Brass beginnings

My starting points in classical music were strange and probably unusual, but with a great merit that I only subsequently appreciated. From a very early age I was exposed repeatedly to pieces such as the Poet and Peasant, Orpheus in the Underworld,

William Tell and Zampa overtures – though always played by brass or military bands, courtesy of an uncle who was a fanatical adherent of these combinations. It was between five and ten years later that I first heard these works in their original, orchestral versions. The advantages for me were twofold – I fell in love with these pieces for a second time, but I also discovered far greater colour and subtlety. I can only compare my twostage learning with the contrast between plainsong and polyphony. The analogy is, of course, imperfect, but it gives some sense of the impact on a growing child of the shift from brassy beginnings to the musicality of strings and woodwind.

Bernard Dixon, Ruislip Manor The editor replies:

We have had many wonderful responses to our request for classical music ‘starting points’. We will publish more of them next month.