Tea and the Symphony
It was the last Tea and the Symphony concert of the year. It was about the SSO Fellows, who finish up at the end of the year. It was a chamber orchestra today with Anthony Marwood as Violin Soloist and Director. There was two pieces on the program. The first was Beethoven’s Symphony No.1 in C, Op.21 and the second Peteris Vasks’ Distant Light – Concerto for Violin and Strings. I went by myself today and took Toby and Timmy. Sort of in memory of Mum as it’s 12 months since she passed away.
Beethoven’s Symphony No.1
I love a good solid Beethoven. I really enjoy the way that the woodwinds have great lines and kind of steal the show. There was a little bit of drama during the performance when the Director’s string broke on his Violin and he then stole the Second Chair’s Violin, she was a bit shocked. She left the stage with the broken violin and the second chair second row stepped up. I’ve never seen it happen before in a concert. They all coped quite well. It did lead to the break between pieces to be quite a bit longer as we waited for the director and his Violin to return to stage. The second chair got a resounding applause when she came back on stage.
Peteris Vasks’ Distant Light
I am always a bit concerned by modern composers some of them are brilliant others leave me wanting them to stop challenging me. My life is challenging enough without struggling to understand the music. Vasks is from Latvia and this piece was composed in 1996-1997. It contained music pictures, reminiscences of folk music and some chaos sections. It didn’t start off well, the solo violin sounded like a Theremin (here is a link to a video of it on Spicks and Specks). I really enjoyed it when the folk music could be heard and the Mosso and Crochet = c.120 sections. I’m really not a fan of solo violin especially when it is played in the dog hearing range. So I wasn’t a big fan of the cadenzas and there was 3 of them. Overall the piece was listenable.
Post Concert
I went to the four frogs for lunch afterwards and one of the SSO Fellows, David McGregor, was having lunch. I congratulated him on his performance and asked him what he is up to next year. He is off to Christchurch to the orchestra there. He is a bit sad to be leaving Sydney as he has only just moved here.
I’m off to another concert tonight so stay turned to my thoughts on Gripping Shostakovich.
Checkout the playlist of today’s pieces on Spotify
Download the score for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1
