Let's get down to brass facts!
WINCHMORE STRING ORCHESTRA SUMMER 2024 NEWSLETTER
President Roz Lishak
Leader Chris Gundry
Conductor Martin Smith
What’s the difference between a trumpet and a flugelhorn? A good person to answer that would be Peter Desmond, who will be the soloist in a concerto for each of them at our next concert. The works concerned are the Trumpet Concerto in D by Giuseppe TORELLI, an Italian composer who lived in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and the Flugelhorn Concerto by Alan RIDOUT, a prolific but not widely-known British 20th-century composer. Peter will also play the flugelhorn in his own arrangement of Oblivion by the Argentinian master of the tango, Astor PIAZZOLA.
Peter Desmond
Albeit himself a violinist and viola-player, Torelli loved the trumpet and wrote several pieces for it. He lived, however, in the Baroque period, before the invention of valves, which expand a brass instrument’s capabilities, and today it is usual to play the modern, valved instrument. The flugelhorn is a 19th-century creation, a development (with valves) of the bugle. In many ways it is like the trumpet, though it has a mellower sound and is most often associated with brass bands and jazz ensembles. As to the difference between them, though, how better to judge than by seeing and hearing the two instruments in action?
The rest of the programme also ranges widely in terms of historical period and style. At the Baroque end of the spectrum there will be the fourth in a series of concerti grossi (Opus 6) by Torelli’s contemporary and near namesake, Arcangelo CORELLI. Corelli was prominent in the development of the concerto grosso form, in which a small number of soloists interact with a larger ensemble. From the same period there will be the Chacone from the opera King Arthur by Henry PURCELL.
At the more modern end we have colourful works by two British composers -- the Suite for string orchestra by Frank BRIDGE, an early teacher of Benjamin Britten; and the Suite Navarraise by Paul LEWIS, whose huge output includes music for films and TV programmes, ranging from Benny Hill to The Prisoner of Zenda. The Lewis suite was inspired by a visit to the former kingdom of Navarre in the Pyrenees and the birthplace of the larger-than-life Henry IV of France.
We’ll be getting down to brass facts, not to mention all these varied curiosities, in our programme in aid of Sing Out Choir on
SATURDAY 13 JULY 2024 at 7.30 pm at
SOUTHGATE METHODIST CHURCH, THE BOURNE, N14 6RS
TICKETS: £12, with children under 12 free. Discounted tickets (£10) may be obtained in advance from orchestra members or by emailing
The WSO is a community string orchestra and a registered charity (No 1070537). We give three concerts a year, which support local and national charities, and we welcome new players of a good standard. Rehearsals take place on Thursday evenings at the church where we hold our concerts. For further information please email as above, or visit our website: www.winchmorestrings.co.uk.
