The important bit!
Classical music 2 meets on the first Monday of each month at 2 pm. We normally meet at South Park, Minehead, but while COVID restrictions are in place, we are meeting online, using Zoom. Please remember to check the Calendar in case of any late changes to schedule.
Our group is led by Jan Lowy, and she may be contacted at 01643 709127, or by email at .
About the Group
We normally meet once a month, and take it in turns to select some CDs to play, sometimes with a theme, and sometimes our favourites. We also have tea and biscuits and a chat half way through. We are a lively group, and have discussions about what we have heard, and also some laughs. Anyone who would like to join us would be very welcome! If you’d like information about the group, contact the convenor.
News – 2022
May – Michael chose some interesting music for our May Bank Holiday meeting, ranging from Allegri to Aaron Copland, which produced some lively discussions. Our next meeting will be on 30th May, and Janeen will choose the music.’
Our April meeting, presented by Jean, was a great success. She played us a diverse selection of music, most of which was new to many of us, and we had interesting discussions about it. Our next meeting will be on 2nd May, when Michael will present, and we agreed to meet after that on 30th May, as our usual June date is the Bank Holiday for the Queen’s Jubilee.”
2021
November – We met at the beginning of November to look at a film featuring the famous Dame Janet Baker, mezzo-soprano, which Alison and I had recorded from the TV in 2019! We all had a lovely afternoon – the film was excellent, with Dame Janet telling us a lot about her life and work and how she coped with all the stresses of it. And of course a lot of examples of her wonderful singing, together with contributions from many of her friends, most of them famous in their own fields. And tea and chat in the middle, so I think everyone went home well satisfied!
In December we will all provide a piece of music lasting ten minutes or so, and I look forward to hearing people’s choices. We will not have a meeting in January.
October . At the beginning of this month Barry played us music connected with the sea, and we had a lovely afternoon.
September : Classical Music 2 gained so many new members whilst we were meeting on Zoom that now we are back to physical meetings we have split into Classical Music Groups 2 and 3. Group 2 will continue to meet on the first Monday of each month, and Group 3 has decided on the first Friday, and will meet in various venues.
Our May meeting was presented by Chris, and celebrated Spring – and the start of Summer. He played a lovely selection of music, from a Schubert song to Chabrier’s ‘Espana’, some from Spotify and some with video, and also posted some programme notes. The more technically able amongst us are learning to make the most of Zoom.
Our meeting on 7th June will also be by Zoom, and Alison will be in charge of the music. Maybe only with audio – let’s see!
Our March meeting was presented by Sandra, who braved the difficulties of sharing music on Zoom very efficiently. She gave us a lovely selection – from a Vivaldi concerto to a Wagner aria.
Our meeting on 1 February, when Paul Vickery presented what can only be called an eclectic selection of music. Everything had links to classical music in the widest sense, and some of the pieces, like Nessun Dorma, were standard classical. However, Paul also played two pieces by Paul McCartney, which were received with great interest, and a very modern piece, based on the Song of Songs, sung by the Trio Mediaeval. I have only heard them before singing 15th- and 16th-century music, but this was certainly different! Broadened all our minds, I think. The screenshot shows some of the group members clearly enjoying the meeting.
Our next presentation will be given on 1 March by Sandra. We have now grown to a group of 11 people. Plenty of room on Zoom for anyone else that would like to come along.
We had a Zoom meeting at the beginning of January, with 11 members present. I gave a presentation of music written by composers from the original member states of the EU – then the EEC. I couldn’t find a well-known composer from Luxembourg, but managed the other five, and rounded the afternoon off with some Elgar, to mark our no longer being in the EU!
November 2020. We did it! We had a Zoom meeting at the beginning of November, and I was able to share my screen with the group, and play music from my iTunes account. I have also found out that I can copy my CDs to the iTunes account, which means I can play anything I own in future meetings. We had nearly an hour’s music, in two sessions, and plenty of discussion and chat about future plans. Other members of the group are hoping to learn how to host meetings, so that we can go back to having our range of musical interests, as we have done in the past. Thank goodness for technology!
Jan Lowy also writes : I notified the group of the live concerts which the BBC were streaming from Wigmore Hall, without an audience. Here is a comment from one of our members: ‘I liked the music and Stephen Hough’s beautiful playing. I’m not good with technical things but used my portable radio and my Kindle Fire and one thing I was aware of was the time lapse between the two machines-streaming lagging behind. Thank you for introducing me to these concerts. Stephen looked like a little boy sitting all alone in a classroom.’