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Review of Concert: 12/02/05 |
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The Cheese and Grain may not be the most attractive concert venue in Frome but Frome Symphony's concert proved, once again, that acoustically, if not aesthetically, it a real asset to the town. Stephen Marquiss had drawn up a programme which included both some well known and some very unfamiliar music. It was structured under the banner 'From East to West'. Sometimes such programming can seem contrived and artificial. On this occasion it was very successful, a concert of two distinct halves. The concert opened with Brahms' Tragic Overture, written on the occasion of the composer being given an honorary degree by the University of Breslau in Poland. Throughout the overture, the string sound was warm and the orchestra gave a committed performance. Borodin's In the Steppes of Central Asia is typical of so much romantic music in creating a picture in sound. The music painted a barren open space with a distant camel train which moved towards us and then disappeared into the distance. There was an element of mystery in the performance, conjuring up the spirit of the East. Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite is an old favourite. The performance was generally light and full of spirit, nowhere more so than in the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy when Jon Benger abandoned his French horn for a synthesised celesta and, together with Gemma Mounty's stylish bass clarinet, provided one of many examples of lovely changes in orchestral colour which we heard throughout the evening. Stephen Marquiss added in Percy Grainger's piano part in place of the harp at the start of the waltz of the flowers, a quirky touch which gave us the bonus of a miniature piano concerto cadenza amid the Land of Sweets. The second half began with a stirring performance of Elgar's fourth Pomp and Circumstance march, followed by Copland's Quiet City. Frome Symphony has given local musicians of all ages an opportunity to play together since its inception and it was good to hear two of the town's younger instrumentalists as accomplished soloists in this piece. David Hynds relished the strident elements of Copland's writing for trumpet and Hannah Penn's plaintive cor anglais playing was always beautifully phrased: hearing Hannah's solo lines on a number of other occasions in the programme through the evening was also a rare treat. Thurban's Americana Suite which concluded the concert was, I guess, probably new to everyone. Sometimes brash, sometimes sentimental, the music was in a ragtime style which had the audience, on occasions, tapping feet and gently rocking from side to side. In the final movement we were surprised when many of the orchestra burst into song! Like much American music, this was something of a show stopper and, as such, could only be followed by very hearty applause before we all went home. This was a really good night out. Frome Symphony's enthusiasm and love of making music transmitted so well to the audience in an imaginative programme. Alan Burgess |