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THRILLING AT QUARTZ
Rustom Pomeroy, formerly a star violin pupil at Queens College, and now an emerging force in the world of both classical and pop music, returned to his roots on Saturday to take the soloist’s role with OrchestraWest.
A founder member of Somerset’s professional orchestra, he performed the extremely demanding Violin Concerto by Samuel Barber, composed in 1939/40. Described by one audience member as ‘an abstract painting’, it is a challenging work to appreciate fully on a first hearing, but the lyricism and romantic qualities of the first two movements were given beautiful expression by soloist and orchestra alike. The contrast of the astonishing ‘perpetual motion’ which is the final movement was quite simply breathtaking. The sheer technical virtuosity needed by the orchestra as well as the soloist was amply delivered; the performance was thrilling, and warmly appreciated by the audience – not least the fact that Rustom had committed the thousands of notes to memory, allowing full communication between himself and the conductor, John Cole. Some truly fine solo playing from Principal Oboe Lynn Collins was an additional bonus.
The Barber was complemented by two youthful works by composers of genius; the Overture to The Italian Girl in Algiers, by Rossini, and Mendelssohn’s ‘Italian’ Symphony. The orchestra, not a big one for this occasion, gave a wonderfully light and airy interpretation of both, and the warmth and gentleness of the slower passages showed how much this orchestra has to offer its audiences in terms of the all-round qualities of its playing.
Unbelievably, considering the size of the audiences OrchestraWest has been attracting this year, the concert was not that well sold; there will be many supporters who will be kicking themselves this week that they missed a real jewel.
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