Meeting February 20th

Another great turnout on Saturday with some cracker solos along with a pretty decent stab at Senor Scarlatti's Sonatina for Four Guitars in D.

Under the capable baton of Maestro Butcher Esq the piece manages to actually take form and shape. We are now at the stage of playing it adagio although much to our dismay, Ray pointed out that the tempo has to be quick....very quick!! This wasn't helped by our initial 'starts' and 'finishes' in which the poor old Sonatina resembled the main event at the Grand National with the speed getting faster and faster towards the finish, despite our conductor's best efforts to keep the reins in. A friend of mine who indulges in horse riding once commented that her horse always picks up speed when she is riding back to the stable. That's because the stable means

1. dismounting of the rider
2. a rub down
3. a full belly of hay

Our playing seems to share similar traits when we get to the homestretch of the Sonatina although in our case the sanctuary of the 'stable' for us in a cup of coffee and a biscuit from Trevor!! No rub down or a full belly of hay though...oh well!!

After a break we went straight for the solos.

• Bagatelle 2 (William Walton) played by John Mann
• Sunburst (York)played by Will Punter
• Mertz's Nocturne (Kaspar Mertz) played by Trevor Pike
• Levantine Suite (Dusan Bogdanovich) played by Andrew Ferrier
• Prelude
• Dance
• Cantilena
• Postlude
• Preludio Triston (Pujol Maximo Diego) played by Miles Roberts
• Fandanguillo (Suite Castellana) [Moreno-torroba, Federico] played by Miles Roberts
• Senhorinha (Guinga) played by Steve Pearson

Click here to listen. Special thanks to all who contributed. And to Vince Chittenden for his excellent recording of the pieces

Thanks again to Ray Butcher for his leadership of the ensembles (and yes Ray...we'll promise to keep practicing!!) Thanks also to Denis for acting as MC for the evening and to Trevor for organising the refreshments!

Don't forget to contact Shirley so you can reserve your place for the Nora Buschmann Concert in April!

We have a video of the Scarlatti piece which shows how it SHOULD be performed. Click here to see for yourselves. (Thanks Dave for the link)......we have some serious work to do...!

Keep up the practice! Your correspondent will be missing out on the next meeting as he will be in Australia for three weeks. In the mean time Den and Steve will keep me updated. I'll bring you back a jar of vegemite if you are all good.....or two jars if you are not!!

Hoo Roo!