RAMSBOTTOM RECORDED MUSIC SOCIETY

PROGRAMME secretary John Atkin presented an ‘Evening of Heroes and Villains’.

Composer Sergei Prokofiev and Eisenstein collaborated on the 1942 film on the despot and villain ‘Ivan the Terrible’.

The music for ‘The Gunners’, and ‘The storming of Kazan’, relates to the siege and defeat of the Tatars by Ivan.

William Walton composed for the film Henry V, the hero associated with Agincourt. The film starred Laurence Olivier – the Suite from Henry V is rousing with emotive music.

Richard Coeur De Lion, the military hero, inspired Belgian composer Gretry for his opera Richard I (Richard the Lionheart), the Overture and Introduction has parts for choir.

Mythical King Arthur is the subject of Henry Purcell’s opera, which recounts the battle between monarch and Saxons. The opera features St George.

The extract selected had fanfares, martial music and bucolic song.

In Mussorgsky’s opera, Boris Godunov murders his rival and is tormented by guilt. The coronation scene is powerful, with bells being juxtaposed with sections indicating Boris’s inner torment.

Sea Reivers were villains, raiding and plundering during the 14th century and beyond.

Sir Granville Bantock in his Hebridean Sea Poem No. 2 created a vigorous sound seascape.

Staying with the sea, John wished to honour the lifeboat crews who heroically rescue those in difficulty around our coast.

Malcolm Arnold’s Padstow Lifeboat March for brass band was composed specifically for the town’s new boat.

To honour the British dead of the Spanish International Brigade, Benjamin Britten composed the Ballad of Heroes, a Cantata for high voice, chorus and orchestra, a work of intense drama.

In JS Bach’s St Matthew Passion, a short scene depicts Judas (a villain or traitor) casting down the pieces of silver.

Handel’s Oratorio Samson was acclaimed at its premiere. In the closing pages, which brought our evening to an end, Let the bright Seraphim and Let their celestial concerts all unite to proclaim Samson to be a hero even in death.

The next meeting of the society will be on Thursday, May 17, when Sue Parker from the Huddersfield and Barnsley societies will present Boy with the Violin.

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