England’s supreme and pleasant soundsReview of our concert at St Mary’s Church, 27 March 2010 by John BulleymentBanbury Symphony Orchestra’s spring concert was a major triumph for the players and the conductor. It was an all-English affair and the better for it. The first work, William Walton’s Spitfire Prelude and Fugue, was played with appropriate panache. The prelude contains one of the those tunes which send shivers of pleasure down your back and the subject of the fugue will be replaying itself in my mind for days to come. Elgar’s Nursery Suite is full of the nostalgia and dreams of better times, a theme that haunts his other later work. In the quiet passages, of which there were many, the orchestra produced some ravishing sounds. My main reason for attending the concert was to hear Malcolm Arnold’s Fourth Symphony. Arnold, sadly, seems to have become unfashionable in recent years so it was rewarding to be given the chance to hear this wonderful symphony live. And what a performance it was! The orchestra playing with total commitment and enthusiasm did the composer proud. Much of the excitement was generated by the large percussion section. If it is possible to express rage in music, Arnold seems to have achieved it in the last movement. His outrage at the 1958 Notting Hill race riots produced a sustained musical assault, which was mind-numbing in its impact. So congratulations and thanks to the BSO and Paul Willett for a memorable concert. If they can produce this quality for English music, please may we have more. |
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Saturday 15 May, 7.30pm St Peter’s Church, Hook Norton. - Mendelssohn - Fingal's Cave Overture
- Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending
- Beethoven - Symphony No.1
Click here for St. Peter's Church Website
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Saturday 20 November, St Mary’s, 7.30pm St Mary’s Church, Banbury. - Balakirev Overture on 3 Russian Themes
- Bruch Violin Concerto No.1
Sue Lynn: violin |
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Saturday 10th July 2010, 6pm St Mary’s Church, Banbury. Family concert: Music from the movies Local talented young musicians, Jo and Kim Williams and Rachel Greene, are all set for the Banbury Symphony Orchestra family concert. This summer's exciting family concert features film music, ranging from recent highly popular films such as Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings plus The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ by Dukas, used in the famous Disney film Fantasia. to other pieces of music that are extremely well known but perhaps not immediately linked with the movies: such as the soaring Barber's 'Adagio for Strings', which has been used in Oliver Stone's Platoon, The Elephant Man and Amélie, and the familiar 'Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra', which Britten wrote for a documentary film, cleverly introducing each orchestral instrument that then knits together in a rousing finale. - Ireland Overlanders Suite (1946 Australian film about a large herd of cattle being driven 1600 miles overland)
- Barber Adagio for Strings (Oliver Stone's Platoon, The Elephant Man and Amélie)
- The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
- Britten Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra (written for a documentary film in 1946)
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Saturday 27 March, 7.30pm St Mary’s Church, Banbury. - Walton Spitfire Prelude and Fugue
Walton's 'Spitfire Prelude and Fugue' was written for a film about the designer of the Spitfire fighter aircraft called The First of the Few. Walton is one of Britain's most successful composers, especially for film music, and this piece tells a fine story while at the same time being a successful concert piece in its own right. Elgar's charming 'Nursery Suite' completes this evening with plenty of everything that makes Elgar's music so popular. Arnold's Symphony No.4, which features Caribbean instruments and rhythms as it was inspired by the 1958 Notting Hill race-riots. It has violent outbursts of brass and percussion and, in places, is reminiscent of Bernstein's West Side Story. The concert programme and pictures from the performance have been added below: Programme pages: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 & 11. Images: (to follow soon). |
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