Left Cristophe Gauthier - Right Maximilien Brisson - 28 February 2026

For anybody reading this blog', which is about my attendance to a EMV concert at St. Anselm’s Anglican Church, yesterday 28 February, 2026, be advised that I am not a music critic. I am an amateur. And because my photographs no longer appear in magazines,where I was paid handsomely, I play around taking photographs with a slow shutter.

trombón s. (1808-) RAE (the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy)

trombón, trombon, tromboncito

Etimología. Voz tomada del italiano trombone, palabra atestiguada en esta lengua desde antes del 1400 como 'instrumento musical de viento parecido a la trompa pero de dimensiones mayores y de registro más grave' (DECH, s. v. trompa; véase DELI, s. v. trómba).

The above is the etymology of the trombón. I am Argentine so I speak Spanish and this dictionary of the Real Academia Española is one of the best.

I had a chat with the youngish (in his 30s) trombonist, Maximilien Brisson before the concert. He told me he was not going to mention that his instrument was a sackbut (the name given in Germany in the 15th to the 18th century) because as he was going to play only Italian compositions (one was French and one other a composition of his) he preferred the Italian name trombone. Because of my Spanish we talked about the fact that buche means means to rinse your mouth (as in after you brush your teeth) and that is the connection with the German name. I then asked him (in jest) who was the most famous buche musician and told him it was Dizzy Gillespie who blew his cheeks very large when he played his trumpet.

The tall harpsichordist, Christophe Gauthier, explained in detail the great elaborate procedure to tune his instrument with Brisson’s trombone. It went over my head so I will not approach here any kind of explanation. Brisson was very good at explaining the details of the composers and their compositions.  These two were serious musicians who could indeed smile.

I was pleased to find out that there were two women composers in the program, Barbara Strozzi and Francesca Caccini. It seems that in the pre-baroque era there were some talented feminists!

Barbara Strozzi

The Strozzi compositions were ably sung by soprano Bahareh Poureslami whom I have heard many times before at St. Anselms. What was particularly interesting to me is that The Strozzi compositions had very sad lyrics and Poureslami could make her face look exactly like the lyrics. 

I cannot resist in placing her a photograph of my youngest daughter (now 54) of her crying. This was a sad concert. But this photograph of Hilary always makes me smile. 

Hilary Stewart