Maurice Murphy bows out with Elgar

Trumpet legend Maurice Murphy has been retiring now for about seven years, but this weekend's concert looks most final.

he assures us that this time his retirement is for real!
LSO Newsletter

His last concert with the London Symphony Orchestra will be a performance of Elgar's Dream of Gerontius conducted by Richard Hickox this Sunday, in the orchestra's home at the Barbican. 2007 sees the thirtieth anniversary of a distinguished career at the LSO.

From Friday 8 June you can listen to our podcast tribute to Maurice on the LSO website, including an interview with Maurice himself, conductors Sir Colin Davis, Michael Tilson Thomas and Richard Hickox and Maurice's LSO colleagues.

Brass10 make BBC broadcast

This Friday night brings a studio broadcast from young London-based brass dectet Brass¹⁰. They will perform a programme that pays homage to Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, following on from their PJBE Finale concert last year, on BBC Radio 2.

Listen to the Band.
Friday 01 June, 9:30pm - 10:00pm
BBC Radio 2

Fanfare and March – Joseph Horovitz
Dances from the Terpsichore – Michael Praetorius
A Londoner in New York – Jim Parker
Blue Rondo a la Turk – Dave Brubeck
The Days of Wine and Roses – Henry Mancini
American Patrol - Meacham

Cleveland auditions

The Cleveland Orchestra has been looking for a new principal trombone for the past two years, and an interesting article has turned up about some of the problems they've had selecting.

Cornett radio programme

The sound of the cornett was famously described by Mersenne as "a ray of sunshine piercing the shadows" and I am certainly a fan too. Top British player Jeremy West will be talking about this beautiful baroque/renaissance instrument on BBC Radio 3 this Sunday lunchtime.

Sunday 20 May 2007 12:00-1:00pm (BBC Radio 3)
Early Music Show

Catherine Bott talks to cornett player and founder of His Majesty's Sagbutts and Cornetts, Jeremy West, to discover more about the history behind this expressive and demanding instrument.

Music includes works by Scheidt, Ximenez, Giovanni Gabrieli and Merula.

Becquet CD out

Last week I took part in some masterclasses with Michel Becquet and had plenty of opportunities to hear him perform in rehearsal and concert. The Frenchman's playing won me over completely, with some really classy music-making. He has a fluid singing sound and a strong character. No wonder he has just been announced this year's recipient of the ITA Award.

It's a real shame that he's not been recorded much. There are a couple of Paris trombone quartet CDs from the 1980's (which are still available from here), rumours of a recital from 30 years ago on vinyl, plus his sackbut playing on a couple of CDs with Les Sacqueboutiers. So it is quite nice to find last month that he has just released a new solo CD.

Accompanied by a French wind orchestra, Becquet plays the Ropartz, David, Guilmant, Rimsky-Korsakov and a lovely Handel Sonata, duetting with Paris Opera principal trombone Bruno Flahou. The CD sounds great - I thoroughly recommend it.


Available here.

UPDATE: Dale Sorensen has been in touch to recommended some more Becquet CDs, including a recital on a Japanese label, more from the Paris Trombone Quartet in the 90's and he particularly reccomends recordings of Leopold Mozart and Michael Haydn where he is guest soloist. Check out the discography here.