Westmorland Orchestra Concert

Westmorland Hall, Saturday 15th March 2008

The Westmorland Orchestra likes a challenge, sometimes tackling works which stretch the players’ capacities to their limits, but for the second concert in the society’s 63rd season, the orchestra chose a ‘safe’ programme, presenting four attractive works which, although requiring careful preparation, enabled the players to play well within their powers. The result was one of the best concerts the orchestra has given for some time.

After a slightly tentative opening, Arthur Sullivan’s Overture, Di Ballo, was given a sparkling performance with the upper strings soaring confidently to the upper reaches and with some neat ensemble work from the woodwind section. The rhythmic accompaniment to the dominating melodic lines was kept firmly under control throughout.

The second work in the programme was a performance of Saint-Saëns’ dramatic Second Piano Concerto with the young Taiwanese soloist, Chiao-Ying Chang as soloist. This remarkable young player - already at the age of twenty-eight an international soloist - stepped in at very short notice to play the technically demanding virtuoso solo part. She gave a dazzling performance: her playing had both delicacy and power and the composer’s frequent rapid cascades of notes were executed with apparent ease. Although it is fair to say that the soloist dominates this work, the role of the orchestra must not be overlooked; the players provided a very secure accompaniment to the soloist in a very rewarding performance.

The dark, brooding opening of Sibelius’ tone poem, Lemminkainen’s Return, which came next, again sounded a little uncertain; there was some lack of clarity in the lower registers, but the climactic conclusion to this dark tale was depicted with great drama.

The concert concluded after the interval with a performance of Schumann’s Fourth Symphony in D minor. Although not the best of his four essays in this form, the orchestra gave an assured performance. The string section sounded confident throughout; again there were notable contributions from the woodwind section, while the brass provided effective and firm support at moments of climax.

Well done to players and conductor, Barry Sharkey, for giving us a splendid concert!

Clive Walkley