Bits and Pieces
This is a page of musical stuff which doesn't really fit in anywhere
else.
The samples were recorded on the Real Audio G2 encoder, which I had
assumed would work on all previous versions of
the player. It appears though that you will actually need the
G2 player to hear them. I am sorry about that, but I had assumed
that Real Audio would make the G2 encoder backwards-compatible.
There is a link to the Real Audio site on my links page.
Dreamhouse
This was a band to which I used to belong.
It was a neo-goth band formed by my son Damon, and I used to play the keyboards. We
became known locally as 'that band with the old bloke in it'. It was quite a family
affair, because the lead singer and bass guitarist was my daughter.
The line-up consisted of:
Damon Jones - lead guitar, music, words
Isobel Jones - vocals, bass guitar
Langdon Jones - keyboards
Andrew Robinson - drums, words, music
Dreamhouse, in a jovial mood
Fight Like Sisters (3m 5s)
Hate You! (3m 22s)
Lament (6m 16s)
Richard Walthew
Many years ago I met someone who turned up
late, like me, for a video course - rather than
go in late to the course we decided to go and have a drink
instead, and we subsequently became friends.
One day he told me that his grandfather had been a composer,
and there was a trunk full of music in the loft. It appeared
that Richard Walthew had been a good friend of Vaughan Williams
in his student days, and had gone on to write a great deal
of music, some of which was quite popular in its day.
I managed to persuade him to get the box down, and had
a wonderful afternoon going through a mixture of published
scores and manuscripts. In manuscript form I came across
a piano concerto and a string quartet!
While much of the music seemed to have been written to have
popular appeal in the Edwardian salon, there was also much
there that seemed to be more than worthy of performance.
I subsequently met another grandson, the clarinettist John
Walthew, and eventually the idea of a local recital began
to take shape.
The recital took place with some pieces played from printed
scores, others from the manuscripts. One of the pieces,
and one of my favourite Walthew works was the Suite in F
for Clarinet and Piano.
This is a wonderful display piece for both instruments,
and clarinettists looking for a recital piece that is
different and interesting should consider this work.
I have included below recordings of two movements from the
Suite. The slow movement, andante tranquillo, is very
Brahmsian, and shows Walthew's incredible facility at
writing lovely melodies. The last movement is very energetic,
and is notable for its second subject. This is a quiet,
Ketelby-like theme which diffidently makes its first appearance
earlier in the
movement, but reappears in inflated and grandiose form at the end.
This performance is by John Walthew on clarinet, with me
on piano.
Suite in F for Clarinet and Piano by Richard Walthew
2. Andante tranquillo (4m 10s)
4. Allegro brillante (5m 51s)
Haydn 'Surprise' Symphony
I have been engaged lately in the somewhat fruitless
exercise of creating a MIDI version of Haydn's Symphony
no. 94 in G. It occurred to me that I might as well put
it on here so that if you were so inclined you could
download it. It's the sort of project that only tends
to be interesting to the person who is doing it, so I
can't imagine why anybody should want it, but if you do,
here it is.
Please note. If you have a sound card capable of wave table synthesis,
this will sound pretty horrible. However, if your card is not
capable of wave table synthesis, it will sound even worse.
Haydn - Symphony no. 94 in G 'Surprise'
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