A comfortably full Mote Hall greeted the new season for the Maidstone Symphony Orchestra. When subsidies and sponsorship are so difficult to come by these days it is a pleasure to realise that the series is able to continue almost entirely as a result of the generous support of individuals and the enthusiasm of the audience.

The opening concert may have seemed conventional in its planning – an overture, a concerto, a symphony. There was, however, more to it than this as Brian Wright pointed out in his introduction. Tae-Hyung Kim not only won the Hastings International Piano Competition in 2013 but was playing in Russia immediately before flying in for the Maidstone concert.

Wagner may look like the odd one out but the romanticism of the overture to Tannhauser was happily in keeping with the early Tchaikovsky symphony. The strings impressed in the Venusberg music and the horns were resplendent at the end. Balance was excellent throughout in a piece which can easily fall apart as the counter-point becomes more complex.

Tae-Hyung Kim had won the Hastings competition playing Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto and he performed this for us last night. His approach appears quite cool to the onlooker. There are no histrionics or mannerisms to detract from the score, yet his impact on the ear is very finely focused. He made a very strong opening statement, creating subtle contrasts in the more reflective passages. The second movement was particularly delicately phrased before a bravura launch into the final Rondo. Here the humour was allowed to shine through and the dance-like forms were never far away. A pity he could not be persuaded for an encore – he deserved one.

Tchaikovsky’s early symphonies suffer, like Dvorak’s, from the over-popularity of the later ones. As a result Winter Daydreams, Tchaikovsky’s first symphony, is still rarely heard, though as Brian Wright demonstrated it is a fine work.

The opening movement is clearly the voice of Tchaikovsky and the Russian themes flow throughout. Darker moments which well up from nowhere were ever present but the light is never put out. The second movement opens as if it was part of the Serenade for Strings but then moves to a more pastoral feel with the solo wind. Suddenly a long lyrical line unfolds, as if the composer could not hold it in any longer. The same is true for the Scherzo where the central movement which would normally be a trio is a flood of lyricism which could easily sit in any of the later works.  After a sombre opening the final movement bursts with Schumannesque vitality and draws on the full brass section.

The orchestra is privileged to have such fine solo players and to create such a firm body of sound in its larger departments.  We can only look forward to the rest of the season – with Copland, Brahms and Vaughan Williams on Saturday 29 November. www.mso.org.uk

Autumn may be in the wings but another wonderful late summer afternoon welcomed the new BPO season. New also this year – a composite programme for the first three concerts to encourage regular supporters and to bring us colour for the first time and more space for notes.

This was an all-Russian programme opening with a bright and warm reading of Glinka’s overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila. The necessary re-arrangements to bring on the piano gave Barry Wordsworth an opportunity to thank us for our continuing support and to welcome a large number of younger members to the audience. At a time when so many concerts seem to be supported only by those at or around retirement this was a very encouraging sign.

Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto followed with Natasha Paremski the highly impressive soloist. She brought  weight and gravity to the opening movement and a romanticism which never dwindled into sentimentality. The steely quality in her playing continued into the slow movement which was voluptuous without ever being indulgent. The attack we had sensed in the opening returned for the finale which was racy in approach and eventually allowed us to wallow in one of Rachmaninov’s most memorable melodies.

A rapturous reception provoked a fully justified encore which proved to be even more demanding than the concerto. She gave us the final movement of Prokofiev’s 7^th Sonata, spitting fire amidst the torrent of notes. Masterly.

After the interval we heard Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony. After the warmth of the Rachmaninov this all seemed very bleak at first, but Barry Wordsworth’s approach is not as cynical as some critics might wish. As the first movement progressed there were hints of hope – even in the midst of demonic militarism. Mood changes were clearly marked without over-emphasis. The cellos and basses made a great deal of the opening of the second movement and the whole provided genuine rather than reluctant enthusiasm. The Largo unfolded gently then took us on an inward journey to consider all that we have lost. The frenetic finale seemed honest rather than cynical and showed that there are many more ways of hearing this symphony than a simplistic political one.

The next concert brings us Schubert, Parry, Strauss and Elgar on 2 November.

Speaking at the Press Briefing before the first night of Rossini’s Moses in Egypt David Pountney gave us an overview of the 2015-16 season and some hints of the future. One of the realities of belt-tightening is a new approach to staging which is already with us. He referred to the same scenic environment being used for a set of productions to save on the costs necessarily involved in employing not only separate designers but constructing entirely different sets for individual new productions. Thus next season’s Figaro here, Figaro there will use the same basic set designed by the veteran Ralph Koltai for all three operas.

We have some experience of how this will work already this year. The same vast screens and rostra (and the every present table!) which were in place for William Tell are here again for Moses in Egypt but, I have to say, to far finer effect. Where the icebergs had been inappropriate for the lushness of Switzerland, the vast rough coloured panels seemed highly apt as an abstract backing for the Egyptian tale. For most of the evening the Israelites keep to the blue side and the Egyptians to the red. The simplicity is highly effective and never upstages the action which is focussed on the ramifications of an inter-racial love affair rather than on the Biblical narrative.

The opening is totally unexpected. In most theatres the stage direction darkness is anything but. Light is used to suggest darkness. Here we were in the dark – literally. Only the emergency lights gave any hint of where we were. Carlo Rizzi conducted the darkened orchestra pit with a miniature light sabre which buzzed in front of us like a demented firefly. The chorus and soloists sang to us out of the void on stage and surtitles were kept to a minimum to enhance the effect. When Moses brought back the light it was truly moving. If nothing else this shows David Pountney still has the ability to surprise us.

The casting is very strong. Miklos Sebestyen and Barry Banks make a virile pair as Moses and Aaron commanding the stage whenever present. On the Egyptian side only Nicky Spence’s superb Mambre has their authority – what a pity he does not have a solo aria. Andrew Foster-Williams is a vacillating Pharaoh buffeted by the whims of those around him and rightly cowed by the presence of his wife Amaltea sung by Christine Rice. Her temple aria was a high-spot of the evening, the movement of the candles reflecting her emotional torment. The love interest was convincingly caught by Claire Booth and David Alegret but Rossini’s characterisation does not really help either of them.

The chorus were again in superb form and the moveable panels reflected their power even more effectively than in William Tell.

Carlo Rizzi relishes this music and his passion is reflected across the whole evening in the quality of orchestral playing and the constant engagement with the narrative. He returns next season to conduct a new production of I Puritani. 

Richard Jones’ new production of Puccini’s The Girl of the Golden West has many of the hallmarks of his style. The settings are bright, colourful and modern, the strip lights cheerfully at odds with the late nineteenth century costumes. The action is naturalistic, the crowd movement fluid and convincing, the voices placed forward and reflected from the heavy sets. This all places the emotional impact of the work firmly in the hands of the soloists, who are given the weight and authority of the old frontier rather than of svelte opera singers.

Susan Bullock and Peter Auty are presented as middle-aged lovers. This may be her first kiss but there is no pretence that she is a young woman. Susan Bullock’s Minnie is a genuine mother-figure, and she convinces us that she has the emotional strength to overcome all of the potential barbarities of the Wild West. The voice is large and often thrilling even if it became a little squally at the top under the pressures of the first night. Peter Auty makes an heroic Dick Johnson, his big numbers ringing out with ease and splendid musicality. If these two are credible human beings, Craig Colclough’s Jack Rance is closer to stereotypical western Sheriff, with broad gestures and large cigars.

Of the large number of smaller parts Graham Clark’s assured Nick was outstanding, but there were no weaknesses on stage – a tribute to the quality of ENO’s ensemble.

In the pit Keri-Lynn Wilson made the most of the romantic, often sentimental, orchestration and lulled us into believing what we were experiencing on stage.

Another fine night at the Coliseum – and what a splendid idea to start the work by fully lighting the proscenium so that we could enjoy the magnificence of the theatre itself just for once.