Dvorak Romance in F minor for Violin and Orchestra
On Sunday the 15th January, I took part in the fourth annual OCMS Orchestral Day, held at Charterhouse School in Surrey. Each year, past pupils from Charterhouse who have either gone on to become professional musicians or continued to play to a good amateur standard meet at the school and spend an afternoon preparing for [...]
The Twelve Days of Christmas……
When I came to choose and arrange the carols for the second volume ‘It Came Upon The Midnight Clear’, one of the first pieces I wrote down was ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ - a traditional and well loved melody that could be arranged in an inventive and entertaining way for strings, making use of various playing techniques for [...]
Wedding at Carey’s Manor, New Forest
On Wednesday 28th december we played for a wedding at Carey’s Manor, which is situated near Lyndhurst in Hampshire. It’s always a pleasure to play for special occasions which take place around Christmas time, as there is often a unique atmosphere which this time of the year generates. This wedding was no exception with an [...]
Boxing Day Concert - St Martin in the Fields
On Boxing Day, we were delighted to be invited to perform in one of London’s finest Churches for classical music - St Martin in the Fields, Trafalgar Square. The concert was held at lunchtime, with free entrance and donations to the many good causes supported by St Martin’s.
Having a concert of Christmas carols arranged for string [...]
Wedding at South Farm, Cambridgeshire
Last Wednesday we travelled up to South Farm on the borders of Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire. It is a working farm with some wonderful rooms for the wedding ceremony and breakfast - ideal for winter weddings where the days are short and cold.
The venue is also perfect for a string duo and during the wedding itself we set up at [...]
Concerts in Fakenham and Norwich
Just over a week ago, the quartet went on a mini ‘tour’ with four concerts in three days, including two on the same day in Norfolk (you can read about the other two in Cheddington and Cuddington in separate blogs). One (a matinee) was in Fakenham Methodist Church and the other was for the Norfolk and Norwich [...]
O Little Town of Bethlehem
No Christmas album would have been complete without including one of the most memorable English carols ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’. The original melody is often known as ‘Forest Green’ as Ralph Vaughan Williams collected the tune ‘The Ploughboy’s Dream’ in 1903 from a Mr. Garman of Forest Green in Surrey. The words added to the melody were [...]
Carol of the Bells
This increasingly popular carol was written by a Ukranian composer called Mykola Leontovych in 1904 - like many carols, it has it’s origins in a traditional folk melody. The lyrics ‘Ring Christmas bells’ etc were added in 1947 and although Leontovych himself was shot dead in 1921, this piece has grown in worldwide popularity to [...]
I Saw Three Ships - Concert at Cuddington.
Last night we returned to play once again at St Nicholas Church in Cuddington - a village near the border between Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. Having given a concert back in September in this Church, we were especially keen to return to such an enthusiastic, delightful audience. It was a beautiful, clear and frosty night with [...]
Lute Book Lullaby - Sweet Was The Song the Virgin Sang
This beautiful melody is often entitled ‘Sweet Was the Song’ but is also known as the ‘Lute Book Lullaby’ as it originates from William Ballet’s collection of lute music which dates from 1600 and is now housed in the library at Trinity College in Dublin. It is an important collection that gives us an insight [...]
