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 I attended the third concert in this year’s season by the Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra. As usual, Medina Theatre was packed with expectant people, looking forward to an interesting and varied programme. It’s noticeable that even terrible weather doesn’t deter regular concert-goers. They weren’t disappointed.
Played, just for me, by a real Symphony Orchestra
A few years ago, I went on a sort of musical quest. A tune popped into my head from somewhere. I had an impression that I heard it in my childhood, and it just popped up. I had no idea where it came from. It went like this:
Ba dom dom dom
Ba dom dom dom
Ba diddle diddle diddle diddle dom dom
Diddle diddle diddle dom dom diddle dom… and so on (you can probably finish it).
Notice my smart musical notation. It was instantly recognisable, and I had no idea what it was. But I found a CD with it on the Internet, which also contained some rather lovely contradances by Mozart, and I’ve loved it ever since. I never thought I would actually hear it played, just for me, by a real Symphony Orchestra.
It was lovely. The theme is played by an oboe, but it’s taken up by other instruments and woven into a pattern that is seemingly endless, and woven together like a musical tapestry. There are four dances here, all particularly tuneful, and evocative of Norway, at least as I imagine it, with nods to Scotland. Grieg wrote these in 1881, using folk tunes, and had them orchestrated in 1888, which was the form we heard on Saturday. They’re lively, colourful, and foot-tappingly enjoyable. The orchestra played them to perfection, and made me very happy.
Difficulty and drama in the playing
The second piece was very different. Walton wrote his Cello Concerto in 1956. It’s not a concerto that shows off, and there are no fireworks for the soloist to perform, but it does provide difficulty and drama in the playing. It has a somewhat ethereal feel to it, helped by a harp and a celeste and a vibraphone, and feels like being outdoors on a summer day. There’s a great expansiveness to it. It feels like a very personal piece.
The soloist on Saturday was Jamal Aliyev, a rising star, who played magnificently, with enormous concentration and skill, fluidly stitching his music together with the accompanying orchestra, bringing out the best in both. There was a great emphasis on rhythms and short phrases, taken up and spread around the instruments, and it was a very interesting and modern-feeling piece, which would reward more listening.
A persistent flutter of birdsong
After the break, the orchestra settled to play a Dvorak symphony, Number 8. Everyone knows the Symphony Number 9, ‘From the New World’, with its sweeping descriptions and musical landscapes, and I’ve heard Number 7, but this one is different. It still seems, to my ear, obviously Dvorak, but it’s much lighter, and softer. There’s a persistent flutter of birdsong, mainly from the flute, as a running background motif, and is very pastoral, evocative of the w2oods of his native Czechoslovakia.
The symphony has four movements, and features two instruments hardly used. I saw the piccolo’s two notes, but missed the cor anglais completely. In fact, I had to look it up, such is my musical ignorance. It sets the scene, and introduces the landscape and the natural wonders delightfully. The second movement develops these, and the third movement is more vigorous, in the form of a dance, like a waltz, that somehow won’t keep regular time, and the last movement opens with a splendid fanfare, and a lot of lovely cello playing, and much developing and swapping of themes around the orchestra. It was excellently played, and very enjoyable.
We’re very lucky to have the IWSO
The guest conductor was Malcolm Hicks, who unfussily marshalled and guided all the players through each piece, and modestly acknowledged the applause at the end. It was an evening that the audience could look back on with pleasure, and that the musicians could be proud of. The IWSO continues to make music of fantastic quality, and we’re very lucky to have them.
Next concert
The next concert is on Saturday 19th May, at Medina Theatre, at 7:15pm. There’s a varied programme again, none of which is familiar to me. It stars with a Mendelssohn overture – Ruy Blas, followed by Quiet City by Copland, who I like.
Then there’s Summer Evening, by Delius, which should be a delight, and a piece for Oboe by Francaix, called L‘Horloge de Flore. I shall be very interested to hear that. Then there’s Sibelius, the 2nd Symphony, which should be spectacular.
I’m looking forward to all that very much. Tickets, as usual, may be scarce to find, so don’t leave it too late.
See you there.
Images: © With kind permission of Allan Marsh
