An Evening of Dramatic and Romantic Delights
For the past 20 years I have been a frequent visitor to Tatsfield Village. I became familiar with the village pond, pub, shop, village hall, scout hut, school, church and lovely rural ambience of the North Downs. Never did I imagine with what joy I would come to hear a concert. How many villages can boast of such an asset? It draws people together from the North Downs area and includes all age groups. This was a very ambitious programme covering three 19th century composers.
The concert started beautifully quietly with Suppe’s La Pique Dame overture; the sudden fortissimo chords, including a great full brass section, drew us in to this very exhilarating piece that produced some delicious cantabile tunes with the solo clarinet and cellos, as well as the whirlwind of excitement created by the violins. The orchestra certainly captured the Viennese exuberance and the sparkle of Suppe’s music.
Dvorak’s cello concerto is one of his later and greatest works. It is a deeply profound work in contrast to the light heartedness of Suppe and the orchestra portrayed this in the opening exposition. There were some beautiful solos from the horn, clarinet and oboe sensitively accompanied by the rest of the orchestra. The quasi improvisando entry of the solo cello, now in the major, had a recitative, energetic and resolute character that gives the heroic character of the main theme. The virtuosity required to play the development of this theme was quite apparent and ably done by tonight’s soloist Michael Wigram.
The slow movement opened with the wind accompanying the solo cello played very expressively, the pizzicato chords contributing to the sense of calm. Throughout, the orchestra accompanied the soloist exquisitely – the rippling violins under the cello tune, later the 4 horns and finally the flute.
The last movement gave the full range of dynamics to this heroic lively piece with lyrical episodes interspersed. The trumpets were not only bright in their fanfare phrases but also in the much more difficult ‘piano’ moments.
The conductor, Jem Muharrem, was very clear and the Sinfonia’s performance felt assured with all the tricky rhythmic changes. The solo cello was extraordinarily accomplished in this virtuostic piece, but I had to listen hard to hear all the notes. Maybe a raised podium would have helped the acoustics.
Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is probably one of the most well known pieces of classical music and bridges the classical period into the Romantic period. That said, it is a very challenging piece to play and the North Downs Sinfonia are to be congratulated with their performance.
There were some real sonorous sounds in the second movement from the 7 cellos and 2 basses and violas; and I enjoyed the beginning of the trio. The whole orchestra played with real direction and energy in this feast of music
It was a pity that the well produced and informative programme had an incorrect list of personnel of the orchestra members, especially for first time players. It is nice to be famous, even if only in one’s own village!
I hope everyone locally knows about these concerts. You don’t need to know anything about music to enjoy them and you get a warm welcome as well as a glass of wine and refreshments.