What’s Next? Rawson Duo Concert Series, 2011-12 December: Nordlys, music of Scandinavian composers ~ On Friday and Sunday, December 16 & 18, 2 pm the Rawson Duo at their Chimacum home will present their fifth annual Nordlys (Northern Lights) concert showcasing works by Scandinavian composers at the turn of the century. Reservations are now being taken; complete details soon to be announced. (it’s all Grieg to me? Not really, but could be.) January: Bella Italia ~ On Friday and Sunday, January 20 & 22, 2 pm the Rawson Duo will present a second installment of their popular program premiered last January featuring Italian Masterpieces. Several items are brewing for this program including Ottorino Respighi’s stunning and powerful Sonata in B minor. Coming soon: Encore: Rhapsody in Blue; Paris Bohème (Paris of the 1920s and ‘30s); and more . (watch for those emails) Reservations: Seating is limited and arranged through advanced paid reservation, $22 (unless otherwise noted). Contact Alan or Sandy Rawson, email [email protected] or call 379-3449. Notice of event details, dates and times when scheduled will be sent via email or ground mail upon request. Be sure to be on the Rawsons’ mailing list. For more information, visit: www.rawsonduo.com Web Sites and items related to today’s program www.bsamuseum.wordpress.com ~ the Birmingham Small Arms (BSA) & Military bicycling museum, lots of information about BSA civilian bicycles and cycling in the military. www.pristineclassical.com ~ detailed biographical information on numerous composers. www.world-war-pictures.com ~ the world wars through posters, photographs, poets and artists. www.youtube.com ~ Search “EJ Moeran” for several quality recordings posted including his symphony in G minor. Also search “Moeran Kenmare Centennial” for a home video tour of the area and things related to Moeran. “Williams Lark Meredith” will bring up the complete Meredith poem, shown line by line along with a recording of Lark Ascending. www.poetryfoundation.org ~ “an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience.” (mission statement from their home page. It’s a fascinating site I’ll have to spend more time with ~ the editor) www.sussexmillsgroup.org.uk ~ interested in English windmills? Look no further. HANGING OUT AT THE RAWSONS (take a look around) Harold Nelson has had a lifelong passion for art, particularly photo images and collage. It sustained him through years of working in the federal bureaucracy with his last sixteen in Washington DC. He started using his current collage technique in 2004, two years before retirement from his first career and his move from Virginia to Port Townsend. His art is shown frequently on the Peninsula, and he is currently showing at Northwind Arts Center and the Northwind Showcase gallery. At the home of Alan and Sandy Rawson www.hnelsonart.com 10318 Rhody Drive, Chimacum WA Cover: Rest engraved by John Cousen from painting by John Linnell, 1861 Friday and Sunday, November 11 & 13, 2 pm The Rawson Duo Specializing in Romantic and early twentieth-century works, the Rawson Duo has given numerous recitals on college campuses and community performing arts series across This England the United States and Canada. The Rawsons now reside in Chimacum where they perform throughout the year in the intimate setting of their home located on 7.5 acres, bringing to life rarely heard works celebrated with warm hospitality. Violinist Alan Rawson first pursued his music interests in his junior year in high school as a self-taught folk guitarist, recorder player, and madrigal singer. Classical Violin studies Sonata (1923) Ernest John Moeran (1896-1950) were begun at Cañada Junior College in Redwood City California, since their program did not include Country and Western fiddling. He received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Arts degrees from San Francisco State University and completed his doctorate degree at the Allegro non troppo ma energico University of Colorado in Boulder in violin performance studying with Oswald Lehnert Lento while developing a passionate interest in Rocky Mountain cycling and cross country skiing. Vivace e molto ritmico He has served on the music faculties of Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota and the University of Idaho in Moscow, and has recently retired from Minnesota State University Moorhead where he directed the University Orchestra and taught upper strings. He was concertmaster of the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony for twenty years and appeared as a ~ interval ~ featured orchestral soloist several times performing works by Tchaikowsky, Mozart, Sibelius, and Bruch, among others. Alan has a passionate interest in exploring the music of past great composers, now all Six Studies in English Folksong Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) but lost to obscurity, and he is actively researching, locating and scanning public domain scores, making these freely available to the internet community worldwide. Adagio (“Lovely on the Water”) A native of Fargo, ND, Sandy Rawson (pianist, organist, harpsichordist) completed Andante sostenuto (“Spurn Point”) her Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance at the University of Minnesota and Larghetto (“Van Dieman’s Land”) continued her studies at the Musik Akademie in Vienna, Austria. During her long tenure in Lento (“She Borrowed Some of Her Mother’s Gold”) the Fargo Moorhead area, she was a highly active accompanist and large ensemble pianist performing with all the major organizations including opera, symphony, choral, ballet, Andante tranquillo (“The Lady and the Dragoon”) universities and public schools. She frequently appeared on faculty and guest artist recitals Allegro Vivace (“As I Walked Over London Bridge”) at the three local universities, NDSU, MSUM, and Concordia College. An active church organist from the age of 14, she held the post of organist at the First Congregational Church The Lark Ascending (1914-20) in Fargo for 25 years. She currently is the organist for Sequim Community Church and piano accompanist for Peninsula Chamber Singers. Sandy’s love of music is equaled by her love for cooking. A professionally trained chef, having lived several years in Europe and Japan, international cuisine has been a ~ interval ~ lifelong passion. Today’s This England reception: Sonata No. 1 in D Minor (1909) John Ireland (1879-1962) Fruitcake with Marzipan Icing (dedicated to W.W. Cobbett) Coconut and Lavender Tea Breads Sticky Toffee Pudding Cakes Allegro leggiadro Cookies with Lemon Curd Romance (In tempo sostenuto quasi adagio) Chocolate Scones with Raspberry Jam and Clotted Cream Rondo (Allegro sciolto) Cheddar Shortbread Irish Soda Bread and Smoked Salmon Paté Tea Sandwiches: Egg and Basil / Chicken Saté The Lark Ascending, George Meredith (1828-1909) HE rises and begins to round, For singing till his heaven fills, a few He drops the silver chain of sound ’Tis love of earth that he instils, Bits of Interest* Of many links without a break, And ever winging up and up, In chirrup, whistle, slur and shake, Our valley is his golden cup, Ernest John Moeran, or Jack to his friends, was born in Heston on 31st December All intervolv’d and spreading wide, And he the wine which overflows 1894, the second son of the Rev J W W and Esther Moeran. Shortly after his birth the Like water-dimples down a tide To lift us with him as he goes: family moved to Bacton, in the remote Norfolk Fen Country. As a child he learned to play Where ripple ripple overcurls The woods and brooks, the sheep and kine the violin and piano, and made some early compositional efforts while at Uppingham And eddy into eddy whirls; He is, the hills, the human line, A press of hurried notes that run The meadows green, the fallows brown, School (works he later destroyed). So fleet they scarce are more than one, The dreams of labor in the town; In 1913 he enrolled at the Royal College of Music to study piano and composition Yet changingly the trills repeat He sings the sap, the quicken’d veins; under Sir Charles Stanford. His studies were cut short by the outbreak of war, and in And linger ringing while they fleet, The wedding song of sun and rains Sweet to the quick o’ the ear, and dear He is, the dance of children, thanks 1914 he enlisted as a motorcycle despatch rider in the 6th (cyclist) Battalion of the To her beyond the handmaid ear, Of sowers, shout of primrose-banks, Norfolk Regiment. Who sits beside our inner springs, Too often dry for this he brings, And eye of violets while they breathe; On 3rd May 1917, at Bullecourt in France, Moeran received a severe head injury, Which seems the very jet of earth All these the circling song will wreathe, And you shall hear the herb and tree, with shrapnel embedded too close to the brain for removal, and underwent what would At sight of sun, her music’s mirth, now be considered primitive head surgery which involved the fitting of a metal plate into As up he wings the spiral stair, The better heart of men shall see, A song of light, and pierces air Shall feel celestially, as long the skull. Unsurprisingly this was to affect him for the rest of his life. As you crave nothing save the song. With fountain ardor, fountain play, After discharge from the services on a disability pension he returned briefly to teach To reach the shining tops of day, Was never voice of ours could say And drink in everything discern’d Our inmost in the sweetest way, at Uppingham before returning in 1920 to the music course at the Royal College, staying An ecstasy to music turn’d, Like yonder voice aloft, and link there under John Ireland.