Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra

Sunday 3 March 2013

At the heart of this concert was a performance of Bach’s Double Violin Concerto by students from the Yehudi Menuhin School. In the event they were siblings, Samuel and Louisa-Rose Staples, respectively 17 and 12 years old. Anybody listening rather than looking would have been hard put to guess the age of the soloists given the professionalism and sensitivity of their playing.

That they have performed the concerto together before was a tribute to their growing professionalism and what impressed was the level of musicianship which went far further than technical competence. While one does not wish to be triumphantly nationalistic it was very evident that their tuition has been far broader than a concentration of technical finess. While both have estimable ability, they already clearly show different temperaments in their approach which allow the music to develop its own individual voice. Samuel seemed to provide a more solid rationalistic line while Louisa-Rose was more supple and at times pliant. This may have more to do with age and temperament than training, but how effective in performance even at this stage. I hope their careers flourish; they certainly deserve to do so.

The afternoon had opened with the ballet music from Mozart’s Idomeneo. For such a popular work, the ballet music is rarely performed, being cut from live performances of the opera and infrequently heard in the concert hall. As such it was all the more welcome.

The second half brought us Mozart’s G minor symphony No40. Here Barry Wordsworth found a fine balance between classical austerity and the urgency of the score to move towards romanticism. I always feel this is the closest Mozart came to Beethoven and the tension buried in the score is only just held in check. If Mozart had lived how might he have developed this approach?

The final concert in the series is on Sunday 24 March with an anniversary performance of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring.  BH