Our thanks to Jonathan for this excellent review of the Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra‘s last concert. We also attend the concert and were once again blown away by the quality of musicianship on show. Ed
Even though I’ve been away for several days since attending the latest concert by the Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra, it still lives vividly in my mind. It was fantastic.
Glorious Ginastera
It started with four dances by a composer completely unknown to me. Alberto Ginastera wrote a whole ballet about life on an Argentinean ranch for George Balanchine in 1941, but the company disbanded before it was performed.
Four dances from this work were performed by the IWSO, and I would love to see what sort of dancing would be performed by gaucho dancers, because these are loud, fast and extremely rhythmical, involving a vast number of instruments. I counted 11 performers in the percussion section, and they were all going at it hammer and tongs. It was very exciting and I wanted to get up and whirl like a South American dervish. Marvellous.
Turkish virtuoso /strong> This was typical Haydn, quiet and simple with subtle interplay between the soloist and orchestra, and looked to be fiendishly difficult to play.
After that it was delightful to sit and listen to a Haydn Cello Concerto, performed by the young Turkish virtuoso Cansin Kara.
After the intermission the whole orchestra assembled for the marathon that is Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony. The musicians packed the stage, and they had to work really hard, because this is an epic piece.
It was loud and long, and contained many moods and set-pieces, melodic, and military and bombastic and triumphant and quietly despairing. Shostakovich wrote for the whole orchestral range, and this was performed at full tilt with great brio by the whole orchestra. It’s still ringing in my head.
I’m not familiar enough with the life and work of Shostakovich. I do know that it can’t be easy to be ‘Stalin’s favourite composer’, with the obvious proviso that he composes music that Stalin likes. Many things can be written about his music, mainly to tease out what he was saying and what he was keeping quiet about. The huge question is what he would have written if free of such constraints. I am only familiar with his ‘Jazz’ suites, which sound to me like jazz imagined by someone with no active knowledge or experience of Jazz or Blues or American cultural history. They’re sweet and lovely, and a long way from the Fifth Symphony.
Guest conductor
Rupert Bond was the guest conductor, stepping easily into the shoes of Jonathan Butcher, and entertaining us with stories and background to each piece, which was much appreciated. He also conducted a fiercely varied and difficult programme with panache and great enthusiastic energy. I loved it all.
Don’t miss the next one
Next time on 24th May, it’s going to be a Bamboula(?), a Ballad for Strings, the violin Concerto by Barber, which I actually know already and love, and Dvorak’s 7th Symphony, unknown to me but I know I’m going to love it.
Come and experience for yourself the glory that is the Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra. It’s well worth it.
Tickets are available from Medina Theatre. See IWSO Website for more detail.
Image: OTA-Berlin under CC BY 3.0
