Jonathan Dodd shares his review of the latest Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra (IWSO) concert. Images with kind permission of Allan Marsh. Ed
Last Saturday, 13th May, I attended the fourth concert of the Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra’s 2022-2023 season, which was to feature one of my favourite pieces, Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov, which I heard and immediately loved while at school, but had never heard played live.
Click on images by Allan Marsh to see larger versions
I also believed I would recognise the Pavane pour une infante defunte by Maurice Ravel, although I wasn’t familiar with it as a piece, and I expected great things of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody and Glazunov’s Violin Concerto. In other words, the usual mix of the familiar and unknown that I have grown to love in the IWSO’s concerts.
Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2.
Franz Liszt emerged during a period of mid-European unrest, becoming something of a figurehead for the Hungarian Nationalists, seeking independence, and his emphasis on Hungarian folk music was very popular. He wrote 19 Hungarian Rhapsodies for solo piano in the late 1840s. Six of these were later transcribed for orchestra, and the Second has become the most famous.
The piece contains many melodies and dances, inside a framework that starts slow and sonorous and ends wildly fast and loud. It is full of drama, with complex short bursts of solo playing, and pauses and changes of pace and volume. It moves along smartly, once it gets going, and contains many tunes that will be familiar to almost everyone, because they’re so infectious and striking, and because they’ve been used for so many other purposes, from incidental music to cartoon soundtracks and film scores. The orchestra was ridden by Mr Jonathan Butcher like a racehorse, and every player performed admirably, from the sonorous beginning notes to the crashing chords of the ending. It was an excellent opener for the concert.
Ravel’s Pavane Pour Une Infante Defunte
Ravel has always been something of a favourite of mine, partly because of his Bolero, which thrilled the young version of me, and then the BBC series ‘The Camomile Lawn’, featuring Ravel’s String Quartet, which became one of my most played and loved pieces. I was sure I had heard his Pavane, but was never previously able to connect the beautiful music with its composer. Ravel has been linked with Debussy and Satie, and the Impressionists, and all their influences can be heard here.
Ravel wrote the Pavane in 1899, when he was only 22, as a solo piano piece, then orchestrated it in 1910. It’s a slow stately dance with a slippery tune that I can never catch, always quietly and gently eluding my attempts to follow it or predict the next note. It’s like spotting a camouflaged animal, slipping in and out of sight, and I love it for that, something Ravel shares in my mind with Prokofiev and Satie. I don’t know how orchestra musicians manage to remember either, but the IWSO did such a good job that I was able to forget all that and just immerse myself in the beautiful slowly-flowing sounds, like being hypnotised by the patterns made by swirling water. I loved it.
Glazunov’s Violin Concerto
I had never heard of Alexander Glazunov before this concert, but I had seen the soloist before, when Charlie Lovell-Jones came to perform Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Violin Concerto back in January 2022. He made a great impression on me then, and I was looking forwards to listening to hear him play again.
As before, he strode onto the stage, with an easy manner and giving the impression of someone enthusiastically looking forward to it. I liked his way of smiling at members of the orchestra, who all smiled back. I also like the way he seems completely interested in the music when he’s not playing, cradling his violin and moving gently with the music, not simply there to perform, but to be completely entwined with the whole piece and the whole orchestra.
The concerto has no breaks, and it is in turn lush and romantic, and thoughtful and measured. The orchestral parts were beautifully choreographed between soloist and musicians, and the solos were all difficult and absorbing. I’m not a violinist, but I could tell how difficult they were to play, and the mastery that Mr Lovell-Jones brought to them made them seem almost easy. The whole audience listened rapt, until the final notes died away, then applauded rapturously. We are indeed blessed to have such great soloists and such a wonderful orchestra on our Island, and such a brilliant conductor as Mr Butcher, top bring out the best in them. It was marvellous. I very much hope that My Lovell-Jones can be persuaded to return again.
Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade
After the break the whole theatre thrummed to the first glorious notes from the brass section, signifying the opening of Scheherazade, by Rimsky-Korsakov, followed by the wonderful romantic tune from the lead violinist. I challenge anybody who has once heard this magnificent piece, not to remember it for the rest of their lives. I know I do. It was one of the first classical pieces I ever really listened to, and it made me understand once and for all that I was destined not simply to love the glorious 60s music of my youth, because the classical world would feature deeply in my life as well.
Rimsky-Korsakov’s
first job was in the Russian Navy, and the nautical feel of this
piece is obvious, with its rolling bass notes and lilting rhythms,
and it brings the fairy-tale emotions of the original Thousand and
One Nights to bear in the lush string passages, and of course the
harp. It is full of beautiful tunes, and every instrument has its
opportunity to shine and soar. I was entranced throughout, as if I
was embarked on a nautical journey with the orchestra. Although based
upon the story, Rimsky-Korsakov managed to evoke, rather than tell
the stories and the adventures of their protagonists, allowing every
member of the audience to supply their own background to the music as
it is performed. I don’t know where it took me, but I knew by the
time it ended, with its thrilling storm and shipwreck, that I had
been on a grand adventure.
I had such a good
time that I failed to take in and note any of the multiple moments of
brilliance that kept flowing past me from so many members of the
orchestra. I just want to say that they were all wonderful, and their
obvious joy shone through all of it, not to mention their sheer
musical brilliance. Thank you all, for entertaining me so royally and
satisfyingly. I left the concert hall with light steps and a huge
smile on my face. We humans are so lucky, to be able to create and
perform and share such great moments of emotion and joy. Long may we
continue to be able to do so. Bravo!
Next Concert
The IWSO’s final concert of the season will be on Saturday 1st July 2023 at 7:15pm at the Medina Theatre, with a gala evening of performances of works by great composers, including the Overture to Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss, Sheep Safely Grazing by Bach, Soirees Musicales by Benjamin Britten, Bernstein’s symphonic version of dances from West Side Story, the Little Suite No. 1 by Malcolm Arnold, a Tribute to the Queen Mother by Jonathan Dove, and the Four Centuries Suite by Eric Coates.
It’s going to be marvellous, and mightily memorable. Of course there’s bound to be a full house again, so get your tickets as soon as you can, and you could go for a season ticket for the next season. It’ll be worth it.
There will be another wonderful open-air concert at Havenstreet Station in July complete with train noises. Let’s hope the weather will be glorious for that too.
See you there! And have a great Summer!
Find out more by visiting the IWSO’s Website.
Images: © With kind permission of Allan Marsh
