Mote Hall, Maidstone, 17 May 2014
Arriving at the Mote Hall in daylight, with no need to avoid muddy puddles or half-hidden pavements, it must be the end of the season – and what a season it has been. The range of works we have heard and the quality of the soloists has yet again demonstrated the vigour and talent of the orchestra as a whole and the dynamic strength of Brian Wright’s leadership.
The final concert brought us firmly into the early twentieth century with the upheaval of jazz and ragtime, which seemed to permeate all of the works we heard. Ravels’ Suite, Mother Goose served as a gentle hors d’oeuvre with the piquancy of Laideronnette a highlight at its heart.
The benefit of the flat floor is that it allows for the rapid placement of the piano and how pleasing to see and hear a full grand Schimmel. Pianist Tom Poster obviously relished the range of tonal qualities he could coax from it and his performance of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue was masterly and absorbing. Brian Wright took a somewhat relaxed approach to the opening pages – there was no hint of the Big Band here, rather the heady influence of jazz on a committed classical composer. Time and again individual soloists tried to break free into ragtime or jazz riffs, only to be gently contained within the orchestral format. The tension was compelling and the overall effect highly exciting.
If Ravel’s Bolero is somewhat over-familiar then hearing live can come as something of a shock. Ravel’s orchestration is very sensitive and looking at the orchestra one is aware of the tiny moments of support given by individual instruments, moments which go unheard when simply listening to a CD or worse still on the car radio. I noted the harp in the very early sections, plucking individual notes and then, later, the upper wind doing the same. Each adding, little by little, to the texture we are experiencing. That the orchestra has such accomplished musicians is a tribute to them and this whole evening drew on their strengths.
After the interval Tom Poster returned for Ravel’s Piano Concerto. Possibly the least familiar piece in the programme, the quieter, introspective passages were particularly impressive with a lovely section for piano and harp. The brass came into their own later in the work, seeming to be warming up for the following Gershwin. The jazz elements, always latent across the evening, exploded in the last movement bringing the whole to a joyous conclusion.
As an encore Tom Poster played his own wistful arrangement of Gershwin’s Someone to watch over me.
The evening, and the season, came to a brash conclusion with Gershwin’s An American in Paris. Brian Wright found an effective balance between the sentimental and the raucous, encouraging his players to give of their all.
They will be back in October for the start of a five concert season for 2014-15, and tickets are already on sale. If you can’t wait until then, Brian Wright and Tom Poster will be opening the Bexhill Arts Festival at the De La Warr Pavilion on Sunday 1 June.
PS The Mote Hall is obviously not a concert hall which has advantages and disadvantages. On this occasion – a hot evening – the roof was opened to let out the hot air which was pleasing. However the lighting seemed to be in the hands of the work experience student and was about as unsubtle as one could imagine!