Maidstone Symphony Orchestra, Brian Wright
Mote Hall, Maidstone, 1 February 2014
There was, unexpectedly, a close romantic link between the four works we heard at the Mote Hall last night. Not a sentimental, St Valentine’s, romanticism but the emotional intensity which came from the Romantic Movement and lasted well into the 20th century.
It is there in every bar of Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture. We can almost close our eyes and sniff up the ozone as we indulge in the rapidly changing moods of the sea. Yet this is a beneficent ocean, exciting but never threatening even as it hurls us into the waves. The composer’s experience is closer to the cruise passenger than the surfboarder. All of this was well caught in the ebb and flow of the dynamics, with hazy strings giving way to bright edged wind.
The open-air thrill of the ocean gave way to the melancholy of Sibelius’ Valse triste. Here the strings remain deep within a dark memory, with only the flute and clarinet solos lifting us out of the presence of death. It was moving and uncomfortable at the same time.
Emma Johnson made a welcome return, and even more so with her captivating reading of Finzi’s Clarinet Concerto. Though written in 1949 the first two movements breathe late Elgar both in the introspection of the writing and the air of melancholy. The wistful second movement, with its limpid, rising melody gradually gives way to hope as the clarinet urges the strings into more open and optimistic realms. The relationship between soloist and strings was splendidly captured throughout, leading to the final Rondo whose folk-like melody suddenly moves us into the later twentieth century. Such fine playing deserved an encore and we were delighted with Paul Harvey’s Etude on a theme of Gershwin which evolves as a cheeky set of variations on It ain’t necessarily so.
The second half took us from the melancholy of Sibelius and Finzi back to the heroism inherent in Mendelssohn. Beethoven’s Eroica symphony revisits familiar material in the final movement which the composer had long associated with Napoleon, and while he might have distanced himself once Napoleon crowned himself Emperor, there is no doubting the heroic nature of the symphony. Brian Wright brought out the dance-like quality of the score in many passages, lightening the textures and allowing the solo lines to shine through. David Montague’s oboe was particularly effective in the second movement, but there were no problems with the woodwind throughout. The horns distinguished themselves with the variety of tone produced, ranging from the wild hunting calls of the Scherzo to the softer introspection of the funeral march.
A fine evening – or should I say, another fine evening.
Join us again on 22 March for Schumann, Beethoven and Sibelius. BH