Royal Festival Hall - October 15th 2009

Date: Thursday 15 October 2009

GCSE & L5 Music Scholars Trip to the Royal Festival Hall, London

It is always a pleasure to spend a few hours on a cool but extremely pleasant autumn evening on London’s South Bank overlooking the River Thames, before finally sitting down to listen to a programme of beautiful music, performed again by the renowned Philharmonia Orchestra. A pre-concert stroll along the embankment on a light evening allowed us to be entertained by a number of street performers and Monsieur Peter Barnard particularly enjoyed, or should I say took great interest, in trying to make one of the live human statues respond to his advances.

The first piece in the concert, Glinka’s overture Ruslan and Ludmilla was executed with verve and tenacity. The conductor, Leif Segerstam, who resembled Brahms, elicited excitement and electricity from this well-known miniature masterpiece, with some particularly fine playing from the ‘cello section.

The second item, Glazunov’s Violin Concerto in A minor was brought to life with its mellifluous and ever-shifting colours by the beautiful and talented Nicola Benedetti. The highly exposed cadenza in the first movement enabled Benedetti to show us what a stunning violinist she really is, with its copious double and triple stops literally giving the impression of a ‘string trio’, together with the brilliantly executed harmonics way up in the upper registers of the instrument. Upper Fifth proceeded to give her a standing ovation at this point for her ‘performance’.

After the interval, Dvorak’s Symphony No.9 in E minor (from the New World) gave us a glimpse of his Czech roots, even though he moved to America for a considerable proportion of his life. This ‘family favourite’ was performed with the warmth and trusty familiarity as one can imagine. In this half of the concert it was the brass and woodwind that really came to life, highlighting the rich but elegant sonorities in each corner of the four movements. The largo (second movement) with its beautiful cor anglais solo, took us away from the stresses of the world and put before us a vision of calm serenity where nothing appears to matter, except for true contentment. The third movement was a journey from darkness into light which directly, and insistently, led to the finale that exemplified serious grandeur, tinged with unease at times. Altogether, a rousing end to such a formidable masterwork.

An enjoyable evening was had by all, especially for those male pupils who insisted on getting Nicola Benedetti’s autograph at the end of the concert. It is always a pleasure to be part of a great concert and well worth the long journey after a long day at school.