmH x 92mmW) Quarter page (130mmH x 92mmW or 62mmH x 190mmW)

Eighth page

(62mmH x 92mmW)

Single £210

Series £188

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Special positions add 10% £125

Loose inserts Up to 8grams

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Pre-paid only, first 12 words Extra words

£5.00 £0.40 (per word)

Please make cheques payable to British Double Reed Society.

Copy requirements: If sending by email please enquire first to discuss format.

Photographs can be sent digitally or as prints or negatives.

Layout and text is acceptable but the publishers reserve the right to charge for artwork.

Advertisers will be notified if this is necessary.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS. The society reserves the right to refuse or withdraw any advertisement at its discretion wihout stating a reason, nor does it accept responsibility for omissions, clerical errors, or the statements made by advertisers, although every effort is made to check the bona fides of advertisers and avoid mistakes. The Society welcomes articles, letters and other contributions for publication in this magazine, and reserves the right to amend them. Any such contribution is, however, accepted on the understanding that its author is responsible for the opinions expressed in it and that its publication does not necessarily imply that such opinions are in agreement with the Society. Articles submitted for publication in this magazine should be original unpublished work and are accepted on the basis that they will not be published in any other magazine, except by permission of the Editor. However, the BDRS has agreements with like-minded societies with whom the sharing of published items does from time to time take place.

Acceptance of material for publication is not a guarantee that it will in fact be included in any particular issue. No responsibility can be accepted by the Double Reed News, the Editor (or the British Double Reed Society committee) or contributors for action taken as a result of information contained in this publication. © Copyright 2019 British Double Reed News. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying and recording and the Internet, without the written permission of the publishers. Such written permission must also be obtained before any part of the publication is stored in a retrieval system.

The Society’s membership list is held on a database. The policy adopted by the Society is that the list will not be disclosed to any third party and is maintained solely for the purposes of administering the Society.

The individual name and address of any member who is on the Teachers’ Register may be given in answer to a query from someone wishing to take up music lessons. Any organisation wishing to circulate the membership is free to ask to place an advertisement in Double Reed News or make a leaflet insertion in the next issue on payment of an appropriate fee.

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Membership Standard membership £25.00 Student membership £15.00 Additional charge for postage of Double Reed News outside the UK: Europe (including Eire) as above plus £5.00 Rest of the world as above plus £10.00 Fees will be payable in Sterling only.

Membership Enquiries: Guy Thomas (Membership Secretary) email: membership@bdrs.org.uk

Re-order Services Back copies of DRN (where available) can be obtained by sending £4.50 to the Membership Secretary.

Single articles are available from the Editorial Office. Post/fax/email the details. Copies will be sent out with an invoice for 50p per page.

Concessions 10% discount on music, accessories and insurance from the following and various concert discounts as advertised in DRN: Howarth of London 31/33 Chiltern Street, London W1U 7PN 020 7935 2407 J Myatt Woodwind 55 Nightingale Road, Hitchin, Herts SG5 1RQ 01462 420057 Crowther of Canterbury 1 The Borough, Canterbury, Kent CT1 2DR 01227 763965 Allianz Musical Insurance 6 Vale Avenue, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 1EH 0870 240 0303 Crook and Staple 2-4 Monnow Street, Monmouth NP25 3EE 029 2078 9335 www.crookandstaple.com The British Double Reed Society is a non profit-making organisation established to further the interests of all involved with the oboe and bassoon.

The BDRS acts as a national forum for debate and the exchange of ideas, information and advice on all aspects of double reed instruments.

It also fulfils an important role in encouraging greater interest in the instruments, and securing their place in the wider cultural and educational environment.

Registered Charity No. 1080461

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