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Beethoven Nine shows playing of the highest order
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Over 100 singers, 4 international soloists (seated front), conductor John Cole and the full band take a breather during the afternoon rehearsal. Most of the brass are tucked away out of sight on the left - it's better for the balance.
Saturday 19th July saw Somerset’s professional symphony orchestra cement its reputation for playing of the highest order. Orchestra West, conducted by John Cole, presented a concert as part of Taunton Deane’s ‘Westival’ arts festival and what a concert it was. The hall at King’s College was full to capacity with an excited but attentive audience. There were many young people in attendance, some no doubt hearing their first orchestral concert. For starters we were treated to a bright and virtuosic performance of Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto. Immediately you sensed the quality of the orchestral playing. The strings in particular were on terrific form producing a beautiful well-balanced sound. Soloist, Stuart Ellsmore, revelled in every note of his part using the resonant acoustic of the hall to full effect. The cadenza at the end of the first movement Allegro was very cheeky and brilliantly executed and the last movement had every foot in the hall tapping to the brisk tempo. It was a great confident start to the evening.
For the second half we experienced the vast musical canvas of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. The orchestra was supplemented by extra players and joined by a chorus of over a 100 voices drawn from choirs from across the county plus four top soloists; Naomi Harvey (soprano), Alison Kettlewell (mezzo), Justin Lavender (tenor) and Eddie Wade (baritone). Unlike the Haydn, the 9th symphony calls for a myriad of contrasting soundscapes – mysterious, heroic, serene, full of dance rhythms, the occasional march and the famous celebratory Ode to Joy. The challenging scherzo of the second movement held together marvellously in a really tight ensemble. The blissful contemplative third movement explained why Mahler regarded this symphony so highly. Here the string playing was once again outstanding with rich sonorous playing reminiscent of certain celebrated German orchestras. The only quibble I have with the performance was that the woodwind were on occasions a little too loud. I think the problem was with the hall acoustic. The beginning of the first movement is marked pianissimo and this was not achieved thus depriving those wonderful opening bars of that great sense of mysteriousness and anticipation as the work began to unfold.
The final choral movement was a tour de force – fantastic cello and double bass playing and a superb first vocal entry by Eddie Wade whose diction was exemplary. The other solo voices were all secure and made their mark whilst the choir singing just got more thrilling as the music sped on to its triumphant conclusion. All the parts were heard clearly and the sopranos were particularly good managing their high tessitura with ease and polish. The audience reception was deservedly enthusiastic and sustained but the loudest cheers and applause was for conductor John Cole. With a performance of this standard he had pulled off a musical miracle. These concerts do not happen willy-nilly but are the result of a huge amount of planning and organisation by a large number of people who do it because they love music. That said, producing a performance is something that is very much put together on the day when the orchestra, chorus and soloists get together for the first time. Last Saturday John Cole, yet again, created and delivered a musical performance that will be remembered for a long time.
Wayne Bennett
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