Rotary Club

AT THE meeting on Tuesday, 26 January, the speaker was David Russell Hulme, Aberystwyth University’s director of music. A native of Machynlleth, David Russell Hulme is a former student of UCW, Aberystwyth and later studied conducting under Sir Adrian Boult. After postgraduate degrees based on research into the Gilbert & Sullivan operettas, he eventually returned to Aberystwyth in 1992 as director of Music. He is totally immersed in the music scene, locally, nationally and globally.David’s talk focussed on his work reconstructing musical pieces that had been discarded for one reason or another by their composers. In 1987, he was largely responsible for making possible the Sadler’s Wells centenary production of Ruddigore in its original form.David Russell Hulme’s great interest in the works of Gilbert & Sullivan drove him to reconstruct a tenor solo from the operetta Patience. Sullivan composed this solo shortly before the scheduled opening night but culled it from the operetta at the eleventh hour. All that remained was the accompaniment but not the tune. From clues available, David Russell Hulme produced the solo, earning the soubriquet, ‘Inspector Morse of Gilbert & Sullivan!’ Members were able to listen to a D’Oyly Carte recording of this “lost” solo.One of his more challenging projects was the reconstruction of a contralto solo from Gilbert & Sullivan’s Sorcerer, to be performed on BBC’s Friday Night is Music Night. The solo had been cut and all that remained were the lyrics and a few instrumental parts, though, crucially, the bass parts. The solo, Ballad in Days Gone By was duly performed by Sylvia Clarke, the renowned Australian contralto.David is also a leading authority on the music of Edward German: he successfully converted the Solemn March from a military band production to an orchestral version to be recorded by the BBC Concert Orchestra. Later, David was approached by the recording company Naxos to edit the score of German’s Tom Jones for the first time; he duly conducted the recording. This was so successful that it reached No. 3 in the UK classical charts!Rtn Alan Wynne Jones delivered a vote of thanks that was enthusiastically endorsed by the large number of members present.

Cymdeithas yr Aelwyd

JEAN Eklund oedd ein cadeirydd nos Wener, 29 Ionawr, ac chroesawodd Côr Cyd i’n diddanu.Cododd y côr o’r mudiad Cyd, oedd â’i wreiddiau yn Aberystwyth, gyda’r amcan o ddod â dysgwyr y Gymraeg a siaradwyr rhugl ynghyd y tu allan i’r dosbarth.Wedi i aelodau’r côr gyflwyno’u hunain yn unigol, cawsom amrywiaeth o ganeuon gwerin, carolau plygain a cherdd dant i gyfeil-iant Eleri Turner ar y delyn, a Felicity Roberts yn cyflwyno’r eitemau. Hefyd mwynhawyd unawdau ar y delyn gan Eleri ac eitemau gan y clocsiwr Hywel Jones o Barti Dawns Aelwyd Aberystwyth i gyfeiliant Brenda Williams ar yr allweddellau.Cawsom ein atgoffa ei bod hi’n dal yn gyfnod y plygeiniau (ar y pryd) oherwydd nad oedd hynny’n gorffen tan Wyl Fair y Canhwyllau ar 2 Chwefror.

Bridge Clubs

RESULTS on 9 January: 1, Mair Jenkins and Jean Harrison; 2, Margaret Ellis and Anne Edwards; 3, Pamela Woodhouse and Elenid Thomas; 4, Gill Joel and Jacqui Roberts.Results on 12 January: 1, Margaret James and Pamela Woodhouse; 2, Jo Davies and Elenid Thomas; 3, Betty Brookes and Gill Joel; 4, Do-reen Anthony and Dylan Raw Rees.Results on 15 January: 1, Margaret James and Pat Roe; 2, Mike Tedd and Yuan Shen; 3, Pamela Woodhouse and Jo Davies; Joint 4, Jacqui Roberts and Gill Joel / Roger Boyle and Jeff Thomas.Results on 17 January: 1, Jo Davies and Doreen Anthony; 2, Gill Joel and Jacqui Roberts; 3, Pamela Woodhouse and Elenid Thomas; 4, Roger Boyle and Jeff Thomas.ukukuk