Concert - March 21st

Wow - what a fabulous evening we had! We had probably our largest audience to date to perform to...no doubt strengthened by the Songbyrds' supporters, but we weren't daunted, and everybody played their best. We thoroughly enjoyed performing with the Songbyrds...so I'm sure there'll be another collaboration in the future...we just need to think of some suitable pieces!

Here's what we played:

 

Programme

'Slavonic Dance No. 8' - Dvorak (Arr. H. Brammer)

The Broken Consort

'Cantique de Jean Racine' – Faure (Arr. H. Brammer)

The Broken Consort & The Songbyrds

Directed by Ben Cox

'Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring' from Cantata No. 147 - J. S. Bach (Arr. H. Brammer)

Heather Loebl (Flute); Imogen Locke, Maureen Snell (Treble Recorders); Margaret Willson ('Cello); & Angela Ayton (Harpsichord)

'Promenade – Walking the Dog' – Gershwin (Arr. H. Brammer)

Heather Loebl, Alison Shaw (Flutes); Polly Kaufmann (Oboe); Helen Brammer, Theresa Hitching (Clarinets); & Mike Winterburn (Bassoon)

'Rondeau' from 'Abdelazer' – Purcell (Arr. H. Brammer)

Penny Layland, Judy Skelton (Flutes); Annabel Crowe (Oboe); Theresa Hitching, Anya Sitaram, Nicola Thompson (Clarinets); Kath Russell, John Marshall, Rod Lackey(Violins); Mike Winterburn (Bassoon); & Diana Locke (Double Bass)

'Sound of Silence' – Simon & Garfunkel
'Scarborough Fair' - Trad.
'El Condor Pasa' - Simon & Garfunkel
'Unexpressed' – John Bucchino

The Songbyrds

Directed by Ben Cox

'Affettuoso & Vivace' from Trio Sonata in F – Telemann

Imogen Locke (Treble Recorder); Penny Layland (Flute); Margaret Willson ('Cello); & Maureen Snell (Harpsichord)

'Andante & Rondo' – Doppler

Heather Loebl, Helen Brammer (Flutes); & Angela Ayton (Piano)

'The Ashokan Farewell' – Jay Ungar (Arr. H. Brammer)

The Broken Consort

'I Feel Pretty' from 'West Side Story' – Bernstein (Arr. H. Brammer)

The Broken Consort & The Songbyrds

Directed by Ben Cox

Of course there was an 'after party'...again hosted by Angela & Mike (thank you!) where much delicious food (and drink) was enjoyed! The concert was filmed...not by me this time...and the videos will be appearing on our YouTube channel at some point, so I'll let you know when they're there.

Class - 14th March

Ok, it was all systems go...it was our last chance to rehearse our concert pieces, and we had a deadline...the Songbyrds were arriving at 8.30pm...so we had to whizz through everything else before they arrived! Our joint pieces with the Songyrds sounded great - it was good to know that we hadn't forgotten all the things we talked about the last time!

Small group items:

• 'Rondeau' from 'Abdelazer' by Purcell (Arr. H. Brammer) - Penny, Judy, Theresa, Nicola, Mike, Kath, John & Rod 
• 'Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring' by Bach (Arr. H. Brammer) - Heather, Imogen, Maureen, Margaret & Angela
• 'Sentimental Journey' by Brown, Green & Homer & 'Music for the Royal Fireworks' by Handel (Arr. van der Goot) - Alison, Dermot, Polly & Helen
• 'Promenade - Walking the Dog' by Gershwin (Arr. H. Brammer) - Heather, Alison, Polly, Helen, Theresa & Mike
• Trio Sonata in F Major by Telemann - Penny, Imogen, Margaret & Maureen
• 'Music for the Royal Fireworks' by Handel & 'Fiddler on the Roof by Harnick & Bock (Arr. van der Goot) - Annabel, Dermot, Nicola, Kath, John, Rod, Diana & Angela

Class - 14th February

We worked hard on our full ensemble pieces at last week's class, in preparation for our first joint rehearsal with the Songbyrds which will happen after our half-term break. It's the first time in the Broken Consort's 40 year history that there's been a collaboration with another group, so we're all very excited to hear how it sounds!

Small group items:

• 'Rondeau' from 'Abdelazer' by Purcell (Arr. H. Brammer) - Penny, Judy, Theresa, Anya, Nicola, Mike, Kath, John, Rod & Diana
• 'Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring' by J.S. Bach (Arr. H. Brammer) - George, Imogen, Maureen, Margaret & Joan
• 'Andante & Rondo' by Doppler - Heather, Helen & Angela

Class - 31st January

After a couple of weeks of record beating attendances, for one reason or another, we were back down to more modest numbers last week. Despite some gaps, our large ensemble pieces are progressing well, and we look forward to our first rehearsal with the Songbyrds at the end of the month.

Small group items:

• 'Rondeau' from 'Abdelazer' by Purcell (Arr. H. Brammer) - Penny, Helen, Annabel, Theresa, Anya, Nicola, Kath, John & Mike
• 'Valse des Fleurs' by Kohler - Heather, Alison & Angela
• Trio Sonata in G Minor by Pepusch - Maureen, Polly & Imogen

Class - 10th January

Happy New Year everyone! We had our first class of the term last Thursday, and welcomed back Anya (on clarinet) as well as Alison (on flute). We have an exciting collaboration planned for our end of term concert with the Songbyrds, and began working on one of the pieces we will be performing together, 'I Feel Pretty' from 'West Side Story' by Leonard Bernstein, as well as an old favourite 'Slavonic Dance No. 8' by Dvorak.

Small group items:

• 'Rondeau' by Purcell (Arr. H. Brammer) - Alison, Judy, Helen, Polly, Margaret & Joan
• Trio Sonata 'Le Romain' by Hotteterre - Imogen, Maureen & Angela
• 'Che soave zeffiretto' from 'The Marriage of Figaro' by Mozart (Arr. H. Brammer) - Heather, Annabel, Theresa, Dermot, Mike, Kath, John & Diana

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!

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!

Class - 17th March

We were back to almost full strength last night, and with only a couple more rehearsals to go before our concert, 'The Hebrides Overture' and 'Wedding Day at Troldhaugen' are taking shape nicely...although we may find it more difficult to stay together when we try them without me standing at the front stamping my foot in time....but that's a job for next week!

Small group items:

• 'Rondeau' by Purcell - Annie, Penny, Diana, Kath & Polly
• Finger Trio Sonata in G Minor - George, Imogen, Margaret & Joan
• 'Alice & the Mad Hatter' by Geoffry Russell-Smith - Helen, Theresa & Dermot
• 'Divertimento' by Paul Harris - Heather, Annabel, Helen, Mike & Angela