Excitement, nobility and emotion in Harrogate Symphony Orchestra's live performance

Harrogate gallery celebrates successful return to live exhibitions with exquisite work by Yukako Sakakura

As a playing member of Harrogate Symphony Orchestra, I am not really qualified to write an objective view of one of its concerts.

However, as circumstances prevented me from playing in this one, I was asked to give my views on it as a member of the audience.

The opinions expressed in it are entirely my own and given in the hope that they represent a valid view of the concert.

What strikes me as a player in HSO is the wonderful opportunity we have of playing several times a year in the beautiful surroundings of Harrogate’s Royal Hall.

This, in itself, is enough to lift the spirits of players and audience alike, particularly in these present dark days of disease and disaster.

So, it is no surprise that, in such surroundings, a community orchestra such as HSO can rise to the occasion of performing challenging music more usually reserved for professionals, and so it did in this year’s Spring concert.

The concert opened with what must be the most famous overture of all, Mendelssohn’s “Hebrides”, a challenge in itself as it is so well-known.

The orchestra played it with great confidence and if it suffered from anything at all, I felt that some of nuances of the swirl of the sea and the variation in some of the dynamics were not quite there.

If this is so, it could be that finding rehearsal time to develop the detail in an overture is hard to achieve, particularly in the present covid-ridden situation, and also given that overtures are always played “from cold” at the beginning of the concert.

Like Beethoven, Sibelius wrote only one violin concerto, but what a piece it is.

Composed in 1905, it puts huge technical and emotional demands on both soloist and orchestra, more so than the better known Mendelssohn and Bruch works.

Soloist Richard Fletcher is no stranger to the Symphony Orchestra – a few years ago he gave a flawless performance of Vaughan Williams’ “Lark Ascending”.

From the first solo notes of the achingly wistful tune of the concerto, it was obvious that Richard was in complete charge of both instrument and music and so it continued throughout all three movements.

As well as the brilliant performance of the soloist, the orchestral contribution to the performance was huge showing great concentration and rapport with the soloist.

There was excitement, nobility and emotion in all the big orchestral ensembles, notably in the slow movement which brought tears to my eyes.

It was a tour de force on the part of Bryan Western to hold it all together.

An arrangement for solo violin of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” seemed a fitting post-pandemic encore from an exceptional violinist who is also a practising local doctor.

After the interval, a relaxed orchestra was let loose with Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony.

Apart from a slight “fluff” of a few notes at the end of the first movement, it really would have been difficult to tell this from a professional performance.

The rhythmical sections were tight and the lyrical sections flowed along seemlessly in all movements.

Tamsin Heath’s playing of the famous cor anglais solo in the second movement was exquisite, although the tempo of the movement in general seemed a little quick to me.

But then, I am old enough to remember the lad slowly struggling up the cobbled street of a northern town (the ad was actually filmed in Dorset!) with a handcart full of Hovis.

The third movement, to my mind the most tricky, requiring rock-steady playing, was excellent.

The finale bowled along towards its exciting end and, as the brass blasted out the opening chords from the second movement and the upper strings scaled the precipitous arpeggio accompaniments, the concert came to a very satisfying conclusion.

For a lot more information on the orchestra, visit the website at www.harrogateorchestra.org.uk

There you will also find details of the next two concerts on 18th June, “Around the World with HSO” and two performances of a children’s concert on 23rd July featuring the World Premiere of “King of the Birds” with music by Bryan Western and a narration written by Frances Button.

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