Saturday 2nd December 2006

WESTMORLAND GAZETTE (Clive Walkley)

The Westmorland Orchestra chose three popular works to open the 62nd season in the Westmorland Hall on Saturday 2 December. Stravinsky’s Suite ‘The Firebird’ (1919 version) opened the programme. This is technically difficult and the opening movement was somewhat tentative with some dubious intonation in the lower strings. However, the performance gained in confidence and by the finale all signs of nervousness vanished as the players burst into the jubilant climax. This is a work, shunned by many amateur orchestral players; including it in this concert is a sign of the enterprising programme planning which has been such a feature of Westmorland Orchestra concerts in recent years.  In spite of some technical shortcomings, there was some very sensitive playing, and it was good to hear the work in a live performance.

For me as a cellist, the highlight of this concert was Alice Neary’s beautiful performance of Elgar’s Cello Concerto which followed the Stravinsky. This is a poignant work, full of plangent melodic lines. Alice Neary produced a warm rich sound; there was passion in her playing as she seized on the dramatic chordal passages which punctuate this work, and she made the second movement (Allegro molto) appear effortless. Tribute must be paid to conductor, Barry Sharkey, and the orchestra for the sensitive way they accompanied the soloist - no easy matter in this work, so full of changes in mood and tempo.

The concert concluded with a spirited performance of Symphony No. 9 ‘From the New World’ by Dvorak in which there were some fine solo contributions from members of the woodwind section who can always be relied upon to rise to the occasion in concerts by this orchestra.

Without doubt, this was an impressive opening to a season which will bring even more popular large-scale orchestral works before Kendal audiences.

Clive Walkley

CUMBERLAND NEWS (Tony Greenbank)

ECHOES OF DUPRÉ WIN ALICE STANDING OVATION

North Cumbrians who made the trip south over Shap on a wild, blustery night were rewarded with an evening of electrifying music from the classic concert hall repertoire. A dazzling rendition of Elgar’s Cello Concerto by up-and-coming cellist Alice Neary (already a professor at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester) received a standing ovation.

This passionate and poignant concerto - so tellingly performed in the famous recording by the young cellist Jacqueline du Pré - was one of the composer’s last major works. Neary evoked memories of those poignant years following World War One that changed Elgar’s life and that of his entire generation for ever. Here were echoes of the du Pré recording, backed up by the exquisite playing of this undoubtedly fine orchestra which has built up such a formidable reputation through the years.

The strings, led by John Upson of Penrith, sang to the conducting of Barry Sharkey. And the brass section was bold as ever - and crystal clear.

The programme was complemented by Stravinsky’s Suite, The Firebird, and Dvorak’s New World Symphony, both classics again delivered with pezazz and split-second timing not bettered by the rain beating on the roof.

Tony Greenbank