Music on Thursdays
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Thursday
23rd June 2022
12.30 lunchtime
Percussion in the
West End Orchestra Pit
Phil Hopkins, percussion
Lindsay Bridgwater, piano
Programme
Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)
from the musical West Side Story (1957)
America
Tonight
Cool
Somewhere
Gee, Officer Krupke
Arthur Benjamin (1893-1960)
from Two Jamaican Pieces
Jamaican Rumba (1938)
"Dave" Robert David Grusin (b1934)
Theme from the film The Yakuza (1974)
Antônio Carlos Brasileira de Almeida Jobim (aka Tom Jobim) (1927-1994)
Wave, or Vou Te Contar I'll Tell You (1967)
Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla (1921-1992)
Oblivion (1982)
Libertango (1974)
Three Renaissance Pieces
John Dowland (1563-1626)
from Varietie of Lute Lessons (pub 1610 by his son Robert)
Queen Elizabeth, her Galliard
William Byrd (c1539/40 or 1543-1623)
Earl of Salisbury Pavan (c1611/1613)
King Henry VIII (1491-1547, reign 1509-47)
Past Time with Good Companye, or The King's Ballad (c1509)
Stephen Joshua Sondheim (1930-2021)
from the musical Sweeney Todd (1979)
Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (b1930)
St Thomas Calypso (before 1956, with folk origins)
Concert duration approx: 45-55 minutes
Please donate to help fund these concerts at: cafdonate.cafonline.org/14455
Phil Hopkins
Phil Hopkins was a music scholar at King’s School Canterbury, graduated from Oxford University and studied chromatic harmonica with the great classical harmonica player, Tommy Reilly.
In a thirty-eight year career as a professional musician playing percussion and/or harmonica, Phil has played for more than 120 London theatre productions spanning over 4500 performances across the West End, Royal National Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe and Royal Shakespeare Company.
Chromatic harmonica performances include: the BBC Concert Orchestra, London Sinfonietta at St John Smith’s Square, and West End musicals such as The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (Savoy Theatre), Sir Tim Rice’s From Here To Eternity (Shaftesbury Theatre), the London premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins, and Gone With The Wind (New London Theatre).
Phil has toured the USA many times with various artists including performances at Carnegie Hall, New York’s Lincoln Center, and Symphony Hall, Boston. In 2018 he played the percussion part in the worldwide cinema broadcast of the Broadway production of The King and I from the London Palladium. He has recently been working on the Broadway production of Anything Goes at the Barbican Theatre.
Other West End shows Phil has played for include The Phantom of the Opera, Blood Brothers, Miss Saigon, Matilda, Oklahoma!, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Seven Brides For Seven Brothers. He has been performance musical director for 21 productions at Shakespeare’s Globe.
Phil has recorded for films such as Iris, Anonymous, The Merchant of Venice and Dance of the Steel Bars, as well as many TV productions including Only Fools and Horses, Wolf Hall and Allo Allo, along with a harmonica solo on This Morning with Phillip Schofield on live TV.
Phil’s harmonica recording of the theme from the film Midnight Cowboy has had more than 127,000 plays on the streaming service Spotify.
Phil has coached many actors to play harmonica for London theatre shows including The Night of the Iguana, Peter Pan, Girl from the North Country, and Assasins. He has played harmonica at many private parties for celebrities including Cameron Mackintosh, Victoria Wood and Sir Mark Rylance.
Note from Peter S: Before either of us had even heard of the word "lockdown" Phil Hopkins introduced himself to us as a professional harmonica player. Always keen to bring new instruments to these concerts, we fixed a concert date, and then we moved it as the original lockdown began and was extended, and extended again, until we gave up fixing dates and I invited Phil to record a concert for Music on Thursdays and 2020's Mole Valley Arts e-Live Festival.
We were finally able to meet Phil at his MoT concert in November 2021. His email address of phil.drum@... gave a clue to his other attributes. That led to today's exploration of the role of another "new to these concerts" instrument group - Percussion.
In a thirty-eight year career as a professional musician playing percussion and/or harmonica, Phil has played for more than 120 London theatre productions spanning over 4500 performances across the West End, Royal National Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe and Royal Shakespeare Company.
Chromatic harmonica performances include: the BBC Concert Orchestra, London Sinfonietta at St John Smith’s Square, and West End musicals such as The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (Savoy Theatre), Sir Tim Rice’s From Here To Eternity (Shaftesbury Theatre), the London premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins, and Gone With The Wind (New London Theatre).
Phil has toured the USA many times with various artists including performances at Carnegie Hall, New York’s Lincoln Center, and Symphony Hall, Boston. In 2018 he played the percussion part in the worldwide cinema broadcast of the Broadway production of The King and I from the London Palladium. He has recently been working on the Broadway production of Anything Goes at the Barbican Theatre.
Other West End shows Phil has played for include The Phantom of the Opera, Blood Brothers, Miss Saigon, Matilda, Oklahoma!, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Seven Brides For Seven Brothers. He has been performance musical director for 21 productions at Shakespeare’s Globe.
Phil has recorded for films such as Iris, Anonymous, The Merchant of Venice and Dance of the Steel Bars, as well as many TV productions including Only Fools and Horses, Wolf Hall and Allo Allo, along with a harmonica solo on This Morning with Phillip Schofield on live TV.
Phil’s harmonica recording of the theme from the film Midnight Cowboy has had more than 127,000 plays on the streaming service Spotify.
Phil has coached many actors to play harmonica for London theatre shows including The Night of the Iguana, Peter Pan, Girl from the North Country, and Assasins. He has played harmonica at many private parties for celebrities including Cameron Mackintosh, Victoria Wood and Sir Mark Rylance.
Note from Peter S: Before either of us had even heard of the word "lockdown" Phil Hopkins introduced himself to us as a professional harmonica player. Always keen to bring new instruments to these concerts, we fixed a concert date, and then we moved it as the original lockdown began and was extended, and extended again, until we gave up fixing dates and I invited Phil to record a concert for Music on Thursdays and 2020's Mole Valley Arts e-Live Festival.
We were finally able to meet Phil at his MoT concert in November 2021. His email address of phil.drum@... gave a clue to his other attributes. That led to today's exploration of the role of another "new to these concerts" instrument group - Percussion.
Lindsay Bridgwater
Lindsay Bridgwater was born in Nottingham and studied Music at Cambridge University, acquiring a degree and various diplomas on the way. Whilst at Cambridge, he was Musical Director for the famous Footlights Revue.
He continues to perform in many diverse projects, and finds all genres both enriching and stimulating. He would tell us, however, that he is continuing his musical education at the 'School of Life' where he is constantly being stimulated by challenges from 'Rock to Baroque'.
Lindsay is well known as an organist and accompanist throughout London. He continues to travel widely and work regularly with the Philharmonia. He has completed another project with Pimlico Opera, in which he took part in a sequence of performances of ‘Les Miserables’ in Prison. This worthy project was attended by the Duchess of Cornwall, one of the sponsors, and involves professional musicians and actors working alongside inmates to stage performances.
Lindsay has also given an Organ and Harpsichord recital in Suffolk, and continues to give two-piano recitals with fellow musician Leslie Pearson.
His past is littered with performing credits from Ozzy Osbourne to Buckingham Palace and The Vatican. The diversity of his musical interests is underlined by his having performed on BBC Radios 1, 2, 3, and 4 !
He continues to perform in many diverse projects, and finds all genres both enriching and stimulating. He would tell us, however, that he is continuing his musical education at the 'School of Life' where he is constantly being stimulated by challenges from 'Rock to Baroque'.
Lindsay is well known as an organist and accompanist throughout London. He continues to travel widely and work regularly with the Philharmonia. He has completed another project with Pimlico Opera, in which he took part in a sequence of performances of ‘Les Miserables’ in Prison. This worthy project was attended by the Duchess of Cornwall, one of the sponsors, and involves professional musicians and actors working alongside inmates to stage performances.
Lindsay has also given an Organ and Harpsichord recital in Suffolk, and continues to give two-piano recitals with fellow musician Leslie Pearson.
His past is littered with performing credits from Ozzy Osbourne to Buckingham Palace and The Vatican. The diversity of his musical interests is underlined by his having performed on BBC Radios 1, 2, 3, and 4 !
Recordings of the works in today's concert
Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)
from the musical West Side Story (1957)
America - Tonight - Cool - Somewhere - Gee, Officer Krupke
Clearly we will be hearing snippets from each number so take your pick of these and se if you can work out what percussion instruments are being played.
from the musical West Side Story (1957)
America - Tonight - Cool - Somewhere - Gee, Officer Krupke
Clearly we will be hearing snippets from each number so take your pick of these and se if you can work out what percussion instruments are being played.
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Anita Moreno sings America in the 1961 film
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Tonight - Romeo and Juliet, or rather Tony (Richard Beymer) and Maria (Natalie Wood) sing in an updated balcony scene
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Tony's best friend, Riff (Russ Tamblyn), now leader of the Jets gives us this wonderfully choreographed number - Cool
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Tony and Maria sing of their hope to get away in the song Somewhere
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Gee, Officer Krupke is sung by members of the street gang the Jets, who poke fun at the gruff Police Sergeant Krupke by singing about the societal forces that led them to join a gang.
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Arthur Benjamin (1893-1960)
from Two Jamaican Pieces
Jamaican Rumba (1938)
Even if you do not recognise the title you are going to recognise this tune. Does the percussive sound of four hands on one piano help? Here are Renée and Isaac:
"Dave" Robert David Grusin (b1934)
Theme from the film The Yakuza (1974)
The film did not fare so well at the box office, barely covering one third of what it cost to make. Still, nobody could the blame for that on Dave Grusin whose beautiful music spans the musical chasm between Eastern and Western influences. See what you think:
Antônio Carlos Brasileira de Almeida Jobim (aka Tom Jobim) (1927-1994)
Wave, or Vou Te Contar I'll Tell You (1967)
First the complicated name. In Spanish countries people can have two surnames, the Mother's and the Father's. Antonio Carlos Jobim chose to use his Father's.
Let's hear this Bossa Nova classic on the electric guitar of Eddie Lastra:
Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla (1921-1992)
Oblivion (1982)
Libertango (1974)
Here's a bit of luck for Piazzolla fans. Two of his greatest pieces of music in one concert.
Philippe Biondi plays Oblivion, on the bandoneon, with the
Ensemble Instrumental de Corse, Ajaccio, Corsica, in 2010.
Piazzolla's second piece is his Libertango, a blend in Spanish, as in English, of the words Liberty and Tango, representing his desire for a "new tango". So let's introduce the musicians as they make their entries in this video recording, for Télé Suisse Romande's TSR Mosaïque in 1977.
Tomás Gubitsch opens on guitar, Ricardo Sanz follows on bass, then we have Gustavo Beytelmann on piano, and Luis Ceravolo on drums, Osvaldo Caló on electric organ, Daniel Piazzolla with the synthétiseur and Luis Ferreyra on flute. Finally we see the star of this European Tour, Astor Piazzolla himself, with his bandoneon.
Oblivion (1982)
Libertango (1974)
Here's a bit of luck for Piazzolla fans. Two of his greatest pieces of music in one concert.
Philippe Biondi plays Oblivion, on the bandoneon, with the
Ensemble Instrumental de Corse, Ajaccio, Corsica, in 2010.
Piazzolla's second piece is his Libertango, a blend in Spanish, as in English, of the words Liberty and Tango, representing his desire for a "new tango". So let's introduce the musicians as they make their entries in this video recording, for Télé Suisse Romande's TSR Mosaïque in 1977.
Tomás Gubitsch opens on guitar, Ricardo Sanz follows on bass, then we have Gustavo Beytelmann on piano, and Luis Ceravolo on drums, Osvaldo Caló on electric organ, Daniel Piazzolla with the synthétiseur and Luis Ferreyra on flute. Finally we see the star of this European Tour, Astor Piazzolla himself, with his bandoneon.
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Three Renaissance Pieces
John Dowland (1563-1626)
from Varietie of Lute Lessons (pub 1610 by his son Robert)
Queen Elizabeth, her Galliard
This performance on the lute is by Magnus Andersson:
from Varietie of Lute Lessons (pub 1610 by his son Robert)
Queen Elizabeth, her Galliard
This performance on the lute is by Magnus Andersson:
William Byrd (c1539/40 or 1543-1623)
Earl of Salisbury Pavan (c1611/1613)
We shall hear the Pavan played on virginals, a form of harpsichord. The performer is Aapo Häkkinen, playing on a 1604 virginals by Joannes Ruckers, one of a great Antwerp family of harpsichord makers.
King Henry VIII (1491-1547, reign 1509-47)
Past Time with Good Companye, or The King's Ballad (c1509)
This American recording shows us that these small-voiced instruments need a drum that will not overpower the lutes. Here are singer Sarah Pillow, with the group Ayreheart - Ronn McFarlane, lute, Will Morris, colascione (giraffe-lute, long-necked with just 2 or 3 strings), and Mattias Rucht, percussion.
Stephen Joshua Sondheim (1930-2021)
from the musical Sweeney Todd (1979)
One of Sondheim's great musicals, but what will Phil Hopkins choose from this rich score?
Here is the scene where Sweeney (Johnny Depp) sees off his opposition, and potential blackmailer (Sacha Baron Cohen). It ends with violence, and with blood - a warning we've never had to issue before!
from the musical Sweeney Todd (1979)
One of Sondheim's great musicals, but what will Phil Hopkins choose from this rich score?
Here is the scene where Sweeney (Johnny Depp) sees off his opposition, and potential blackmailer (Sacha Baron Cohen). It ends with violence, and with blood - a warning we've never had to issue before!
Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (b1930)
St Thomas Calypso (before 1956, with folk origins)
Tenor Sax player Sonny Rollins features in this recording of his St Thomas Clypso, with Kenny Drew, piano, Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, bass and Albert "Tootie" Heath on drums:
St Thomas Calypso (before 1956, with folk origins)
Tenor Sax player Sonny Rollins features in this recording of his St Thomas Clypso, with Kenny Drew, piano, Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, bass and Albert "Tootie" Heath on drums:
Previous concert
Gus McQuade, guitar - click here
Next Thursday's concert
G.RA.Y Piano Quintet - click here
