Thanks to Jonathan for sharing this review of last weekend’s Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra. Ed
A few weeks ago I reviewed the last concert of the season by the Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra. It was my first time, and I was so impressed that I bought tickets for this season, which began last Saturday. I was even more impressed.
The Medina Theatre was packed, which is always a good start. I always enjoy the introduction by Jonathan Butcher, the Conductor, introducing the orchestra and the programme with warmth and enthusiasm that sets the tone for the evening.
A programme of three works
On Saturday there were three works, all completely unfamiliar to me. I have to say at this point that I’m so far from being a music connoisseur that I feel it would be insulting to critique the performance itself, so all I should decently do is relate how the concert itself affected me.
The first, an overture by Suppé called the Pique Dame Overture, whizzed along at a fair pace and I enjoyed it very much.
Then the orchestra played Tchaikovsky’s First Symphony. I am familiar with his later symphonies, and this was a fascinating first chance to hear an earlier work by a young man, which contained a lot of indications of how he was to progress. There were a lot of Russian folk tunes and dances in it, and the orchestra delivered it with great verve and pleasure.
The magic of a live performance
During the interval the grand piano was wheeled centre-stage, and a hush fell over the theatre. When you listen to music on the radio or CD, you’re getting a very professional recording of what actually took place, but there are two things missing.
The first thing is the actual sight of a large number of talented people who are working as a team, concentrating fully on each other and the conductor. The effect of all these faces and bodies and instruments is more of a physical presence than I expected, especially in a small and intimate theatre such as the Medina. I was spellbound as I watched them weaving their individual sounds together into the wonderful complex structure of sounds that they make all together. It’s a thing of beauty additional to the music itself.
Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto
The second thing was completely unknown to me before Saturday. The orchestra had chosen a fearsomely difficult piece, Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto, and they hired a soloist called Viv Maclean to play it.
From the moment he appeared on stage a mysterious thing began to happen. The conductor and orchestra appeared to coalesce into a single entity, not just in order to play their socks off to support the soloist, but they seemed to rise up somehow, and turned the music into something extraordinary and magical.
At the same time, I could feel the audience around me leaning forward, concentrating on that extraordinary number of notes being played with such speed and precision by the long fingers of the tall, shaven-headed man with the oversized tailcoat, all holding their breaths, completely spellbound by the performance.
A maelstrom of passionate emotions
I can’t remember ever having been so affected by any live event I attended. The piano playing was overwhelming and completely dominant, whether quiet and simple or thundering and spinning like a whirlwind, a maelstrom of passionate emotions. And the conductor and every member of the orchestra hung on every note, waiting for their moment and coming in beautifully to accompany him or provide their own voice, often with great subtlety.
When the concerto ended, the soloist and conductor embraced and there was a storm of clapping, with several returns to the stage by both, and I could see the huge joyful grins on the faces of the orchestra and audience, because we knew we had witnessed something special and quite indefinable.
It was the magic of live performance, when all the parts come together and produce something greater than all its parts. It was unforgettable.
I’m looking forward very much to the next concert.
