Triumph For First Thame Music Concert (Contributed By Barry Gibson)
FROM the first bars of Britten?s Simple Symphony, it was clear that the first Thame Music concert on Saturday by the Orchestra of St. Johns (OSJ) had found a tremendously exciting matching of players and place.
Just 14 string players, cleanly underpinned by a single double-bass and two cellos, but with the eleven violins/violas standing ? and leaning enthusiastically – to give added energy, edge and shape to the phrasing.
Here was playing of great quality and clarity, reaching out to fill all corners of the space ? and the building gave back with a warm and full acoustic, just enough to enhance the precision and chamber quality of the strings, without ever getting muddy.
Neatly framing the programme were two stalwarts of the string-orchestra repertoire ? the Britten is a lighthearted reworking of themes invented in his childhood, played here with vigour, attack and enjoyment ? playful pizzicatos and all. And, to close, Tchaikovsky?s Serenade for Strings is by turns serious, lilting, thoughtful and rumbustuous, the highlight for me being OSJ?s quiet, lovingly lingering phrases in the Elegie.
In between were two extracts from William Walton?s music for the 1944 Laurence Oliver movie of Shakespeare?s Henry V ? film music, yes, but excellently crafted: a Purcell-like Passacaglia (for the death of Falstaff) and the gently dancing, wistful ?Touch her soft lips and part?.
The complete curiosity of the evening was a setting by Respighi (in Italian) of Shelley?s The Sunset (Il Tramonto), for which OSJ were joined by the mezzo Christine Cairns, who sang with great conviction and involvement. This strange, often dark work weaves a twilight stream-of-consciousness reflecting on illness and death, but with occasional atmospheric string-evocations of the night sky and faint stars ? a fine balance between depth and delicacy.
John Lubbock conducted the whole evening with drive and energy, encouraging the ensemble along towards the peaks and holding everyone back where appropriate, to make the most of those quiet, thoughtful moments.
Barry Gibson
