Westmorland Orchestra Concert

Westmorland Hall, Saturday 6th December 2008

Sadly, the Westmorland orchestra had to open its 64th season without the orchestra’s regular conductor, Barry Sharkey, who was unwell. However, if Barry had been able to hear the playing last Saturday evening in the Westmorland Hall, he would surely have been proud of what his team achieved.

Being a visiting conductor is a difficult role to fulfil, even given generous rehearsal time, but when two rehearsals are all that is available, the demands on the conductor become even more exacting. In his role as guest conductor, Andrew Penny made a deep impression. Clear and economical in his gestures, he had obviously prepared the orchestra well in the limited time available to him, and gained the players’ confidence and respect.

Aaron Copland’s colourful Dances from his ballet ‘Rodeo’ got the concert off to a rousing start. This is music which, with its strong rhythms and sweeping melodic lines, makes an instant appeal. At various times it makes big demands on certain sections of the orchestra, sectional principals in particular. Generally the orchestra coped well with the rhythmic complexities of this exacting score. There were some uncertainties and false entries; the percussion section needed to be a little more extrovert at times, and in the last movement especially the rhythms could have been tighter.

The orchestra’s President, Martin Roscoe, was an impressive soloist in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4. His playing had the delicacy required for the opening of the concerto, and for the wonderful slow movement where soloist and orchestra enter into a dramatic dialogue, each with their own thematic material. At the same time, he had the technical brilliance and power needed for the more extrovert sections of the work. This was a very solid performance marred only by lapses of concentration in some sections of the orchestra when required to articulate what is in effect a very simple rhythmic passage.

Some of the orchestra’s best playing of the evening was reserved for Rachmaninov’s difficult Symphonic Dances. The three movements make huge technical and expressive demands on the orchestra. Not all elements were firmly in place but, to their credit, the players brought it off. The final resounding ‘thwack’ on the tam-tam will long remain in the memory. Well done to players and conductor for such an enjoyable concert!

Clive Walkley