The Bourbaki Ensemble

Bourbaki CDs

Bourbaki Ensemble concerts in July and August 2010 saw the launch of the Ensemble's latest recording. Mermaids is a collection of music by Wollongong composer John Wayne Dixon. The title track, scored for eleven solo strings, is performed by Bourbaki under the direction of David Angell. The disc also includes a variety of Wayne's vocal and instrumental compositions. Click here for an excerpt from Mermaids. Clips of other items on the disc, as well as online purchasing information, can be found at the Wirripang website.

In February 2008 the Bourbaki Ensemble, with conductor David Angell and soloists including Rachel Tolmie (oboe and cor anglais), spent a few evenings in St. Stephen's Church recording a set of pieces to be released on CD. Entitled Mozart in Love, the disc made its first "public appearance" at our concert in August 2008. Tracks include Australian composer Colin Brumby's genial Scena for cor anglais and strings, and the Concertino for the same combination by Alan Ridout. The Ridout admirably exploits the dark tone of the solo instrument in its first movement Plaint, while the finale features haunting string chords strongly reminiscent of Sibelius' Swan of Tuonela. There are three American compositions: the popular Quiet City by Aaron Copland (also including trumpet soloist Andrew del Riccio); a brief song without words The Rainbow in which the originality and quirkiness of Charles Ives' compositional thought is evident; and the charming Four Celtic Pieces by Swan Hennessy.

The recording also includes three works by Sydney composer Phillip Wilcher; these have already appeared on a CD entitled Into His Countenance, celebrating Phillip's 50th birthday. The title track features flautist Amanda Muir with the Bourbaki Ensemble; Mozart in Love and 1791 are pieces for oboe and strings. In addition, this disc includes music by Phillip for piano solo, and for oboe and piano.

Mozart in Love was recently noticed in The Studio, the journal of the Music Teachers' Association of NSW. Reviewer Rita Crews wrote,

Click here for previews of 1791 and Mozart in Love. Both CDs can be purchased online from Publications by Wirripang.

Past Repertoire and Programmes

Here is a catalogue of past Bourbaki Ensemble concerts. Programme notes are available in PostScript or PDF: the PS looks better but may not be accessible to everyone. Both formats are designed for an A5 page so we suggest you resize your viewer accordingly. Comments on the programmes are welcome!

If you couldn't be bothered scrolling down the page you can jump directly to 2005 or 2010.

Concert 1, music for strings and harp, February 2001. A commitment to programming Australian music begins with our very first performance (and is still continuing!) There follows one of the great pieces of the solo harp repertoire, and then Mahler's glorious song for strings and harp, extracted from his turbulent fifth symphony. To conclude, one of the recognised masterpieces of the literature for string orchestra.

• Peter Sculthorpe, Sonata for Strings No.3, Jabiru Dreaming.
• Claude Debussy, Danses sacrée et profane for harp and strings (Verna Lee, harp).
• Gustav Mahler, Adagietto, from Symphony No.5 in C sharp minor.
• Antonín Dvořák, Serenade for Strings in E major, Op.22.

For programme notes, details of performers and more, choose PS or PDF.

Concert 2, music for string orchestra, August 2001. Popular short pieces for strings by Holst, Barber and Grieg, and an attractive concerto, sometimes vigorous, sometimes plaintive, by Margaret Sutherland (1897–1984). The concert finishes with the intense and tragic Chamber Symphony arranged by Rudolf Barshai from the eighth string quartet of Dmitri Shostakovich.

• Gustav Holst, St. Paul's Suite.
• Samuel Barber, Adagio for Strings, Op.11.
• Margaret Sutherland, Concerto for Strings.
• Edvard Grieg, Two Elegiac Melodies, Op.34.
• Dmitri Shostakovich, Chamber Symphony, Op.110a.

The programme for concert 2 is here in PostScript and here in PDF.

Concert 3, music for strings and percussion, March 2002. The addition of percussion to the string orchestra allows a composer to create a variety of unusual and fascinating sounds. In this concert we perform works ranging from Mozart's vibrant Serenata for strings and timpani to Sibelius' magical suite and Sculthorpe's memorial to his father. Also on the programme are string serenades from the English and Czech schools of composition.

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Serenata Notturna, K239, for strings and timpani.
• Sir Edward Elgar, Serenade for Strings in E minor, Op.20.
• Peter Sculthorpe, Irkanda IV for solo violin, strings and percussion (Margaret Howard, violin).
• Jean Sibelius, Rakastava, Op.14, for strings, timpani and triangle.
• Josef Suk, Serenade for Strings in E flat major, Op.6.

For more information please read the programme: PS or PDF.

Film soundtrack, Compost Monster, April 2002. The Standing Committee presents Compost Monster, a not-entirely-serious horror film. Directed by Genevieve Mortiss, the movie is set in suburban Sydney and demonstrates the dire consequences which may flow from discarding meat scraps in the compost heap... Musical concepts by The Standing Committee, orchestrated by David Angell. Soundtrack recorded in St. Stephen's Church, Newtown, performed by the Bourbaki Ensemble and conducted by David Angell. The world premiere of Compost Monster took place on Tuesday 7 May 2002 at the Valhalla Cinema, Glebe. In August the film was screened as part of the Portobello Film Festival in London. Here's a link to scenes from the movie.

Concert 4, dance and verse for strings, July 2002. A programme of twentieth century music, built around three works with literary connections. Britten's justly famous Serenade sets texts by six different poets; Nigel Butterley's Goldengrove was inspired by Gerard Manley Hopkins' Spring and Fall; the two short pieces for strings by William Walton originated as part of the score for Olivier's film of Shakespeare's play. The concert begins and ends with "dance" episodes: Eastern European from Bartók, and French from Peter Warlock.

• Béla Bartók, Rumanian Dances.
• Benjamin Britten, Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings (John Napier, tenor; Graham Nichols, horn).
• Nigel Butterley, Canzona, from Goldengrove.
• William Walton, Two Pieces for Strings, from the film music for Henry V.
• Peter Warlock, Capriol Suite.

Further details available here (PS) and here (PDF).

Concert 5, Baroque and beyond: music for strings, November 2002. The third of Bach's magnificent Brandenburg Concertos precedes two seasonally appropriate Baroque works, while Villa-Lobos' homage to Bach in Brazilian style is matched with Respighi's loving look at old Italian music. Colin Brumby's piece for strings and harpsichord was inspired by Shakespeare's poem of the same name.

• Johann Sebastian Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No.3.
• Arcangelo Corelli, Concerto Grosso Op.6 No.8, Christmas Concerto.
• Antonio Vivaldi, Summer, from The Four Seasons (Valerie Gutenev, violin).
• Colin Brumby, The Phoenix and the Turtle.
• Heitor Villa-Lobos, Bachianas Brasileiras No.9 for string orchestra.
• Ottorino Respighi, Ancient Airs and Dances, third suite.

Click here for programme notes and misleading Bourbaki stories in Postscript or PDF.

Concert 6, Eastern European classics for strings, February 2003. Tchaikovsky's Serenade is one of his most joyful compositions, and is counterpointed by Dvořák's elegiac Nocturne. Weiner and Lutosławski are represented by works based on their national musical traditions, while Brisbane composer Betty Beath's intense Lament commemorates the suffering occasioned by recent events in Kosovo.

• Leó Weiner, Divertimento on Old Hungarian Dances.
• Betty Beath, Lament for Kosovo.
• Witold Lutosławski, Five Polish Folk Melodies.
• Antonín Dvořák, Nocturne in B major.
• Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, Serenade for Strings.

The concert programme is available here in PostScript, and here in PDF.

Concert 7, music for recorder and strings, May 2003. A programme featuring one Baroque and one modern recorder concerto, and the world premiere performance of Colin Spiers' deep and evocative composition. We begin with Purcell's music for a Restoration tragedy and end with Biber's startling and sometimes eccentric battle suite. The recorder concerto by Arnold Cooke is also receiving its first performance in Australia.

• Henry Purcell, Incidental music from Abdelazer.
• Arnold Cooke, Concerto for treble recorder and strings (Karyn Ashley, recorder).
• Antonio Vivaldi, Concerto for sopranino recorder and strings (Karyn Ashley, recorder).
• Colin Spiers, Music, like the dark husk of earth, abiding.
• Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, Battalia.

Click (PS or PDF) for programme notes and further details.

Concert 8, three centuries of music for strings, August 2003. A concert given at The Garrison (Holy Trinity) Church in The Rocks as part of the church's "Concerts by Candlelight" series, and consisting of shortish, mostly well-known pieces.

• Antonio Vivaldi, Concerto for four violins.
• Georges Bizet, Adagietto from L'Arlesienne.
• Percy Grainger, Irish Tune from County Derry.
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Divertimento in F major, K138.
• Arvo Pärt, Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten, for strings and bell.
• Benjamin Britten, Simple Symphony.

The concert programme in its original printed form is not available, but programme notes can be read in PS or PDF.

Concert 9, music for guitars and strings, October 2003. The programme is built around two solo pieces and a double concerto for guitars. We begin with a short and energetic composition by Warwick Pulley, concertmaster of the Bourbaki Ensemble, and include a delightful suite by Gustav Holst. Alan Rawsthorne's Concerto for String Orchestra boasts a striking and powerful opening and continues with music which is by turns turbulent, elegiac, and serene.

• Warwick Pulley, Delta-H.
• Antonio Vivaldi, Concerto for Two Guitars and Strings (Raffaele and Janet Agostino, guitars).
• Gustav Holst, Brook Green Suite.
• Richard Charlton, Serenade for Guitar and Strings (Janet Agostino, guitar).
• Máximo Pujol, Suite Buenos Aires (Raffaele Agostino, guitar).
• Alan Rawsthorne, Concerto for String Orchestra.

Read the concert programme in PS or PDF.

Concert 10, string music from Britain and beyond, March 2004. Elgar's Introduction and Allegro is one of the great works in the English tradition of music for strings, while John Woolrich's meditative Ulysses Awakes is a recomposition of motives from Monteverdi's opera The Return of Ulysses. The St. Kentigern Suite by Scottish composer Thomas Wilson has been described as "dazzling" and "beautifully written for strings". We also include two "foreign" compositions having some kind of British connection: an Australian setting of English folk songs and a German piece written in memory of King George V.

• Sir Edward Elgar, Introduction and Allegro for Strings.
• John Woolrich, Ulysses Awakes, for viola and strings (Angela Lindsay, viola).
• David Stanhope, String Songs.
• Paul Hindemith, Trauermusik, for viola and strings (Angela Lindsay, viola).
• Thomas Wilson, St. Kentigern Suite.

Read the programme notes from this concert by clicking here (PS – PDF).

Concert 11, a Mediterranean odyssey for string orchestra, July 2004. Our Mediterranean concert begins with an Australian composition! Colin Brumby's delightful suite comprises settings of folk music from Turkey, Crete and Cyprus. We also perform two short Spanish compositions, a setting (in Italian!) of words by Shelley, and a twentieth-century French symphony for string orchestra.

• Colin Brumby, Mediterranean Suite.
• Joaquín Rodrigo, Two Andalusian Miniatures.
• Ottorino Respighi, Il Tramonto (Camille Mercep, soprano).
• Joaquín Turina, La Oracion del Torero.
• Jean Rivier, Symphony No.3.

Programme notes can be read or downloaded in PostScript or PDF format.

Concert 12, young composers writing for strings, October 2004. Works written by composers ranging in age from the thirteen-year-old Mendelssohn to the (relatively) elderly Scriabin, all of twenty seven when he wrote his Andante for strings.

• Robert Davidson, Dodecahedron.
• Leoš Janácek, Idyll for string orchestra.
• Alexander Scriabin, Two Pieces for String Orchestra: Scherzo and Andante.
• Felix Mendelssohn, String Symphony No.9 in C major.

The concert programme is available as PS or PDF.

Concert 13, music for clarinet and strings, February 2005. One of Grieg's best loved compositions, a poignantly beautiful English clarinet concerto, and the serenely elegiac Cantilena Pacifica of Richard Meale. The programme begins with Frank Bridge's intensely sorrowful Lament, commemorating a nine-year-old victim of the sinking of the Lusitania during the First World War.

• Frank Bridge, Lament for Strings.
• Gerald Finzi, Clarinet Concerto, Op.31 (Nick Carey, clarinet).
• Richard Meale, Cantilena Pacifica for string orchestra.
• Edvard Grieg, Holberg Suite.

Read all about Bourbaki and Isaac Nathan! – in PS or PDF.

Concert 14, ocean music for string orchestra, September 2005. We explore the many moods of the ocean, from Peter Sculthorpe's Songs of Sea and Sky, inspired by the bright and sunny waters of the Torres Strait, to the dark Debussyan nocturne of Japanese composer Tōru Takemitsu. Vasco Martins' symphony for strings depicts the broad swell of the Atlantic which dominates his home in the Cape Verde Islands, while Grace Williams' delightful suite expresses the calm and stormy moods of the seas bordering her native Wales.

• Peter Sculthorpe, Songs of Sea and Sky.
• Frederick Delius, Two Aquarelles for string orchestra.
• Tōru Takemitsu, Toward the Sea II (Christine Draeger, alto flute; Verna Lee-Brown, harp).
• Vasco Martins, Symphony No.4, "Ocean in the Heart".
• Grace Williams, Sea Sketches for string orchestra.

You can discover the history of Tarte d'Amblongue in either PostScript or PDF.

Concert 15, chamber music for strings, December 2005. Beethoven's Quintet in C major is a marvellous but little known composition which shows a marked advance on his first quartets, while Mozart's clarinet quintet is perhaps the best loved chamber work of the classical period. Music from Rimsky-Korsakov shows him in chamber rather than the familiar orchestral mode. Morning Star by Paul Stanhope takes its inspiration from the Aboriginal music of Arnhem Land.

• Ludwig van Beethoven, Quintet in C major, Opus 29, for two violins, two violas and cello.
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Allegro in B flat major (from the album "Fridays"), and Four Variations on a Chorale for string quartet.
• Paul Stanhope, Morning Star for string quartet.
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Quintet in A major, K581, for clarinet and strings.

Read programme notes, or find out about music for violin, flageolet, guitar and ophicleide (PS – PDF).

Concert 16, tragic heroines: music for voice and strings, April 2006. In one of his last works, Benjamin Britten set to music the climactic scene from Racine's Phaedra, a story which ultimately goes back to Euripides. The centrepiece of Earl Kim's song cycle Where Grief Slumbers takes its text from Rimbaud's poem Ophelia. Our trio of tragic heroines is completed by Domenico Giannetta's suite based on motives from Adriana Lecouvreur, Cilea's opera depicting the tragic fate of the great French actress. The programme also includes the world premiere of a work written especially for this concert by talented young Sydney composer Alex Pozniak.

• Traditional, Dives and Lazarus (Jenny Duck-Chong, mezzo-soprano).
• Ralph Vaughan Williams, Five Variants on Dives and Lazarus.
• Domenico Giannetta, Adriana Suite for string orchestra.
• Earl Kim, Where Grief Slumbers (Alison Morgan, soprano).
• Alex Pozniak, Spectres.
• Benjamin Britten, Phaedra (Jenny Duck-Chong, mezzo-soprano).

Programme notes are available in PostScript or PDF.

Concert 17, Bach and his legacy: music for strings, September 2006. This programme, one of our occasional forays into earlier music, combines baroque, classical, romantic and contemporary compositions testifying to the immeasurable influence of the music of J.S. Bach. From Bach's own music we present part of his monumental "textbook" of fugal technique and one of the three great violin concertos, while works by Mozart and C.P.E. Bach exhibit differing reactions by classical period composers to Bach's legacy. Two Australian works show that Bach's influence is still felt by composers half a world away and three centuries later.

• Johann Sebastian Bach, The Art of Fugue, BWV1080 (excerpts).
• Johann Sebastian Bach, Violin Concerto in E major, BWV1042 (David Saffir, violin).
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K546.
• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Symphony No.2 in B flat major.
• Max Reger, Aria O Mensch, bewein dein' Sünde gross, after Bach's chorale prelude BWV622.
• Johann Sebastian Bach, Sarabande, from Suite No.5 for unaccompanied cello, BWV1011 (Steve Meyer, cello).
• Stephen Leek, On this ground...
• Graeme Koehne, To His Servant Bach God Grants a Final Glimpse: the Morning Star.

Further information can be read in the concert programme (PS – PDF).

Concert 18, diversions and dances: music for strings, March 2007. The Bourbaki Ensemble presents works which are by turn witty, sparkling and entertaining. The programme includes The Ruritanian Dances by George Palmer, a judge of the Supreme Court of NSW who is also a talented and passionate composer. There is also a bright and tuneful saxophone concerto by a 20th century French composer, and early works by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Nielsen.

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Divertimento for strings in D major, K136.
• Pierre Max Dubois, Concerto for alto saxophone and string orchestra (Jason Xanthoudakis, saxophone).
• George Palmer, Ruritanian Dances.
• Felix Mendelssohn, String Symphony No.10 in B minor.
• Carl Nielsen, Little Suite, Op.1, for string orchestra.

The concert programme can be read or downloaded in PS or PDF.

Concert 19, Australian and American music for strings, July 2007. The original chamber version, serene and transparent, of Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring, and a selection of shorter American works. Peter Sculthorpe's string sonata has American ties in its derivation from a string quartet commissioned by the Kronos Quartet of San Francisco. The concert also features the world premiere of a new work by Sydney composer Phillip Wilcher, written especially for our guest soloist Rachel Tolmie.

• Aaron Copland, Appalachian Spring.
• Peter Sculthorpe, First Sonata for Strings.
• Carl Ruggles, Lilacs.
• Elliott Carter, Elegy for string orchestra.
• Phillip Wilcher, 1791, for oboe and string orchestra (Rachel Tolmie, oboe).
• Aaron Copland, Quiet City for cor anglais, trumpet and strings (Rachel Tolmie, cor anglais; Andrew del Riccio, trumpet).

See a photo of the Bourbaki Panorama Lucerne! PS or PDF.

Concert 20, requiems for strings, October 2007. Pieces by Shostakovich and Howells provide vastly different conceptions of a "requiem" for strings. The Shostakovich is a reflection of the composer's life under the oppressive Soviet regime, while the Howells adopts in its slow movement a more elegiac and consolatory idiom, having been written in part as a memorial to the composer's son. The circumstances underlying Christine McCombe's Of Distant Sadness are not particularised, but it is impossible to miss the depth of feeling expressed in its dark textures.

• Dmitri Shostakovich, Requiem for Strings.
• Herbert Howells, Concerto for String Orchestra.
• Christine McCombe, Of Distant Sadness.

Programme notes, details of performers and so on: in PS or PDF.

Concert 21, the great romantics: music for strings, April 2008. Musical and poetic romanticism from Tchaikovsky and Byron, the latter in three poems set to music by Australian composer Graeme Koehne. Also exquisite short pieces by Finzi and Tavener, and Warlock's birthday tribute to his friend and mentor Delius.

• Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, Serenade for Strings.
• Graeme Koehne, Three Poems of Byron (Valda Wilson, soprano).
• Gerald Finzi, Prelude for string orchestra.
• John Tavener, Song of the Angel (Valda Wilson, soprano).
• Peter Warlock, Serenade for Strings, for Frederick Delius' 60th birthday.

The concert programme is available in PS or PDF.

Concert 22, echoes of the past: music for strings, August 2008. Strauss's great lament for the destruction of Germany under the Nazis draws on the funeral march from Beethoven's Eroica symphony, while Britten's Lachrymae is a set of rather free variations on the Elizabethan lutenist–composer John Dowland's "If my complaints could passions move". The pieces by Finzi and Cotis have covert, perhaps accidental, references to the music of Elgar and of Mahler.

• Richard Strauss, Metamorphosen, for 23 solo strings.
• Benjamin Britten, Lachrymae: reflections on a song of Dowland (Amy Stevens, viola).
• Gerald Finzi, Romance for string orchestra.
• Bill Cotis, Adagietto.

Read about the early history of the Olympic Games: PS version – PDF version.

Concert 23, music for chamber orchestra, October 2008. The strings of the Bourbaki Ensemble are augmented by a small group of woodwind and brass players to perform Wagner's birthday gift to his wife Cosima and a pair of British musical landscapes. Anne Boyd's flute concerto is inspired by the music of Indonesia and Japan. In a world premiere performance, the concert also featues the syncopated Latin rhythms of Chilean–born Australian composer Daniel Rojas' Little Serenade.

• Richard Wagner, Siegfried Idyll.
• Gerald Finzi, A Severn Rhapsody.
• Eugene Goossens, By the Tarn.
• Anne Boyd, Concerto for Flute and Strings (Christine Draeger, flute).
• Daniel Rojas, Little Serenade for string orchestra.
• Dag Wirén, Serenade for Strings.

Programme notes are available in PS or PDF.

Concert 24, mountains, forest, sea: music for strings, March 2009. The world premiere performance of Mark Oliveiro's cello concerto Cyan Echo II, which depicts the landscape of the Blue Mountains. Schoenberg's Transfigured Night moves from a dark, claustrophobic forest setting to a radiant moonlit conclusion. Altogether gentler and more comforting, Australian composer Andrew Schultz's Willow Bend was inspired by a quiet corner of the Wollongong Botanic Gardens. In Das Meer… British composer Diana Burrell describes the turbulent and serene moods of the sea.

• Arnold Schoenberg, Verklärte Nacht, 1943 version for string orchestra.
• Mark Oliveiro, Cyan Echo II, for cello, strings and electronics (Steve Meyer, cello).
• Andrew Schultz, Willow Bend.
• Diana Burrell, Das Meer, das so gross und weit ist, da wimmelt's ohne Zahl, grosse und kleine Tiere.

Read more in PS or PDF.

Concert 25, serenades and elegies: music for strings, July/August 2009. Dvořák's Serenade, arguably the best loved string work of the nineteenth century, and the seventh of Mendelssohn's astonishing youthful string symphonies. A brief but profound and sombre Elegy by Elgar, and the concert premieres of not one but two pieces for flute and strings by Sydney composer Phillip Wilcher.

• Antonín Dvořák, Serenade for Strings in E major, Op.22.
• Felix Mendelssohn, String Symphony No.7 in D minor.
• Sir Edward Elgar, Elegy for string orchestra, Op.58.
• Phillip Wilcher, Into His Countenance (Amanda Muir, flute).
• Phillip Wilcher, The Flautist's Pavane (Amanda Muir, flute).

Read all about General Bourbaki's hypothetical 1846 travels: PS or PDF.

Concert 26, shores of the Baltic: music for strings, November 2009. Music from nations bordering the Baltic Sea includes Tüür's magical Insula Deserta and Rautavaara's satirical suite Fiddlers. We enjoy a brief detour to the Ukraine for Silvestrov's responses to fragments of music by Schubert and Wagner; and (of course) to Australia, with leading Sydney trombonist Greg van der Struik performing his own composition Piangi, inspired by a visit to the battlefields of northern France around Anzac Day 2005.

• Greg van der Struik, Piangi (Greg van der Struik, trombone).
• Lars-Erik Larsson, Concertino for trombone and strings (Greg van der Struik, trombone).
• Einojuhani Rautavaara, Fiddlers.
• Erkki-Sven Tüür, Insula Deserta.
• Andrzej Panufnik, Old Polish Music: Divertimento after Janiewicz.
• Erik Sköld, Adagio for string orchestra.
• Valentin Silvestrov, Zwei Dialoge mit Nachwort.

Programme notes, artist biographies and more: PS or PDF.

Concert 27, music for flutes and strings, February 2010. Guest soloists the Tucana Flute Quartet (Diane Berger, Lisa Breckenridge, Christine Draeger, Rosamund Plummer) perform a concerto for four flutes by Irish composer James Wilson, and an arrangement of a short piece by Hamilton Harty, as well as joining the orchestra in Ives' Unanswered Question. Other pieces of Irish origin are by Rachel Holstead and Percy Grainger. Christopher Willcock's Divertimento was inspired by paintings of Sidney Nolan.

• James Wilson, Concerto for Four Flutes and String Orchestra (Tucana Flute Quartet, soloists).
• Christopher Willcock, Divertimento: Nolan's Backyard, for string orchestra.
• Charles Ives, The Unanswered Question.
• Percy Grainger, Irish Tune from County Derry.
• Rachel Holstead, (Can't) have your cake and eat it.
• Sir Hamilton Harty, In Ireland (Tucana Flute Quartet).

Programme notes are available in PS or PDF.

Concert 28, reflections for strings, July/August 2010. Vaughan Williams' sublime Fantasia is one of the unquestionable masterpieces of Western music, paying homage to the great English church music of the Elizabethan age. Holst's St. Paul's Suite, very different but in its own way no less great, is founded upon the rhythms and intonations of English folk song. This programme also continues our "composer of the year" focus on Charles Ives and includes no fewer than four Australian works, all composed within the last couple of years.

• Ralph Vaughan Williams, Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.
• Gustav Holst, St. Paul's Suite.
• Andrew Ford, Oma Kodu for clarinet and string orchestra (Ken Burnett, clarinet).
• Wayne Dixon, Mermaids.
• Charles Ives, Hymn.
• Richard Willgoss, General Bourbaki Rings the Changes.
• Chris Williams, Altjiranga mitjina.

Read programme notes in PS or PDF, and listen to our performance of the Vaughan Williams Fantasia (mp3, 33.5MB).

Concert 29, ten years of music for strings, December 2010. A celebration of a decade of Bourbaki Ensemble concerts at Newtown and elsewhere! The programme includes two personal favourites from our "back catalogue": Scottish composer Thomas Wilson's dazzling and profound St. Kentigern Suite and Charles Ives' wordless setting of Wordsworth's The Rainbow. We also give the world premiere of a new work by Sydney composer Phillip Wilcher; and to wind up our tenth year, Terry Riley's seminal minimalist composition, in effect a semi-controlled improvisation for the whole ensemble.

• Thomas Wilson, St. Kentigern Suite.
• Charles Ives, The Rainbow (Rachel Tolmie, cor anglais).
• Phillip Wilcher, Adagio, for flute, cor anglais, piano and string orchestra (Christine Draeger, flute; Rachel Tolmie, cor anglais; Prue Gibbs, piano).
• Terry Riley, In C.

For more about this concert, and about Bourbaki's first decade, read the programme in PS or PDF.

Concert 30, war and peace: music for strings, April 2011. A selection of works including the world premiere performance of a saxophone concerto inspired by the First World War poetry of Wilfred Owen, and a short piece written, amazingly, during the Second World War while the composer was imprisoned in the Nazi concentration camp of Terezín.

• David Keeffe, The Undone Years (Jason Xanthoudakis, saxophone).
• Pavel Haas, Study for String Orchestra.
• Johanna Selleck, Tapestry II: Mellow.
• Ernest Bloch, Concerto Grosso No.1 for string orchestra with piano obbligato.

More details: PS or PDF.

Concert 31, crossing borders, August 2011. Compositions from two of the rising stars of British music; three Australian works, one featuring leading young Australian recorder soloist Alana Blackburn; and a modern classic from Poland.

• Stephen Cronin, Suite for recorder and strings (Alana Blackburn, recorder).
• Sally Beamish, The Day Dawn.
• Errollyn Wallen, Photography.
• Derek Davies, India.
• Ross Edwards, Chorale and Ecstatic Dance, for string orchestra.
• Henryk Górecki, Three Pieces in Olden Style.

Did you know that General Bourbaki was the first French writer to (attempt to) publish a book of Shetland knitting patterns? If not, read about it in PostScript or PDF.

Concert 32, late romantics: music for strings, November 2011. Three works from the early years of the twentieth century: Elgar, Enescu, and an extraordinary adaptation for strings of one of the greatest among Mahler's late symphonic movements. We also present a gentle and moving memorial piece by Newcastle composer Colin Spiers.

• Gustav Mahler, Adagio from Symphony No.10, adapted for strings by Hans Stadlmair.
• Sir Edward Elgar, Introduction and Allegro for Strings, Op.47.
• George Enescu, Deux Intermèdes pour cordes, Op.12.
• Colin Spiers, Arc of Infinity.

Yet more essential information about General Bourbaki, in PostScript or PDF.

Concert 33, music for harp and strings, June/July 2012. In our first ever visit to Camden, the Bourbaki Ensemble presents French music with and without harp; laments from Australia and England; and Beethoven's monumental fugue for string quartet, in an arrangement for string orchestra.

• Ludwig van Beethoven, Grosse Fuge Op.133, version for string orchestra.
• Claude Debussy, Danses Sacrée et Profane for harp and strings (Verna Lee, harp).
• Marcel Grandjany, Aria in Classic Style, Op.19 (Verna Lee, harp).
• Albert Roussel, Sinfonietta for Strings, Op.52.
• Peter Sculthorpe, Lament for cello and strings (Steve Meyer, cello).
• Sir Edward Elgar, Sospiri, Op.70.

Explore General Bourbaki's influence on twentieth century American and European music (PS or PDF).

Concert 34, concertante strings, October 2012. A programme of works for string orchestra together with solo ensembles drawn from the orchestra, featuring the world premiere performance of a violin concerto written especially for this concert.

• Aaron Kenny, Chernobyl, for solo violin and string orchestra (Alastair Duff-Forbes, violin).
• Herbert Howells, Elegy for viola, string quartet and string orchestra (Michelle Urquhart, viola).
• Eugène Ysaÿe, Harmonies du soir, Op.31, for string quartet and string orchestra.
• Peter Sculthorpe, Port Essington.
• Anton Bruckner, Adagio from the String Quintet in F, version for string orchestra.

More information on the music performed at this concert: PS or PDF.

Concert 35, stars and angels, October 2013. British composer William Alwyn's harp concerto was inspired by lines of the 17th century English poet Giles Fletcher: "I looke for angels' songs, and heare Him crie", while Birrung, by Australian Georges Lentz, takes its title from a word meaning "star" in an indigenous language of the Sydney region.

• William Alwyn, Concerto for harp and string orchestra Lyra Angelica (Verna Lee, harp).
• Georges Lentz, Birrung, for eleven strings.
• Samuel Barber, Adagio for Strings.
• Benjamin Britten, Prelude and Fugue, Op.29, for eighteen-part string orchestra.
• Karel Husa, Pastoral.

Read the programme in PS, 70MB or PDF.

Concert 36, songs from south and north, June 2014. Yet another Bourbaki world premiere performance! Wayne Dixon's settings of Verlaine are contrasted with string music from England and Scandinavia.

• Wayne Dixon, Songs of Transience, Op.29, for voice, cor anglais and divided strings (Lotte Latukefu, mezzo-soprano; Rachel Tolmie, cor anglais).
• Johan Svendsen, Two Swedish Folk-melodies, Op.27, for string orchestra.
• Ole Bull, The Herdgirl's Sunday, harmonised and arranged for strings by Johan Svendsen.
• Carl Nielsen, Bøhmisk–Dansk Folketone.
• Sir Edward Elgar, Serenade for Strings in E minor, Op.20.
• Frederick Delius, Late Swallows, arranged for string orchestra by Eric Fenby.

The concert programme is available as PS or PDF.

Concert 37, meditations for strings, April 2015. The first of three compositions by Peter Sculthorpe to be performed this year, together with Andrew Schultz's haunting lament for "all that has been lost from the face of the earth" and Sibelius' magical suite for strings and percussion.

• Peter Sculthorpe, Cello Dreaming, for cello, strings and percussion (John Napier, cello).
• Jean Sibelius, Rakastava, Op.14, for strings, timpani and triangle.
• Andrew Schultz, Endling, for strings, horns and timpani, Op.72.
• Henry Purcell, works for strings: Fantasia, In Nomine, Chacony.
• Josef Suk, Meditation on the Old Czech Chorale "St. Wenceslas", Op.35a.

Read about General Bourbaki and "Jean le Long-d'Argent": PS or PDF.

Concert 38, many moods for strings, August 2015. A programme of diverse moods, ranging from the nonchalance of the Honegger Concerto, through the romanticism of Arensky and the operatism (is that a word?) of Puccini, to Sculthorpe's impassioned, sometimes perhaps angry, plea for the environment.

• Peter Sculthorpe, From Ubirr.
• Arthur Honegger, Concerto da Camera for flute, cor anglais and strings (Christine Draeger, flute; Rachel Tolmie, cor anglais).
• Anton Arensky, Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky, Op.35a.
• Giacomo Puccini, Crisantemi.
• Henry Cowell, Hymns and Fuguing Tunes No.5 and No.10 (Rachel Tolmie, oboe).
• Priaulx Rainier, Movement for String Orchestra.

The concert programme is available in PS or PDF.

Concert 39, music for brass and strings, December 2015. Soloists Brian Evans and Greg van der Struik give the world premiere performance of Greg's Concertino for trumpet, trombone and string orchestra. The Ensemble contributes an orchestral arrangement of Shostakovich's tenth string quartet and a selection of shorter works.

• Peter Sculthorpe, Morning-Song.
• Brooke Green, Graceful Ghost.
• Greg van der Struik, Concertino for trumpet, trombone and strings (Brian Evans, trumpet; Greg van der Struik, trombone).
• Dmitri Shostakovich, Chamber Symphony, Op.118a.
• Thea Musgrave, Aurora.
• Erik Satie, Gymnopédie No.3.

More on General Bourbaki's infatuation with the ophicleide: PS or PDF.

Concert 40, in memoriam: music for horns and strings, March 2016. Britten's spine-tingling tribute to the great horn virtuoso Dennis Brain; then more works involving horns and further memorial works. The slow movement of Elgar's string quartet (heard here in a version for string orchestra) was a particular favourite of the composer's wife, and was played at her funeral.

• Sir Edward Elgar, String Quartet in E minor, Op.83, arranged for string orchestra by David Matthews.
• Benjamin Britten, In Memoriam Dennis Brain, for four horns, bells and strings.
• Arvo Pärt, Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten, for strings and bell.
• Percy Grainger, Irish Tune from County Derry.
• Michael Haydn, Concerto for Two Horns (Neil O'Donnell, Natasha Roumanoff, horns).
• Brooke Green, Perfumed with Blood.

The concert programme is available in PS or PDF.

Concert 41, lines at infinity, December 2016. The world premiere of Chris Williams' wonderful new work Lines at Infinity, commissioned for this concert by the Bourbaki Ensemble. Also, further "lines" by Edward Primrose. We welcome outstanding young oboist Niamh Dell to perform Vaughan Williams' magnificent concerto.

• Ralph Vaughan Williams, Oboe Concerto (Niamh Dell, oboe).
• Jean Sibelius, Impromptu for String Orchestra.
• George Dyson, Concerto da Chiesa.
• Chris Williams, Lines at Infinity.
• Gerald Finzi, Romance, Op.11, for string orchestra.
• Edward Primrose, Entre les lignes.

Vital information about General Bourbaki and géométrie projective: PS or PDF.

Concert 42, a child's world, March 2017. A concert featuring Gerald Finzi's radiant and wondrous setting of words by Thomas Traherne, describing the world through the eyes of a young child, and Debussy's entertainment for his beloved daughter Chouchou, presented in a new arrangement by David Angell. There are also two lullabies, and Peter Sculthorpe's tribute to his late friend Henryk Górecki.

• Gerald Finzi, Dies Natalis, cantata for soprano solo and string orchestra (Lisa Cooper, soprano).
• Claude Debussy, Children's Corner Suite, arranged for strings.
• George Gershwin, Lullaby.
• Maxim Shalygin, Lullaby.
• Peter Sculthorpe, Shining Island.

A lost portrait of General Bourbaki, PS or PDF.

Concert 43, masterworks for strings, June 2017. Two of the great works from the first half of the twentieth century; enchanting solos for cor anglais; and the world premiere performance of a piece for strings, brass and percussion by Sydney composer Kim d'Espiney.

• Ralph Vaughan Williams, Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.
• Béla Bartók, Divertimento.
• Jean Sibelius, Romanze.
• Alan Ridout, Concertino for Cor Anglais and Strings (Rachel Tolmie, cor anglais).
• Richard Percival, Sicilienne (Rachel Tolmie, cor anglais).
• Kim d'Espiney, Con Fuoco.

Further incontrovertible evidence of General Bourbaki's acute musical foresight, PS or PDF.

Concert 44, light and dark, April 2018. Dark memorial pieces by Berkeley and Lutosławski; the introduction to Bernard Herrmann's famous, even notorious, film score; and brighter pieces from Irish and Australian composers. Also Greg van der Struik's recently written trombone concerto.

• Greg van der Struik, Concerto for Bass Trombone and String Orchestra (Greg van der Struik, trombone).
• Witold Lutosławski, Musique Funèbre, in memory of Béla Bartók.
• Bernard Herrmann, Prelude from Psycho.
• Graeme Koehne, Divertissement: Trois Pièces Bourgeoises.
• Joan Trimble, Suite for Strings.
• Michael Berkeley, Coronach, for strings.

Notes for this concert are available here in PS or here in PDF.

Coronation Interrupted: a concert with the Ristretto Chamber Choir, July 2018, held at the Hunter Baillie Memorial Church, Annandale. The programme consisted of the Handel Coronation Anthems, together with possibly unexpected "interruptions".

• George Frideric Handel, Four Coronation Anthems.
• Arvo Pärt, Da pacem Domine, for string orchestra and choir.
• Andrew Howes, Concordances, for trumpets and strings.
• Marlowe Fitzpatrick, works for unaccompanied chorus.

Concert 45, war and peace, August 2018. Commemorative pieces from Latvian and Australian composers, with Arvo Pärt's prayer for peace Da pacem Domine. And the world premiere of a suite for viola and string orchestra by Carl St.Jacques.

• Pēteris Vasks, Stimmen ("Voices"), symphony for string orchestra.
• Carl St.Jacques, Elemental Prayer Suite, for viola and strings (Carl St.Jacques, viola).
• Betty Beath, Lament for Kosovo.
• Arvo Pärt, Da pacem Domine, for string orchestra and choir (with the Ristretto Chamber Choir).

Programme notes plus some Bourbaki biography: PS or PDF.

Concert 46, recomposed, November 2018. Max Richter's much performed "recomposition" of Vivaldi's Four Seasons – not an attempt at "modernising" that celebrated set of violin concertos, but rather a work which uses them as a springboard for Richter's own compositional inventiveness. Peter Sculthorpe's Night Song for string orchestra, a version of part of Sculthorpe's 1970 Love 200. New York composer and guitarist Bryce Dessner's tribute to Lutosławski.

• Max Richter, The Four Seasons Recomposed (Warwick Pulley, violin).
• Peter Sculthorpe, Night Song.
• Bryce Dessner, Réponse Lutosławski.

Do you know who really invented the ukulele? PS or PDF.

Concert 47, imaginary creatures, April 2019. Music by women composers from Australia, the US and the UK, including the world premiere of Christine Draeger's delightful flute concerto, and Julia Wolfe's harrowing retelling of a Northumbrian ballad.

• Christine Draeger, Three Dances for Imaginary Animals, for flute and strings (Christine Draeger, flute).
• Maria Grenfell, Knitting Unicorns.
• Julia Wolfe, Cruel Sister.
• Jessie Montgomery, Starburst.
• Kate Whitley, Autumn Songs.

Further essential biographical research concerning General Bourbaki: PS or PDF.

Concert 48, poems, dreams, lullabies, August 2019. Four varied works for voice and strings, including yet another Bourbaki world premiere. Dvořák's beloved Serenade, and "spacey–timey–wimey" music from the pen of Humphrey Searle.

• Antonín Dvořák, Serenade for Strings in E major, Op.22.
• Peter Sculthorpe, Island Dreaming (Ayşe Göknur Shanal, soprano).
• Peter Sculthorpe, Maranoa Lullaby (Ayşe Göknur Shanal, soprano).
• Humphrey Searle, Poem for 22 strings.

• John Wayne Dixon, Poplar, Op.34 (Ayşe Göknur Shanal, soprano).
• Ernest Chausson, Chanson Perpétuelle, Op.37 (Ayşe Göknur Shanal, soprano).

Why does General Bourbaki never appear in the Parisian media's social pages? Find out here in PS or PDF.

Concert 49, Italian connections, December 2019. Music from Italy; and music about Italy, by Australian and Russian composers.

• Raffaele Marcellino, L'arte di volare.
• Ottorino Respighi, Ancient Airs and Dances, third suite.
• Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, Souvenir de Florence.

Maybe more musicological musings from General Bourbaki. Investigate in PS or PDF.

Bach arias and duets, February 2020. A concert of music from Bach's masses, cantatas and passions with Ayşe Göknur Shanal, soprano and Jill Sullivan, mezzo soprano. Also featuring Christine Draeger, flute and Diana Blom, organ performing instrumental music by Bach. And Australian composer Graeme Koehne's tribute to Bach, inspired by a tale from Bach's biographer Spitta.

• Johann Sebastian Bach, Suite No.2 for flute and strings in B minor, BWV1067: Overture and Badinerie.
• Johann Sebastian Bach, Easter Oratorio, BWV249: Seele, deine Spezereien.
• Johann Sebastian Bach, Cantata Gott soll allein mein Herze haben, BWV169: Stirb in mir.
• Johann Sebastian Bach, Mass in G major, BWV236: Domine Deus.
• Johann Sebastian Bach, Keyboard Concerto in D minor, BWV1052: Adagio.
• Johann Sebastian Bach, Mass in B minor, BWV232: Laudamus te.
• Johann Sebastian Bach, Cantata Jesu, der du meine Seele, BWV78: Wir eilen mit schwachen.
• Johann Sebastian Bach, Cantata Süßer Trost, mein Jesus kommt, BWV151: Süßer Trost.
• Johann Sebastian Bach, St.Matthew Passion, BWV244: Erbarme dich.
• Johann Sebastian Bach, St.Matthew Passion, BWV244: Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben.
• Graeme Koehne, To His Servant Bach, God Grants A Final Glimpse: The Morning Star.
• Johann Sebastian Bach, Mass in B minor, BWV232: Christe eleison.

Concert 50, We're back!!!, November 2020. A return to the concert stage after the coronavirus-induced interruption of musical activities. Some old favourites, and some new repertoire too. This concert was given in St.George's Hall, Newtown, part of Newtown High School for the Performing Arts.

• Christine Draeger, Three Dances for Imaginary Animals, for flute and strings (Christine Draeger, flute).
• Antonín Dvořák, Nocturne in B major, Op.40.
• Jean Sibelius, Romanze in C major, Op.42.
• Andrew Howes, Ainola, for string orchestra.
• Aleksandr Glazunov, Theme and Variations for string orchestra in G minor, Op.97.
• Gustav Holst, St.Paul's Suite.

Read about General Bourbaki's astounding insight into public health measures: PS or PDF.

Concert 51, shaking and trembling: music for strings, February 2021. John Adams' pioneering work of "neo-Romantic minimalism", together with a similarly titled but musically very different piece by Australian composer Graeme Koehne. Two celebrations of the English landscape by English and American composers.

• John Adams, Shaker Loops, for string orchestra.
• Graeme Koehne, Shaker Dances.
• Eric Whitacre, The River Cam, for cello and strings (Daniel Morris, cello).
• Ralph Vaughan Williams, The Lark Ascending (Alastair Duff-Forbes, violin).

A little-known 19th-century example of musical minimalism, and the storm it provoked: PS or PDF.

Concert 52, songs of love and thanksgiving, January 2022. An afternoon of Gesang, Lied, Cantilena, Lyric and Melody: that is, song, song, song, song and song. The programme was headed up by Beethoven's Heiliger Dankgesang, a "holy song of thanksgiving of a convalescent", an expression, we trust, of an appropriate sentiment; and Wagner's beloved Wesendonck Lieder in the world premiere of a new arrangement by David Angell.

• Ludwig van Beethoven, Heiliger Dankgesang from String Quartet No.15, Op.132, version for string orchestra.
• Richard Wagner, Wesendonck Lieder for voice and strings (Camille Mercep, soprano).
• Richard Meale, Cantilena Pacifica.
• Alban Berg, Andante amoroso from the Lyric Suite for string orchestra.
• Frank Bridge, An Irish Melody.

Read about General Bourbaki's engagement with Beethoven string quartets in 1830s Paris, in PS or PDF.

Concert 53, classics and classics, June 2022. The "classical period" in general cultural parlance is frequently taken as a reference to Ancient Greece, while in music it normally centres upon the late eighteenth century. In this programme we combine the two! Works by Stravinsky and Australian composer Robert Constable (premiere concert performance) are based upon Greek myth; both have their origins in music for the stage. Our "classical music" comes from the pen of Mozart, and from that of "the eighteenth century's most inspired eccentric" Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.

• Igor Stravinsky, Apollon Musagète: ballet in two tableaus.
• Robert Constable, Medea.
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K546.
• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Symphony No.4 in A major.

General Bourbaki's views on nineteenth-century ballet and his thoughts on improving it with a new approach to composition: PS or PDF.

Concert 54, treechange for strings, November 2022. Nigel Butterley's Goldengrove is inspired by the lines of poet Gerald Manley Hopkins, "Margaret, are you grieving/ Over Goldengrove unleaving?". It expresses the joy and sorrow inherent in the sometimes fleeting beauty of the natural world. Nigel, a good friend of the Bourbaki Ensemble, sadly passed away in early 2022 after a lengthy illness, and we are proud to have been able to perform this magical work in his memory. British composer Ruth Gipps's Cringlemire Gardens, a depiction of a site in the Lake District, sometimes evokes the style of her teacher Ralph Vaughan Williams.

• Nigel Butterley, Goldengrove.
• Peter Sculthorpe, My Country Childhood.
• Ruth Gipps, Cringlemire Gardens.
• Gustav Holst, A Moorside Suite, for string orchestra.
• Thomas Tallis, O Nata Lux de Lumine, transcribed for strings.

Explore some little-known aspects of the nineteenth-century French ukulele orchestra repertoire: PS or PDF.

Concert 55, swing, tango, serenade, February 2023. Aaron Copland's Clarinet Concerto, commissioned by the "King of Swing" Benny Goodman and performed in our concert by outstanding soloist Jason Xanthoudakis in his third performance with the Bourbaki Ensemble. One of the best known pieces by Argentinian Astor Piazzolla, and the premiere of Modern Tango by Sydney composer and pianist Diana Blom. Our concert concludes with one of the favourite works in the whole string orchestra repertoire, Tchaikovsky's ebullient Serenade.

• Aaron Copland, Clarinet Concerto (Jason Xanthoudakis, clarinet).
• Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, Serenade for Strings.
• Diana Blom, Modern Tango.
• Astor Piazzolla, Oblivion.
• John Corigliano, Voyage, for string orchestra.

Some history of the saxophone, sarrusophone, bandoneon and bourbakeon: PS or PDF.

Concert 56, reflections for strings, June 2023. A programme of works which reflect upon other areas of musical history or repertoire. William Alwyn's Concerto Grosso takes a baroque form and reimagines it for the 20th century, while the Silvestrov and Bryars compositions engage with fragmentary scribbles from the nineteenth century. Australian composer Ella Macens traces the origins of Superimposition back to her first hearing of seminal late twentieth century works by Arvo Pärt and Henryk Górecki.

• William Alwyn, Concerto Grosso No.2 for string orchestra.
• Richard Strauss, Sextet from Capriccio.
• Ella Macens, Superimposition, for string ensemble.
• Gavin Bryars, The Porazzi Fragment.
• Valentin Silvestrov, Zwei Dialoge mit Nachwort.
• Michael Grebla, Affine, for string orchestra.

The history of neoclassicism in music may be a century older than generally believed! Read about it in PS or PDF.

Concert 57, double strings – and more!, November 2023. A concert featuring works in which the normal five-part string orchestra is greatly expanded to 10, 15 or even 17 separate parts! Tippett's Double Concerto, one of the great string works of the twentieth century, features jazzy syncopations, blues harmonies and Scottish folk tunes; leading contemporary British composer Anna Clyne's piece, in 15 separate parts, has been reviewed as "a fragile elegy… intertwining voices of lament".

• Michael Tippett, Concerto for Double String Orchestra.
• Anna Clyne, Within her Arms, for 15 strings.
• Emily Howard, Passacaglia (to end prejudice).
• Chris Williams, Time before and Time after.
• Colin Spiers, Anna, for 17 strings.

Concert details, and the story of a Symphonie pour quatre petits orchestres d'ukulélés: PS or PDF.

Concert 58, longing for peace, March 2024. A programme of music for strings and harp. Morton Gould sets both well-known and lesser-known African–American spirituals. Australian composer Frederick Septimus Kelly wrote his Elegy in memory of the poet Rupert Brooke, before himself being killed in the battle of the Somme a year or so later, while Maxim Shalygin's Drop after drop is a lament for the ongoing war in Ukraine. The music of Susan Spain-Dunk, a British composer who enjoyed a great deal of respect in the first half of the 20th century, was sadly neglected after her death, but is now beginning to attract further performances and recordings.

• Morton Gould, Spirituals for Strings.
• Gustav Mahler, Adagietto, from Symphony No.5 in C sharp minor.
• Frederick Septimus Kelly, Elegy, in memoriam Rupert Brooke.
• Maxim Shalygin, Drop after drop.
• Susan Spain-Dunk, Suite for strings in B minor.

Information about the world's only (not) surviving quadruple ophicleide concerto: PS or PDF.

Concert 59, fantasia, July 2024. Revisiting one of our favourite masterpieces (Vaughan Williams's Tallis Fantasia); and rejoining one of our favourite soloists (Rachel Tolmie). A delightful suite from David Matthews, and two pieces by Sydney composers.

• Jean Sibelius, Andante festivo.
• Ralph Vaughan Williams, Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.
• Gordon Jacob, Rhapsody for Cor Anglais and strings (Rachel Tolmie, cor anglais).
• Ella Macens, The Lake.
• Mark Grandison, Three Dances for string orchestra.
• David Matthews, Three Birds and a Farewell.

General Bourbaki's fromagerie interests: all you need to know, in PS or PDF.

Sydney Opera House concert: a programme of dreams, shadows and Turkish folk songs, September 2024. The Bourbaki Ensemble joins soprano Ayşe Göknur Shanal in the Utzon Room of the Opera House. Repertoire based upon dreams (Träume) from Wagner; shadows (Tenebrae) from Argentinian/American composer Osvaldo Golijov; further nightscapes from Peter Sculthorpe. And as an encore, a brighter tomorrow as set by Richard Strauss.

• Richard Wagner, Wesendonck Lieder, the accompaniment arranged for strings by David Angell.
• Osvaldo Golijov, Tenebrae, for soprano, clarinet and strings.
• Peter Sculthorpe, Night Song.
• Peter Sculthorpe, Maranoa Lullaby, for soprano and strings.
• A selection of Turkish folk songs.
• Richard Strauss, Morgen, arranged by David Angell.

The concert programme is available here.

Concert 60, with a Latin accent, November 2024. Music from Spain and Latin America… and Australia of course. Never heard Puerto Rican string orchestra music before? A good reason to come to Bourbaki concerts! An extra item added to the programme was Barber's Adagio, performed in memory of long-time Bourbaki Ensemble member Richard Willgoss.

• Samuel Barber, Adagio for Strings, Op.11.
• Manuel de Falla, Quatre Pieces Espagnoles.
• Joaquín Turina, Serenata, Op.87, for string orchestra.
• Luis Saglie, El Angelito de Violeta.
• Roberto Sierra, Sinfonietta for Strings.
• Peter Sculthorpe, Irkanda IV for violin, strings and percussion (Alastair Duff-Forbes, violin).

A lost zarzuela by General Bourbaki: see PS or PDF.