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Westmorland Orchestra Concert Westmorland Hall, Saturday 21st May
2011 (published in shortened form in
the Westmorland
Gazette May 26th 2011) Traditionally, the Westmorland
Orchestra chooses a more light-weight programme for the final concert of the
season. This year was no exception when the players, under the capable
direction of Richard Howarth, presented a concert in the Westmorland Hall on
Saturday 21st May. Suppé’s tuneful Overture
‘Poet and Peasant’ was the opening item. This got the programme
off to a good start with the orchestra clearly enjoying Suppe’s
beguiling melodies. Tribute must be paid to principal cellist, Lionel Scott,
for his performance of the taxing solo at the beginning of the work, played
with such confidence. Lionel is retiring after working with the orchestra
over a period of fifty-three years – much of this time in the
‘hot’ seat as sectional principal. Next came Schumann’s ever-green
Piano Concerto in which the soloist was the young Australian pianist Jayson
Gillham. Jayson’s performance was dazzling in its virtuosity but also
beautifully poetic – surely a performance that would have gained the
approval of Schumann himself. Safe speeds were adopted for the
performance of Respighi’s ballet music La Boutique Fantasque.
These short, colourful, well-known pieces may come under the category of
light music but they do present technical challenges for the orchestra and
are not easy to play. One or two slips aside, the players gave an enjoyable,
confident performance. Finally, the concert was brought to a
close with more sparkling melodies: Tchaikovsky’s Waltz and Polonaise
from his opera Eugene Onegin. The Westmorland Orchestra seems to go
from strength to strength and this concert provided a very satisfying
conclusion to the orchestra’s season.
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