Saturday 3 September 2016

Sussex Strings give only two concerts a year, all their work is for charity and they meet irregularly to rehearse. That the quality of playing is as high as it is is therefore a tribute to their individual expertise and dedication.

Their approach is a simple one – to please their audience and enjoy themselves while doing so. The choice of music is easy on the ear, the works short and tuneful – and there is nothing wrong with that, particularly on a late summer’s evening.

They opened with a romantic reading of Handel’s Entry of the Queen of Sheba and three movements from Bach’s Orchestral Suite No3 including the familiar Air on a G string. The most challenging work of the evening followed with Finzi’s beautiful Romance. The drifting line and gentle harmonies are quite difficult to bring off and there were some moments of hazy playing from the second violins, but happily this did not disturb the overall effect.

Ungar’s Ashokan Farewell brought them back on to more familiar ground and prepared for a jolly English Suite  from local composer Paul Lewis. This is quintessentially English music in the vein of Malcolm Arnold with is quiet Meditation and very English Jig.

After a brief interval we heard the Chaconne from Purcell’s The Fairy Queen and another piece by Paul Lewis. On Pevensey Levels is a wistful, gentle evocation – a sort of Sussex answer to the Lark Ascending.

Sibelius regarded his Andante Festivo as one of his finest compositions but I doubt if he ever expected it to be played at quite such a fast pace. His own recording of 1939 seems to last into eternity by comparison.

The evening ended with John Rutter’s Suite for Strings based on English folk songs, the lilting arrangement of O waly, waly being particularly effective.

It may not be usual to single out individuals under these circumstances but the ensemble as a whole obviously owes a great deal to its leader Simon Smith, and there is sterling work from the single bass player Leslie Morrison whose underpinning is essential to the whole enterprise.

A brief encore in the form of Halleluia brought a fine evening to an end, sending us all away happy – even if the rain had started while we were inside.