Monthly Archives: February 2018

CDs/DVDs March 2018 (1)

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Bach: Mass in B minor
Choir of Trinity College Cambridge, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Stephen Layton
HYPERION CDA 68181/2

 

There is a lightness, a sense of joy, which pervades this new recording even in its most serious moments. The Sanctus in particular floats with seemingly effortless ease, mirroring the outpouring of excitement at Et resurrexit in the Creed. When this is added to the fine line up of soloists, including Iestyn Davies mellifluous counter-tenor (listen to the meltingly beautiful Agnus Dei) and the crisp direction of Stephen Layton, the whole is highly recommended.

 

Brahms: Three Violin Sonatas
Tasmin Little, violin; Piers Lane, piano
CHANDOS CHAN 10977

 

When one realises the long association Brahms had with a number of great violinists it is strange that so little music was composed especially for them. These three sonatas – Op78 dating from 1878 and the other two Op100 and Op108 dating from a decade later – are all that survive for piano and violin though they more than make up for any lack of number with the quality of the compositions themselves which are here given exemplary performances.

 

Handel’s last Prima Donna
Ruby Hughes, soprano, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Laurence Cummings
CHACONNE CHSA 0403

 

The purity of Ruby Hughes voice makes an ideal vehicle for this collection which reflects the repertoire of Giulia Frasi, the soprano in all of Handel’s late works. She is movingly effective in the two arias from Theodora and the lament from Jephtha. The real bonus, however, is the inclusion of arias by Philip Hayes, John Christopher Smith and Thomas Arne which demonstrate the quality of composition being provided by Handel’s rivals at the same time. She is accompanied throughout by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under the sensitive baton of Laurence Cummings.

 

Haydn: String Quartets Op64
Doric String Quartet
CHANDOS CHAN 10971

 

A bargain here as the two cds include all six quartets of Op64. They were written at a pivotal point in Haydn’s career as he made his first visit to London. Moreover, not only were they printed for sale and therefore performance by amateur players at home, but were, most unusually, included in some of Salomon’s London concerts, thus giving them public as well as private airing. The Doric String Quartet have already brought us fine recordings of Op20 and Op76 – to which these new cds of Op64 are equally welcome.

 

Beethoven: Violin Sonatas
Chloe Hanslip, violin, Danny Driver, piano
No1 in D major Op12/1; No3 in E flat major op12/3; No6 in A major Op30/1; No8 in G major Op30/3
Vol 1  Rubicon RCD 1010
No4 in A minor Op23; No5 in F major Op24 Spring; No7 in C minor Op30/2
Vol 2  Rubicon RCD 1011

 

The complete Beethoven sonatas for violin and piano were recorded live in Southampton’s Turner Sims Concert Hall in concerts given across 2017. The first two releases are listed above and benefit from the immediacy and rapport of a live performance, particularly important with these early works by the composer which benefit from the intimacy of a live response. Chloe Hanslip and Danny Driver obviously know the works well and bring love and enthusiasm to their performances throughout.

 

Tchaikovsky: Pique Dame
Dutch National Opera, Royal Concertgebouw, Maris Jansons
UNITEL 743908

 

Stefan Herheim’s production is built around the final days of Tchaikovsky’s life with the composer himself on stage almost the whole time and playing Prince Yeletsky. It is impressively carried through once one has accepted that there is nothing naturalistic on stage. Many moments are vividly impressive, not least Hermann’s anguish following the death of the countess, when the whole stage dissolves into a rage matching his own and the vast chandelier swings like an enormous Botafumeiro.

A strong cast are led by Misha Didyk as Hermann, Svetlana Aksenova as Liza and Alexey Markov as Count Tomsky. Mariss Jansons conducted with fire and brings an unexpected edge to the production as a whole.

 

HASTINGS PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

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Aysen Ulucan – Violin
Cristian Ladislau-Andris – Viola
Marcio da Silva – Conductor

  Flacubal 95 (World Premiere) O’Meara
  Sinfonia Concertante Mozart
  Symphony no.40  Mozart

This programme will include the world premiere of Philip O’Meara’s
new piece inspired by Mozart’s Symphony no.40. This follows on from
the great success of O’Meara’s piece ‘No Man!’ inspired by
Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, which was debuted by the Hastings
Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra last season.

The evening will also include Mozart’s much-loved Sinfonia
Concertante. The gifted violinist Aysen Ulucan, will be joined by
Romanian viola player Cristian Ladislau-Andris, to perform this
successful cross-over between a symphony and a concerto; a
masterpiece written by Mozart in 1779.

Hastings Philharmonic: Vespro della Beata Vergine

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Christ Church, St Leonards, Saturday 25 February 2018

On a bitterly cold evening Hastings Philharmonic presented us with Monteverdi’s liturgical masterpiece – Vespro della Beata Vergine of 1610 – in the austere acoustic of Christ Church, but a fitting venue for so complex a work.

The evening drew together eight solo singers – one of whom turned out to be Marcio da Silva himself – together with Hastings Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Baroque. There was a great deal to enjoy and commend, even if there was some shaky intonation in some of the opening choruses. However by the time we had reached Laudate Pueri Dominum the balance had settled down with the final Gloria impressing.

Monteverdi divides up the vespers into a large number of shorter works which allow soloists to shine alongside the various instrumental groupings and full choral numbers. Tenor Kieran White was most effective in Nigra sum and stunningly so towards the end of the Magnificat where he flung beautiful phrases into the vaulted roof, picked up to spine-tingling effect by the off-stage echo. He was joined by tenor Philip O’Meara and Marcio da Silva in his baritone voice, for a ravishing rendition of Duo Seraphim. Here Monteverdi uses the tenor duo for the Seraphims but then adds in the Baritone when they sing of the Trinity. It is a magical moment.

The two sopranos, Sarah Parkin and Joana Gil, had impressed with the delicacy of line in Pulchra es, and blended well with the chorus where the composer sets the voices against each other.

The chorus came into their own in the rolling phrases of Nisi Dominus and Lauda Jerusalem, and brought warmth and vitality to the final Magnificat.

It was a great advantage having a set of baroque instruments giving us an authentic accompaniment to the voices. They tend to get more to do as the work progresses, after the excitement of the opening ritornello, and Monteverdi reverses the impact in the Sonata sopra Sancta Maria where the sopranos chant the text on a simple line while the ensemble appears to improvise around them. The cornetts and sackbuts were particularly insightful at this point.

Francis Rayner, Hastings Philharmonic’s regular accompanist, played the organ continuo and Marcio da Silva directed from the Harpsichord. If we had arrived cold, we went out warmed and enlivened by a fine evening – and another tribute to the quality Hastings Philharmonic are now providing on a regular basis. Brian Hick

ENO: Iolanthe

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London Coliseum, 21 February 2018

What a wonderful evening this proved to be. ENO has done very well by Gilbert and Sullivan, with an enduring favourite in Jonathan Miller’s Mikado and a fine Pirates of Penzance from Mike Leigh. Now we have Cal McCrystal’s ebullient production of Iolanthe. Better known for his films, he shows an unerring ability to tread the fine line between visual comedy and straying too far into up-dates that are either course or inappropriate. Essentially, the production takes both libretto and score at face value and makes the most of them, only adding in visual gags, or the occasional assumed as-libs where they are funny but do not impede the flow of the work or undermine it.

To take a few examples. In the second act, the duet for Strephon and Phyllis If we’re weak enough to tarry turns into an enthusiastic clog dance – and it works beautifully. Similarly the regular encores for If we go in are gently enhanced by the increasing inability of the Page – a wonderfully versatile Richard Leeming – to insinuate himself into proceedings. It is gloriously funny but totally appropriate.

The chorus of fairies are English generic with a fine sense of their own authority while the House of Peers seems increasingly inept, even though they do arrive by steam train! Many of the chorus are subtly individualised which makes the evening come alive whenever they are on stage, and the choreography by Lizzi Gee is a delight.

The late Paul Brown’s designs give us voluptuous Victorian painted drops within a gleaming golden proscenium, and a surprisingly naturalistic House of Lords. The period is securely late Victorian with Strephon and Phyllis both 18th century delft shepherds. Quite how Boris Johnson creeps in among the Lords is another story – but a point well made!

The singing is highly effective throughout – and not a microphone in sight. Marcus Farnsworth is a fine baritone with a keen sense of humour, partnered by Ellie Laugharne whose Phyllis often develops into Blackadder’s Queenie – to genuine comic effect.

Ben Johnson and Ben McAteer lead the lords to foppish effect, though their solo numbers are forthrightly sung. Yvonne Howard is a regal fairy queen, as happy singing while floating above us as she is on the ground, and Andrew Shore brings all the felicity of his Rossini singing to Gilbert’s nightmare song.

The addition of a prologue from Clive Mantle as Captain Shaw makes some sense the first time through but if the production is, as one might hope, revived, it might seem a step too far.

Timothy Henty’s conducting makes much of the Mendelssonian and Wagnerian overtones, and having a full orchestra for Sullivan is a real bonus.

This really is proving to be a vintage season for ENO – long may it continue.

Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra

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Regular guest conductor Stephen Bell joins the Brighton Phil for their penultimate Sunday afternoon concert of the season at Brighton Dome and introduces the programme:

“Hugely powerful Russian emotions in our next concert ranging from an overture by the grand old man of Russian Romantics to one of the first examples of programme music with the brilliantly orchestrated Night on a Bare Mountain. The ever popular Fourth Symphony by Tchaikovsky is a vivid journey in itself, from the tense opening motif from the horns and bassoons, right through to the unbridled joy of the F major final pages.

In between, we’re joined by my long-time Hallé colleague and London Brass member, the award winning trumpeter Gareth Small, for a performance of the Arutunian Trumpet Concerto – a perfect vehicle to show off the technical and lyrical qualities of the instrument in a work that seems to draw on many strands of Russian influences and is a perfectly crafted and brilliant showpiece.”

Gareth Small, Principal Trumpet of the Hallé Orchestra, wants to reassure those unfamiliar with Armenian composer Alexander Arutunian’s show-stopping Trumpet Concerto (written in 1950) that they are in for a treat:

“I’m delighted to be back in Brighton Dome to play the Arutunian Trumpet Concerto. Don’t be put off if you haven’t heard of the composer. This magnificent piece is fizzing with interesting harmonies, timbres, melodies and textures, for orchestra and soloist which all come together to create this absolutely brilliant trumpet concerto. It is certainly one of my favourites as it highlights and accentuates the best parts of trumpet playing – range, stamina, technical prowess and tone. I hope you enjoy this piece as much as I do!”

The programme also includes Glinka’s characteristically Russian sounding overture from A Life for the Tsar which displays the heroic nobility suggested by the opera’s story of a young Russian peasant who saves the Tsar from a group of Polish kidnappers. More familiar to many will be Mussorgsky’s demonic tone poem Night on a Bare Mountain which depicts a witches’ Sabbath in music of quite terrifying power and energy (and was used in the penultimate scene of Walt Disney’s Fantasia).

Tickets from £12-£38 (50% discount for students/Under 18s) are available from Brighton Dome Ticket Office in Church Street, (01273) 709709 and online: www.brightondome.org

The Brighton Phil’s season finale will take place on Sunday 25 March when Conductor Laureate Barry Wordsworth returns to celebrate his 70th birthday with the orchestra, joined by virtuosic piano duo Worbey & Farrell who will perform Carnival of the Animals. That morning sees the popular FREE Open Rehearsal for Children (10.15-11am) for which places can be booked via Brighton Dome Ticket Office.

 

 

 

CDs February 2018

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(with apologies for lateness as the Editor has been on holiday!)

JS Bach: St John Passion
Bach Choir and Orchestra Mainz, Ralf Otto
NAXOS 8.573817-18

Lent normally brings a number of interesting new Bach issues and this certainly has a great deal to commend it. It draws on the final 1749 revision, but incorporates many of the additional items from 1725 later removed. As such it goes for the best of both worlds yet flows with a simple grace.

Ralf Otto’s tempi are brisk and workmanlike, his choral forces lean and precise. Evangelist Georg Poplutz and Jesus Yorck Felix Speer are excellent but the smaller parts are obviously drawn from the choir and don’t command quite the same weight. However this is not a problem for a recording which holds its own in comparison to far more expensive versions.

Guitar Music of Venezuela
Nirse Gonzalez, guitar
NAXOS 8.573631

The works here were all entirely new to me but none the less enticing and I will certainly return to the recording to get to know them better. Gentle dances by Carlos Silva and Evancia Castellanos sit comfortably alongside contemporary composers Pedro Mauricio Gonzalez and Federico Ruiz. Well worth an indulgence given the price.

Clarinet Fantasies
Nadia Wilson, clarinet, Martin Butler, piano
PRIMA FACIE PFCD 076

This recording is built around Martin Butler’s own Barlow Dale pieces which have lived an interesting if somewhat chequered history, re-emerging recently when Nadia Wilson realised she had been aware of them when Martin Butler himself assumed they had fallen out of both performance and interest. They are lively pieces depicting the cats who are the protagonists of his aunt’s book Barlow Dale.  As such they are enchanting and make a fine central feature for slightly more serious pieces by Bax, Horovitz and Ireland – though I have to admit I enjoyed the Butler settings the best!

Dag Wiren: orchestral works
Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Rumon Gamba
CHANDOS CHSA 5194

Dag Wiren tends to be remembered for a tiny handful of pieces today and it is therefore too easy to overlook his larger output. This cd brings together the third symphony, Serenade Op11, Divertimento Op29 and the Sinfonietta Op7A. The Serenade is the earliest work, dating from 1937 with the Divertimento completed in 1957. If the Serenade is deliberately light in both texture and atmosphere then the other works take on a more serious tone, though they are always mellifluously easy on the ear.

Granados – works for piano
Xiayin Wang, piano
CHANDOS CHAN 10995

This is an entirely romantic recording with a great deal to indulge and enjoy. Very much a Catalan, Granados seems to exploit the romanticism of his environment and lure this into both the scores themselves and Xiayin Wang’s fine playing.

Telemann: Melodious Canons & Fantasias
Elysium Ensemble
RESONUS RES 10207

The Elysium Ensemble is here represented by Greg Dikmans, flute, and Lucinda Moon, violin, in a series of very finely performed chamber pieces for flute and violin. If anything it is all almost too intimate. The recording, while having a slight warmth to it, could easily be in a large front room and as such it makes these pleasantly domestic if not actually personal in their impact. It is as if the musicians are playing just for us – which is probably what Telemann intended. It is entirely convincing.

Brahms: Complete works for piano
Barry Douglas
CHANDOS CHAN 10951(6)

The six cds which make up this set were recorded between 2012 and 2016, being released complete now for the first time. It is impossible within the scope of so brief a review to do justice to the set as a whole – let us simply say that I was delighted to be able to review it and indulge myself in such fine playing and such captivating performances. Nothing singled out here – there is far too much to choose from. If you did not get the individual recordings when first released this is your chance to catch up – and you won’t regret it.

ENO: La traviata

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Daniel Kramer directs his first opera as ENO Artistic Director, a sweepingly romantic interpretation of La traviata

Opens Friday 16 March at 7.30pm at the London Coliseum (10 performances)

Daniel Kramer will direct his first opera as English National Opera’s Artistic Director this spring. This production of La traviata, which played to sold-out houses following its premiere at Theater Basel, is a sweepingly romantic take on one of opera’s most heartbreaking stories. Irish soprano Claudia Boyle will perform the role of Violetta alongside South African tenor Lukhanyo Moyake as Alfredo. Singing the role of Giorgio Germont is Alan Opie, who celebrates 50 years since he first sang with ENO.

Daniel Kramer said:

‘Almost every note of Verdi’s masterpiece raises up the life of a women who has been deemed dishonourable by society. Through La traviata, Verdi invites us to listen to the magnanimous love of a character who makes a sacrifice which few others would be willing or able to consider. His music is, for me, a love letter to the tender and graceful Violetta.

I believe that our core audience come to ENO wanting to have new light shed upon these well-loved classics. This is also one of my key passions when directing opera or theatre, and has informed our approach to this intensely moving story of love and sacrifice.  

As our world continues to confront the treatment of women in our society we have worked to share the story of a woman who, despite her heartbreaking circumstances, rises above the judgmental and abusive world around her and passes through her life with integrity and grace.’  

Daniel Kramer was appointed Artistic Director of English National Opera in April 2016, taking up the position in August that year. His work with ENO extends backs to 2008. He was selected as part of ENO’s young director’s initiative for which he directed Punch and Judy at the Young Vic which subsequently won the South Bank Show Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera. Daniel returned to ENO in 2009 to direct Bartok’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle at the London Coliseum and Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, conducted by former ENO Music Director Edward Gardner and designed by Anish Kapoor. He has been an Associate at the Gate Theatre, Notting Hill and the Young Vic, and a Creative Associate at the Royal Shakespeare Company. The 18/19 season, launched on the 1 May, will be the first that he has curated as ENO Artistic Director.

The ephemeral, image-conscious world of the courtesan Violetta will be brought to life through the designs of Lizzie Clachan, one of the most acclaimed set designers currently working in London theatre. She has recently been praised for her ‘extraordinary’ (The Guardian) work on the Young Vic’s Yerma, and for the National Theatre’s As You Like It.

Claudia Boyle will sing Violetta, the eponymous ‘fallen woman’. A fomer member of the Salzburger Festpiel’s Young Singers Project, her international profile has been dramatically raised through highly-acclaimed performances in London, Berlin, Rome and New York. For ENO Claudia has previously sung the roles of Leïla in The Pearl Fishers (2016) and a ‘standout’ (The Guardian) Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance (2015).

Up-and-coming tenor Lukhanyo Moyake makes his UK debut as Alfredo. South Africa’s representative in 2017’s BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, Lukhanyo has been performing at the Cape Town Opera Company since his graduation in 2010. His roles there include Alfredo in La traviata, Jaquino in Fidelio and Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress. In 2015 and 2016 he was a finalist of the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition (held in Amsterdam) and was also placed third in the Neue Stimmen International Singing Competition (held in Germany).

ENO legend and internationally acclaimed baritone Alan Opie will return for his second ENO engagement of the season. He follows his debut in the comic role of Doctor Bartolo (The Barber of Seville) with Violetta’s controlling father, Giorgio Germont. Alan’s previous performances in this role have been described as ‘full of feeling’ (The Guardian) and ‘consistently compelling’ (WhatsOnStage).

Rising young British conductor Leo McFall will make his ENO debut with this production. Winner of the 2015 German Conductor’s Prize, he is among the foremost conductors of his generation, and received much praise for his performances with the Glyndebourne Tour and with Opera North. He will be assisted by ENO Mackerras Conducting Fellow Toby Purser, who will also conduct the performance on the 11 April.

La traviata opens on Friday 16 March at 7.30pm at the London Coliseum for 10 performances: 16, 22, 24, 28 March and 3, 5, 11, 13 April at 7.30pm, 31 March at 6.30pm and 8 April at 3pm.

500 tickets for £20 or less are available for each performance. Tickets start from £12.

A co-production with Theater Basel

 

Merry Opera Company: The Marriage of Figaro

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Wetherspoons Opera House, Tunbridge Wells and touring

Billed as “opera meets jazz” this 1960s Figaro is rescored by Harry Sewer for kit drum, bass and keyboard led by Gabriel Chernick – a development which took many audience members, including me, by surprise although there was plenty of warm appreciation and laughter.

Interestingly, many of the arias are sung more or less straight against swing and other jazz rhythms which must be pretty challenging to do. The accompaniment plays around with harmonies too. It works quite well in some numbers – such as Cherubino’s  (Bethany Horak-Hallett) agitato Act 1 number, although there are some rocky starts to arias as singers awkwardly find their way into the melody without the usual cues.

Much less successful is, for example, Figaro’s (Alistair Ollorenshaw) angry patter aria in the final act which loses a lot of edge because it is softened and trivialised by the jazzy stuff from the band. And the Countess’s (Rhiannon Llewellyn) second big aria, usually sung as “Dove sono”, is dreadful in this version. It is one of Mozart’s very simple glorious melodies depicting a complex mindset and he knew that it needs only the gentlest of accompaniments. It is completely spoiled by the fuzzy treatment it gets here although Llewellyn, a fine singer, does her best to rise above the schmultz.

In amongst all this is some excellent singing especially in the quartets and other group numbers. The cast has great fun with the reconciliation septet at the end of the first half and the choral work in the finale is beautifully balanced.

Anna Sideris is a suitably sparky Susanna, there is a good Handyman cameo from Christopher Faulkner and Eleanor Sanderson-Nash is a delightfully clear voiced, fresh Barbarina.

Phil Wilcox is strong as the wrong footed Count too, especially at the end when he hams up all those rising fifths. They’re traditionally associated with forgiveness but we know full well that he doesn’t mean a word of it – and, in this version, the Countess knows that too.

Amanda Holden’s translation into English is hilarious and that’s partly why this piece comes off theatrically. There’s a lot of humour in the incongruity of the juxtaposition of the Enlightenment with the 1960s, musically and in every other way – and in many instances that is what makes the cognoscenti in the audience laugh. At another level it’s just cheerful and funny. Michelle Bradbury’s striking, and ingenious, black and white Chanel-style set adds to the ambience. So do black-clad, finger clicking figures – part of the 10-strong cast who form an ensemble between their other appearances – who dance with authentic 1960s loucheness.

I haven’t seen such an experimental Mozart opera since I saw Don Giovanni in a gay nightclub with all roles except Don Giovanni reversed. The material is, of course, so strong, that it bounces back fairly robustly whatever you do to it. This Figaro is a pleasant enough way of spending a Sunday afternoon but on balance I prefer my Mozart jazz-free.

Susan Elkin

 

 

Valentine’s Opera Breakfast

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St Mary in the Castle, Sunday 18th February 2018

Following the continuing success of the Jazz Breakfasts at St Mary in the Castle, it seemed reasonable to launch an Opera Breakfast linked to St Valentine’s Day. However, the underlying theme of the entertainment was much more subtle than a string of extracts might imply.

Marcio da Silva and Sophie Pullen drew together arias and duets from a number of Mozart operas to illustrate the joys and pitfalls of sexual relationships, giving the first half over to the predatory male and the impact of what today we familiarly call sexual harassment, while the second half praised the married state.

Don Giovanni opened the morning with his serenade to Don Elvira’s maid – though in this case Marcio sang directly to ladies seated close to him as he wandered from table to table. This was followed by the whole of the opening scene from Le Nozze di Figaro. If Figaro is naïve in his acceptance of the Count’s room his vicious anger in Se vuol ballare hinted that the French Revolution was only too close. Sophie Pullen gave a moving account of Deh vieni non tardar showing her constancy even in the face of the Count’s attempted seduction. Happily Suzanne knows only too well how to deal with him – though not so Zerlina who seems to give in all too easily to Don Giovanni at the end of La ci darem la mano. In between Sophie Pullen had given us a full-blooded rendering of Come scoglio from Cosi fan tutte, where Fiordiligi proves her strength in the face of male onslaught. While Sophie Pullen had given us a fine range of female protagonists, Marcio da Silva had gone from debauched rake to revolutionary and back again.

The second half was all drawn from Die Zauberflote concentrating on the relationship between Papagano and Papagana, with just enough time to take in Bei mannern, with Sophie Pullen morphing easily into Pamina, where she stayed for a very moving rendition of Ach ich fuhl’s.

Throughout, Simone Tavoni had accompanied from the piano, adding in the bells and whistles in the second half, as easily as he brought the dramatic intensity to the heightened emotions of so many of the arias in the first.

The morning was a thank you for the volunteers who work so tirelessly for the venue and particularly those who have supported the work of Hastings Philharmonic. Let us hope it will be the first of a new line of breakfasts!

 

 

 

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra

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Anvil Arts, Basingstoke, 16 February 2018

Dvorak is to the Czech Philharmonic what, say, Strauss is to the Vienna Philharmonic. It’s in the blood and in this exuberant concert you could hear all that Bohemian ancestry pounding in every bar. And they want to keep it that way, which is why almost every player in the orchestra is Czech. The result is a phenomenal corporate “instrument” which conductor Tomas Netopil, an energetic but businesslike conductor, plays, and plays with, to remarkable effect. By the time we got to the final encore – Brahms Hungarian Dance 5 – he was ready to have fun jokily exaggerating the tempo changes with electrifying precision and I certainly wasn’t the only person who left the auditorium beaming with delight.

One of the reasons for the distinctive sound is the unusual layout. Tomas Netopil has violas on the right opposite the first violins with cellos and second violins on the inside. Double basses, meanwhile are majestically lined up along the back behind the horns and woodwind on a tier which puts their feet on a level with violinists’ heads. It means that you can often hear both viola and bass parts with unusual clarity and alters the balance of the whole.

The programme was a Dvorak sandwich. We began with the Symphonic Variations in which Dvorak imaginatively explores the fugal form at one point moving from second violins, thence to violas, first violins and cellos in that order. It’s quite a showpiece and doesn’t get as many outings (in the UK at least) as perhaps it should. It’s a very vibrantly orchestrated work which allowed the orchestra to show what all its sections can do.

In the middle we left Dvorak’s homeland and headed to Russia for a splendid performance of Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto – a work which is very much more on the public radar these days than it used to be because brilliant young players (Guy Johnston, Sheku Kanneh-Mason et al) keep winning major competitions with it. On this occasion Alisa Wielerstein, serious and romantic looking in a statement scarlet dress, played it excitingly with lots of tension. Accompanied by a slightly scaled down orchestra, she took the first movement at a terrific tempo and found a mysterious, plangent but appealingly resolute sound in the moderato movement. When she finished someone in the audience gasped “oh!” in amazement. It was involuntary, I think, but a very valid testament to Weilerstein’s verve and technique.

And so to the sunny New World Symphony in which the unconventional orchestra layout heightened awareness of the apposition phrasing between lower strings and other sections. And Tomas Nepotil managed to make the largo sound as fresh as if the audience had never heard it before. It was played with warm, affectionate delicacy, especially at the recapitulation of the challengingly familiar first subject.  I loved the effect of the bass pizzicato when you can see and hear every player clearly and the rousing scherzo accomplished all its time signature and key changes so neatly that one was left sighing in admiration at the tightness of that glorious Czech sound. And as for the finale, the speed was so cracking in places that it made my amateur violinist fingers ache even to think about it. But it came off with aplomb.

It’s a long journey home from Basingstoke to where I live in South London and this leisurely concert – with its 7.45 start, two encores and lots of applause – didn’t finish until after 10.00pm. I have rarely been so glad that I made the effort.

Susan Elkin