This concert formed the last ‘paper’ of the 29th Annual Conference on Music in Eighteenth-Century Britain, held at the Foundling Museum. This conference is always very interesting and well put-together but on this occasion the transition from the last paper (on the music of the pleasure gardens in Bath) was particularly pleasing as both paper and concert dealt with several composers that were unknown to me. Matthew Spring’s details – in his paper – of Bath’s pleasure gardens and the compositions for military band by James Brooks (1760-pre 1813) and Charles Frederick Eley (1756-1782) gave a lovely visual background to the concert but further information on each of the composers was provided with great clarity and efficiency by bassoonist Robert Percival, who somehow found breath between pieces to tell the audience about clarinetist John Mahon (1746-1834) and the quick adoption of clarinets by many oboists. Most of the works played by Boxwood and Brass are no longer published and Percival has spent many hours in the British Library transcribing these little-known works. Mahon’s (attributed) quintetto for horns, clarinets and a bassoon was an engaging light work, its style rather like a combination of Mozart and Handel. But what really struck me was the amazing range in timbre of these period clarinets, French horns and bassoon. Of course, some credit for what was an amazingly polished performance must go to performers Emily Worthington, Sarah Thurlow (clarinets), Anneke Scott, Kate Goldsmith (French horns) and Robert Percival (bassoon). The musicians are all experienced artists, and between them play with most of the period orchestras in the UK and France. Individually and as an ensemble, the performers displayed an obvious enjoyment of the music and their collective enjoyment was infectious. However, it was immediately apparent to my ears at least that these period wind instruments are capable of a much wider range of dynamics and timbre, with far greater subtleties than their later counterparts.
Mahon’s quintetto was followed by a sinfonia by J. C. Bach, whose works for two clarinets, two ‘Cors De Chasse’ and bassoon were almost certainly played in Vauxhall Gardens, and possibly known by Mozart who was acquainted with J. C. Bach. Other music commonly heard by the public around the same time would have been that by Charles Frederick Eley. Born in Hanover, Eley was brought to London by the Duke of York and ended up leading the Coldstream Guards Band, but his music is not just the simple repertoire associated with marching bands. One of the interesting points thrown up by Percival’s research into this material has been his realization that parts were often copied for printing from manuscript parts which had often been added to or altered by various players, resulting in differing articulation between the instruments. Boxwood and Brass have decided not to iron out these differences, however, instead incorporating them into their authentic performance, and this worked particularly well with the complex syncopations and articulations between the inner parts in Eley’s 12 Military Pieces (of which nos. 5, 9, 10 and 12 were played).
Eley was followed by selections from Kames Brooks’s 36 Select Pieces for a Military Band and the concert finished with a selection of pieces by Ignaz Joseph Pleyel (1757-1831). Pleyel’s music exists in sources for strings as well as wind and only in a manuscript source written by a hand other than Pleyel’s, and so it is hard to be certain about whether the music was originally intended for strings or wind. However, with these players I would definitely choose to hear them on wind instruments every time.
The performance took place on November 29th 2013.