FEATURES

 
Feel free to offer a contribution to this section.
sinfonietta@blueyonder.co.uk
(or any committee member will pass it on).
 

The Story of the Sinfonietta

The Poetry of Tom Owen

Sir Thomas Beecham

Johann Sebastian Bach

The Sefton Quartet

Thoughts on the Music (articles on works the Sinfonietta has played)

 The Story behind the Sinfonietta
by Alan Free

I had always nursed a strong desire to conduct.  I am told that even as a small child I used to move my arms in response to music.  However, partly because of my own misguided choice at the age of 18, I embarked on a career as a primary school teacher.

When rare opportunities to conduct came along, I seized them with relish.  I was the musical director of the Newton-le-Willows Amateur Dramatic and Operatic Society from 1975 to 1985.  In the late 1970s I conducted a church choir in Newton, and in 1984 was invited to conduct the New Cross Singers. an ecumenical choir based at the Ormskirk Street United Reformed Church, St Helens (a post I still hold).  I also sang as a member of the St Helens Choral Society from 1978 to 2003.  In 1992, owing to the illness of the conductor, I was asked to conduct them at fairly short notice in a concert at the Town Hall.

But what really kick-started the dream into becoming reality was a concert which my wife and I attended during a holiday in Normandy in July 1997.  It was given in a church in the village of St Jean-le-Thomas by the Chamber Orchestra of Mont St Michel Bay.  The programme and the playing were highly enjoyable.  Afterwards, Helen said to me, "You could do that !".  Rusty wheels in my brain started revolving. I decided to form an orchestra in St Helens.  It was fortunate that I was working part-time, for it would have been impossible to combine the time devoted to the orchestra with a full-time teaching post.

I already had numerous contacts, and soon after returning from Normandy I spoke to Pat Donnelly, who had played with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hallé, and had been a founder member of the Manchester Camerata.  She agreed to become leader of the orchestra.   I  sought the help also of John Currie, who is a Scottish Chartered Accountant.  I knew he would be an admirable Treasurer.

Wishing to ensure high-quality playing, I decided that the orchestra must be professional.  Although St Helens had no tradition of orchestral playing, I was sure that in a town of some 200,000 people there would be enough interest to make the project viable.  The name of the orchestra was chosen, a bank account was opened, and the first concert took place on 24th October 1997.

Since then, the St Helens Sinfonietta has given many performances.  It is a recognised part of the cultural scene of St Helens, and the quality of the playing continues to impress. 

 
Our success is due to the dedication of the players and the hard work of the voluntary Committee - including my wife, whose support is invaluable.  Needless to say, I am happy doing what I always wanted to do.  It isn't an easy job, but it is very satisfying.

And, perhaps more importantly, St Helens now has an asset that every community needs -- live classical music.

Tom is a locally-based poet of distinction.  His book, In-between Time, is published by Wynfolde Press (contact sinfonietta@blueyonder.co.uk for further information).  He is well known for his poetry readings, and has given one as part of one of our concerts.  Here are two poems Tom has sent us, written after our concerts of 17th April and 5th November 2005  respectively.

by Tom E. Owen  

They seemed an ordinary bunch of folk,
Exchanging nods and smiles, just as friends do.
Their squeaky tuning-up reminded me
Of ropes and rigging worked by sea-boat's crew.

But then, a mighty heart and mind straightway
Spoke out -- of lightning, tempest and the dark;
Of all-embracing suns and spawning seas,
And daybreak and the rising of the lark;
And of the pageantry and pain of things.

We had been bound by this great music's spell,
And with our orchestra made common cause.
Now see them smile and nod -- all things are well,
For love and joy sweep in with the applause.

And we well know, returning home to rest,
That this night's jewel was amongst our best,
And we had made no ordinary quest.

Music at the U.R.C.

by Tom E. Owen

This place is homely with the warmth of friends,
And glows with scenes from a familiar story.
A Youngster learns to be a carpenter;
His loving parents shepherding His glory.

Then -- tall, mature and charismatic now --
He bids folk, "Let the children come to Me."
For though the parents can't think why or how,
This is the way His Kingdom's meant to be.

Meanwhile, we hear great music sound and swell,
As Mozart's Fortieth weaves its subtle spell.
Our orchestra and audience link and gel,
While Time stands still, and all the world is well.

Then listening hearts ask, "When we quit this Stage,
With all its darkness, misery and rage,
Will we, in some strange sense, surrender breath
For every Art with inner Spirit blest;
For Mozart's Muse -- and news from Nazareth?"

Both Science and Cosmology suggest
That "Change"is now the better name for "Death".

There are some rare occasions in our lives
Which take upon themselves significance,
So far above the normal run of things
As to reserve a place in hearts and minds.
Such was the Thomas Beecham Concert, held
On June the thirtieth, two thousand seven,
To a thrilled audience, packed in our Town Hall.
There was a sense in which we all "belonged"
--- A noble concord of the best we were,
As this great music laid our senses bare,
When sounding seas of Peace, Strife, Love and Fate
Hinted beyond our current mental "gate".

There are several well-known stories of famous conductors who got their big break by taking over a concert at the last minute and doing it brilliantly, but none is more remarkable than that of the début of Thomas Beecham  in St.Helens in 1899.  His father, Sir Joseph, had engaged the Hallé Orchestra and the great Hans Richter, but the latter withdrew.  20-year-old Thomas, already an accomplished musician, had conducted a few amateur performances, and convinced his father that he could take over the announced programme as it stood.  The orchestra thought otherwise, but gave way when Joseph threatened to engage a rival orchestra instead.  The programme was a long and strenuous one -- admittedly of pieces the orchestra knew well, but they still had to be conducted, and the first thing the players realised was that Thomas, at a few days' notice, knew the scores as well as they did.  The available rehearsal time was hardly more than half the length of the concert, and the soprano soloist did not even turn up to rehearse.  Thomas, despite his grave disadvantages of inexperience and extreme (and

somewhat bumptious) youth, won the orchestra's confidence, rehearsed the bits that mattered most, and in the evening led performances entirely above the ordinary, if contemporary accounts are to be believed.  Particularly notable was his success in directing the three operatic numbers performed by the singer with whom he had not rehearsed at all.  The major item in the programme was none other than Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, which Thomas was able to conduct from memory.  The first movement of that work is particularly difficult technically for the conductor, no matter how well the orchestra may know it, but they were with him by now, and there were no mishaps.  "The young fellow certainly knows his music", grudgingly admitted one hardened player afterwards, "and there's something about him - we're not quite sure what." !  That something carried Thomas on to greatness.

Perhaps no other conductor could have had such a start - a father hiring a symphony orchestra? - and some have belittled Beecham's subsequent career on the grounds that the family wealth made it easy for him.  Certainly he was in a unique position to establish new orchestras and to put on fabulous seasons of opera in London without having to stick to the few money-spinning popular works.  But family wealth doesn't organise orchestras and opera companies from scratch, memorise hundreds of scores, conduct complex rehearsals, coach singers to excel themselves, win the undying love of hard-bitten professional orchestras, lead unforgettable performances and make immortal recordings.  And anyone who thinks that Beecham had it easy should go to the biographies and read of the financial disasters and other griefs brought about by his generous dedication to the marvellous art of music.  We may wonder what he would have made of our world today, and of the low respect in which great music is held by so many.

Beecham was a short compact man, portly in later years, dignified and courteous even in anger.  His eyes (the "Beecham family eyes") were so dark as to appear black, and their piercing gaze could dominate a room.  His imperious voice conveyed humour, confidence and an iron will.  His manner on the podium was mercurial, and sometimes bore little relation to orthodox conducting technique, but when the orchestra really "needed a beat" it was always there, crystal-clear.  His rehearsals are the

stuff of legend.  Full respect was given to the talents of individual orchestra members, while Beecham's never-failing wit (sometimes cruel) banished dullness.  Corners might seem to be cut, but he would have spent many hours marking up his intentions in his own personal sets of orchestra parts, laying a firm foundation for a glorious freedom of interpretation "on the night".

To the public he was like a kindly but somewhat terrifying uncle, often drawing them in with a jovial little speech, but quite prepared to tell them off if the occasion arose.  Those beady eyes could dominate an auditorium !  What he called his "lollipops" were short charming pieces from which he would select one to reward the audience at the end of a concert that had demanded their receptive concentration.

A true world figure, Sir Thomas did not return to St Helens in his maturity, but he never forgot the town, or the father and grandfather whose industry and enterprise had launched and underpinned his wonderful career.

Johann Sebastian Bach

by Ted Kirk
 

Today, when we speak simply of Bach, we all mean one man.  But in his day, Johann Sebastian Bach was one of many.  The extraordinary musical family to which he belonged produced at least 21 eminent musicians, most of them composers, in three generations in the 17th and 18th centuries.  The test of time has singled out Sebastian, but he held his uncles and cousins in high respect, learned much from them, and launched several of his sons pioneering into the next age of music.  He himself followed a down-to-earth, hardworking career, serving several princes and then

 settling down in the second half of his life as choirmaster at the school and church of St Thomas, Leipzig.  In those latter years, though so beset with musical demands in his working hours, he liked nothing better as relaxation than to take part in a musical evening with the local "amateur" Music Society, where they would settle down to enjoy playing through instrumental concertos, often Bach's own, or ones he had arranged.   

Bach was perhaps the most productive composer of all time, though he lived in an age of very prolific composers.  True, he worked within a highly structured framework of technical rules, customary procedures and established genres, which made the steady flow of production easier for a busy working musician such as he was.  But the wonderful thing about his music is its sheer sustained quality and originality.  With all those supporting rules and conventions, it was easy to write routine music, but the great composers were those who didn't.  And Bach never did.

The several fat volumes of organ music, the hundreds of multi-movement Church Cantatas, the catalogue of intricate yet melodious fugues - very few people nowadays can claim to know all Bach's surviving music intimately, but the benefit of this ignorance is that there are always fresh glories to be discovered.  Bach's music challenges ordinary listeners with its complexity and depth of content, even while beguiling them with simple, irresistible, unforgettable tunes.

Selected Répertoire

Country Gardens
Greensleeves
Chanson de Matin
Solveig's Song
Fiddle Dance
Salut d'Amour
The Sound of Music
Beatles Medley
THe Blue Danube
The Entertainer
Blue Tango
Anything Goes
Dr Finlay's Casebook
Lady Madonna
The Man I Love
Over the Rainbow
Moonlight and Roses
Making Whoopee
Westminster Waltz
Nessun Dorma
Handel's Largo
When I'm 64
Memory
Summertime
Somebody Loves Me
Paragon Rag
Roses from the South
Water Music
etc., etc.

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