Appreciation by David Fisher

David Calow is a prominent and distinguished figure in Leicestershire’s musical world and beyond. Our season started—and what a start it was—with David’s expert overview of wind bands, all the way from medieval town bands to the modern wind band exemplified by his own Bardi Wind Orchestra.

Every aspect of the historical development of wind groups over the centuries was covered, referring to composers and musical periods which, coupled with improvements in instrument technology, allowed for the development of wind groups in instrument range and the increasing size of the bands. It really helped that David and his twin Robert (who, fortunately for the Society, alternate in giving us presentations) and their willing spouses brought in about fifteen instruments, some very historic, to show us how they developed. Every instrument displayed was discussed, and that included an introduction to the saxophone, which has added so much to the sound of the modern wind band. David explained how wind bands/orchestras achieved particular prominence in American High Schools, which have for a long time led the educational world in the genre.

Music extracts began with Susato’s Danserie from the Renaissance and passed through many rare and remarkable pieces by both famous composers and others less known: Handel in late Baroque, Mozart and Haydn in the Classical period, Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Berlioz as early Romantics through to Florent Schmitt, Holst, Vaughan Williams, Grainger, Milhaud, Ives, Hindemith, Schoenberg, Vittorio Giannini and Nigel Hess. All the meticulously chosen recorded examples demonstrated that composers revel in scoring for wind orchestras, observing clear textures and timbres to make melodic lines worth playing in pursuit of perfection whilst using only wind and percussion. The full track list is below for you to find out which music was played.

With David’s intimate knowledge and experience of the music as a player and conductor, coupled with his informative and amusing delivery, it was clear that this was a talk which not only entertained but educated his audience in some rarely heard music. Those recordings featured exceptional players and skilled conductors including David’s own Bardi Wind Orchestra, which provided a fitting finale to LMS’ opening talk of the season.