Scottish Recorder Festival 2004 Scottish Recorder Festival 2004In 2004 it was the turn of the Edinburgh Branch to organise the Scottish Recorder Festival, previously held in Alva, Clackmannanshire. The Festival Committee decided to move the Festival to Edinburgh and Mayfield-Salisbury Church was chosen as the venue. By the day of the Festival we had nearly 90 bookings from all over Scotland and beyond. The participants arrived to the sound of the Scottish bagpipes provided by a piper stationed in the foyer.
At the opening session for all players, the principal guest conductor, Colin Touchin, conducted Manchester Welcome originally composed by him for the 2003 SRP Festival in Manchester. The players then divided into three sessions, Advanced, Upper Intermediate and Lower Intermediate taken by Colin Touchin, Mary Bonsor, Henriette Bos, Stuart Forrester, Sandra Foxall, Sandy Howie, Eileen Silcocks and Margaret Simpson. All tastes were catered for, the music ranging in period from pieces from Renaissance Poland to Andrew Charlton’s Idyllwild Suite.
The long break for the delicious buffet lunch and the shorter break later on for tea, also provided ample opportunity to try out the instruments brought to the Festival by the Early Music Shop. After tea the Scottish Recorder Orchestra gave its inaugural concert. Conducted by Eileen Silcocks, the orchestra played a Lawes Fantasia, the second movement ‘Mull’ from A Hebridean Journey composed for recorder orchestra by Margery Gibb, which showed off the great basses and contrabasses of the orchestra to good advantage, and Chaconne, Les Menuets and Air des Sauvages from Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes, arranged by Eileen Silcocks. The performance was well received and an encore demanded, which was given in the form of a reprise of the Air des Sauvages.
For the final session Colin Touchin gave us all the chance to find out what it’s like to play in a Recorder Orchestra as he led us in Paul Clark’s Scarborough Fair which, as he explained, was composed for the Northern Recorder Course in 1973 and is one of the first pieces to be written for and performed by a recorder orchestra in this country.
On behalf of the Festival Committee, we thank Mabel Cooney for being such an efficient and hard working Festival Secretary, Rosemary Byde the Treasurer, the conductors for conducting us with such musicianship, enthusiasm and good humour, and all those who took part and made the day such a success. I hope to see many of them back at future festivals.
Eileen Finlayson – Secretary, Edinburgh Branch
The Scottish Recorder Festival started in 1985 and has taken place nearly every year since then in Alva, the home of Hillfoots Branch. It is organised by other Scottish branches in rotation and for 2004 it moved to this new location organised by Edinburgh Branch.
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