Broken Consort

A 'broken consort' is an ensemble made up of instruments from more than one family, for example, a group featuring both string and wind instruments.

Thursday 28 April 2011

Class - 28th April

A new term means new music...and we started this evening's class with the Overture to 'The Magic Flute' by Mozart...we just need to get it twice as fast by the end of term concert! We also revisited a couple of old favourites, the 'Waltz' and 'Polka' from Shostakovich's Jazz Suite No. 1...although they didn't seem all that familiar to everyone!

Small group items:
  • Sonata in C by Gottfried Keller - Imogen, Penny, Kath, Polly, Margaret & Angela
  • 'Sheep May Safely Graze' by J. S. Bach - Judy, Annabel & Dermot
  • 'Adagio Cantabile (Mrs Winslow's Soothing Syrup)' by Elgar - Helen, Annie, Diana, Theresa & Mike

Friday 8 April 2011

Spring Concert

Wow...what a fantastic evening we had last night at our Spring concert! It was a bit of a new venture for us, we shared the concert with a newly formed all female group of singers (also based in Ealing), called The Songbyrds. We are planning to include some joint items with The Songbyrds in our future concerts, but this was just to 'test the water'! We also welcomed some new audience members, with some members of the Church's congregation, and also friends and family of The Songbyrds. If you weren't there...here's what you missed:

Programme

'Wedding Day at Troldhaugen' – Grieg (Arr. H. Brammer)
The Broken Consort

'Rondeau' – Purcell (Arr. H. Brammer)
Annie Kaufmann, Penny Layland (Flute); Diana Locke (Tenor Recorder); Kath Russell (Violin); and Polly Kaufmann (Viola)

'The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba' – Handel
Angela Ayton & Imogen Locke (Piano)

'Adagio' & 'Allegro' from Trio Sonata in G Minor – Finger
George Goodall, Imogen Locke (Treble Recorder); Margaret Willson (Cello); and Joan Goodall (piano)

'Song of the Tree of Life' – Vaughan Williams
The Songbyrds

'Duo' – Busoni
Heather Loebl, Helen Brammer (Flute); and Angela Ayton (Piano)

Sonata da Chiesa – Corelli
Annabel Crowe, Polly Kaufmann (Oboe); and Mike Winterburn (Bassoon)

'Berceuse' – Faure
Heather Loebl, Annie Kaufmann & Penny Layland (Flute)

'Ave Verum Corpus' – Faure, Mozart & Elgar
The Songbyrds

'Vivace' & 'Allegro' from Trio Sonata in F Major – Telemann
Imogen Locke (Treble Recorder); Diana Locke (Tenor Recorder); Margaret Willson (Cello); and Joan Goodall (Piano)

'Alice' – Geoffry Russell-Smith
Helen Brammer, Theresa Hitching & Dermot Stone (Clarinet)

'Divertimento' (Romance, Intermezzo, Serenade & Burlesque) – Paul Harris
Heather Loebl (Flute); Annabel Crowe (Oboe); Helen Brammer (Clarinet); Mike Winterburn (Bassoon); and Angela Ayton (Piano)

'Autumn Leaves' – Kosma & Prevert
The Songbyrds

'All that Jazz' – Kander & Ebb
The Songbyrds

'The Hebrides Overture' – Mendelssohn (Arr. H. Brammer)
The Broken Consort

Phew...looks like it was a bit of a marathon, but the concert was no longer than our previous ones...just a lot more slick with the changeovers! And our rendition of 'The Hebrides Overture' was (and I'm quoting a couple of our audience members here) 'triumphant'! Well done everyone - you really excelled yourselves!

I do have a few photos...apologies for the blurryness of some of these...I blame my photographer!










I'm also going to add these to our 'Photos' page, which you can find at the top of the blog...we've also added some information about The Broken Consort, written by Kath, to the 'About Us' page, which was also included in the programme for last night's concert.

Oh...and it wouldn't be a Broken Consort concert, and party (thanks Angela and Mike for once again being excellent hosts!) without some cakes:


Nearly forgot...as usual, admission was free to our concert, but we did have a retiring collection in aid of the Church's fund to restore their Walker organ (more details can be found here), which raised a massive £75!

Friday 1 April 2011

Class - 31st March

It was all systems go last night for the final rehearsal before our concert next week. The large ensemble pieces are sounding great, and I think we're all looking forward to (but perhaps a little nervous of) having some new audience members to perform to.

Small group items:
  • 'Alice' (she's lost the Mad Hatter!) by Geoffry Russell-Smith - Helen, Theresa & Dermot
  • Finger Trio Sonata in G Minor - George, Imogen, Margaret & Joan
  • 'Rondeau' by Purcell - Annie, Penny, Diana, Kath & Polly
  • 'Divertimento' by Paul Harris - Heather, Annabel, Helen, Mike & Angela
  • Telemann Trio Sonata in F Major - Imogen, Diana, Margaret & Joan
  • Corelli Sonata da Chiesa - Annabel, Polly & Mike
  • 'Berceuse' by Faure - Heather, Annie & Penny
  • 'The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba' by Handel - Angela & Imogen
  • 'Duo' by Busoni - Heather, Helen & Angela

Phew! I'm not sure we've ever managed to get through so much in one evening!