Reviews
Lisburn Concert Nov 2009 | Havelock Nelson Concert 2007 | Autumn Concert 2006 | Summer Concert 2006 | Havelock Nelson Concert 2006 | Havelock Nelson Concert 2005
Lisburn Concert - Saturday 14th November 2009 - Island Arts Centre
Classic renditions make for memorable concert
GEORGE Frideric Handel was born in 1685 in Halle, Germany, and grew into one of the great composers of all times. He wrote his Water Music, always a favourite, in 1717, after he had spent time I in different countries and was living in London. Many folk would listen to this I music at home, enjoying it in the background but then going to hear live music would be a treat and so it was in Lisburn on Saturday night when the Studio Symphony Orchestra opened its concert.
It was playing in the Island Arts Centre to a receptive audience and it was played beautifully. The orchestra, conducted by David Openshaw, then treated us to Mozart's Exultate, jubilate. This motet was composed when Mozart was only a teenager but it did display his versatility and talent for composing. The audience was delighted, and Marcella Walsh sang beautifully. She was so much appreciated that she was urged to sing an encore, and did to everyone's delight. The audience all seemed to know it but, like myself, the words would not come, except for 'Vilia', so we had to sit and enjoy Marcella.
Jean Sibelius was born in 1865 in the fair country of Finland. By 1899, the Russians, yet another imperialistic power, virtually crushed Finnish independence by severely restricting the right of assembly and freedom of speech. At the end of the year a theatrical pageant was staged in Helsinki, and Sibelius composed Finlandia to accompany the final tableau. That piece of music is still a great success to this day and because of the circumstances it is almost a second national anthem for many Finns. It is also internationally famous and very highly regarded everywhere.
The concert ended with one of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's great symphony, the lovely 39th. Ottoline Maas, the leader, encouraged the orchestra from start to finish and all the musicians followed her lead to give us most wonderful music during a truly memorable concert. The Studio Symphony Orchestra is a recognised leader in amateur music making in Northern Ireland, attracting skilled musicians from across the north and performing regular public concerts in a number of venues. The orchestra is professionally directed by members of the Ulster Orchestra. The next concert will be a 'Come & Sing' project with the Belfast Philharmonic in Belfast on Saturday February 6. Full details on www.studiosymphony.org.uk. Tickets are available now from the Belfast Philharmonic Box Office on 07925 515584.
Pol Cormacain
Source: Irish News
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Havelock Nelson Concert – Saturday 3rd February 2007 – Ulster Hall, Belfast
The Ulster Hall was the setting for the Studio Symphony Orchestra's annual Havelock Memorial Concert. There's always a sense of occasion about this concert, which is the centrepiece of the orchestra's season. On the programme were Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, Schumann's Concert Piece for four horns, and Job - A Masque for Dancing by Ralph Vaughan Williams. In so many ways, the programme was vintage SSO - meaty works that are not all within the ordinary reach of every orchestra. As ever, David Openshaw presided over the evening with a mixture of relaxed encouragement and solid musicality.
The Tchaikovsky, not an easy piece to interpret in part because of it's familiarity, was well paced and wonderfully sustained. The Schumann was of course a delight, primarily because of the chance it represented for us to hear and see the Ulster Orchestra horn section specially featured. This is an unusual showpiece, bold and happy, with all the colour that these remarkable instruments can deliver. Particularly special was the sense of ensemble brought to the music by Christopher Blake, Martin Wall, Paul Klein and Derek Parkins, who have played as a section for some years now and are a formidable team in this solo context. Their encore was a very poignant contrast, Bach's 'Bist du bei mir'.
The concert finished with a remarkable work, Vaughan Williams's Job - A Masque for Dancing. This is for orchestra and narrator, who tells the biblical story of Job as it unfolds in nine contrasting scenes. Noel Thompson provided a genuine dramatic focus with the readings. Orchestrally, this is demanding stuff, held together by Openshaw and leader Ottoline Maas who played the violin solo in Scene 7 with a beautiful smoothness. The Ulster Hall organ was put to good use and the might and agility of the whole orchestra brought to the fore. Special mention must be made of the brass who could have overdone things but didn't, and oboe which was evocative and true of tone. A wonderful finish to a thoroughly good concert, enjoyed by an audience made up of a whole spectrum of ages, another feature of the SSO's work that is so vital and cannot be praised too highly.
Andrea Rea
Source: News Letter
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Autumn Concert – Saturday 14th October 2006 – Elmwood Hall, Belfast
Sibelius and Strings make a great combination
The Studio Symphony's 2006-07 season got off to a promising start on Saturday evening with an interesting and well- presented programme of Elgar, Richard Strauss and Sibelius. The Elmwood Hall was very nearly full for the occasion, which is as it should be when this orchestra performs, especially in this, its 60th season. Elgar's Serenade for Strings opened the concert, an early work which was one of Elgar's own favourites. As much as anything, this is music that needs to be played from the heart. The writing cries out for nuance and the kind of inflection that only string music can give. Whatever the exact qualities of the playing, the point of this serenade was well made. Conductor David Openshaw chose buoyant, credible tempi which were not allowed to wallow and slow. Moments of inaccuracy in the tuning were just that - moments, and didn't take away from the sheer enjoyment of the players and, as a consequence, the audience.
The second piece on the programme was Richard Strauss's Horn Concerto No.1, a well-known work that shows off many of the horn's qualities as a solo instrument, especially its tremendous tone and impressive range. Soloist Paul Klein managed to make those qualities seem easy to produce, with a performance that was skilled and understated. The orchestra were deft in their accompaniment, once the opening chord (which could have been better pitched) faded. The players captured the sweep of the music without getting in the way of the solo line, and betrayed none of the difficulties associated with the slow movement with its 7 flat key signature. Paul KIein's encore was part of an unaccompanied Bach cello suite, a rare treat heard on horn and very graciously offered.
Symphony No 5 by Sibelius was the final piece in the concert, an ambitious and mighty work, composed during the second year of WWI. The character of the music is one of optimism winning out over suffering, couched as ever in Sibelius's heroic terms. This work is demanding for all concerned. The wind and brass carry most of the tunes and the strings create a constant atmosphere, busy and even ghostly at times. In one or two places one felt the sense of chaos rather too strongly and although the momentum didn't fag, the focus did. However, the sense of the piece as a journey was always clear and things came together stunningly when it really counted. The orchestra is attentive and has a grasp of the tone and style needed for this music. The woodwind especially have very individual qualities which make for compelling listening, while the brass present a more united front. All in all, Sibelius was well served by this and the orchestra were justifiably proud of their performance, as witnessed by the exhausted and happy smiles following the quirky but precisely executed series of final chords.
Andrea Rea
Source: News Letter
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Summer Concert – Saturday 27th May 2006 – Elmwood Hall, Belfast
Symphony shine with panache and conviction
The Studio Symphony Orchestra gave a Summer Concert on Saturday evening in the Elmwood Hall at Queen’s in Belfast, the last in their present season. The first half of the programme was divided between wind and strings, beginning with the Richard Strauss Suite for Wind Instruments. This is a challenging work, scored for pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons plus four horns and a contrabassoon. There was much to commend in this performance, the demanding rhythms especially well presented and cleanly marked. The upper and lower registers were sometime at odds with one another where absolute tuning was concerned, but the connecting tissue of the clarinet line provided a much needed bridge at critical points. David Openshaw guided the performance with sensible tempi and clear beating. It was the turn of the strings next with Tchaikovsky’s glorious Serenade for Strings. In this, speed was dictated by the music rather than the moment, and the players kept up admirably. There were some wonderfully atmospheric passages, and the celli were especially sure footed and sonorous.
After the interval, Dvorak’s Symphony No.3 brought the Studio Symphony together for what they are really best at, the large romantic scores with plenty of meat on the bones. This is a wonderful symphony, full of big sweeps of colour and atmosphere. Philip Walton conducted, demonstrating a very complete knowledge of the score and it’s potentials. Once or twice in exposed passages the upper strings became a bit faint of heart, but this was always more than made up for with the next big moment. And despite an uneasy bar or two in woodwind tuning, wind and brass generally rallied and made much of the grand moments.
It is always a pleasure to hear the Studio Symphony Orchestra. Each concert is full of evidence of great achievement, a sense of concentration and care that gives the music a buzz and atmosphere unlike any other orchestra we might hear regularly. As well a providing a platform for some of the best amateur players from all over Northern Ireland, it gives audiences a chance to hear great repertoire presented with real panache and conviction. Long may it continue!
Andrea Rea
Source: News Letter
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Havelock Nelson Concert – Saturday 18th March 2006 – Ulster Hall, Belfast
On Saturday night the Studio Symphony Orchestra performed an ambitious programme of Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky and Mozart as part of their annual tribute to their founder, the late Havelock Nelson. In doing so they reminded the Ulster Hall audience of their commitment to high standards of musicianship and just how important this non-professional orchestra is to Belfast's cultural life.
Tchaikovsky's Capriccio Italien opened the proceedings with the composer's trademark dichotomy of brilliant string writing and sombre lyricism highlighting the orchestra's ease of technique and melodic discipline. There were tangible gasps within the audience during the acceleration into the final tarantella, which allowed conductor David Openshaw to display his command over the orchestra and it's well-marshalled percussion section.
This was followed by Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola, with the respective solo parts being performed by Ulster Orchestra regulars Dervilagh Cooper and Jonathan Simmance. Unlike some of the composer's virtuosic violin concertos, this work saw a conversational tone between the soloists being set in lieu of the dazzling passages one would normally expect in a soloist work written for concert hall performance. Both soloists performed well with Simmance's stately playing in the second movement conjuring an atmosphere of introspective poignancy which, helped by some excellent horn playing, contrasted deeply with the inventive wit of the outer movements.
This excellent orchestra made up of some of Northern Ireland's finest amateur musicians will next perform on May 27 in the Elmwood Hall.
Paul O'Reilly
Source: Belfast Telegraph
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Havelock Nelson Concert – Saturday 16th April 2005 – Ulster Hall, Belfast
Orchestra shines with a swinging performance
The Studio Symphony Orchestra gave its annual Havelock Nelson concert on Saturday evening in the Ulster Hall.
Under the baton of David Openshaw, the orchestra played a substantial programme of works, beginning with Beethoven's overture to Fidelio. There was plenty of light and shade in their playing of this Overture, with strong dynamic contrast and good pacing. This set the stage beautifully for the following piece, the Beethoven Violin Concerto with soloist Alan McClure. McClure is a very musically secure player with solid technique, who allowed the solo violin line to weave seamlessly in and out of the orchestral texture. His cadenzas were beautiful and wonderfully played. The orchestral accompaniment supported for the most part without swamping the soloist, although McClure's sound is not particularly big. Orchestral vibrato was restrained for the most part. The final movement had the requisite swing and sparkle, finishing the first half of this concert with real panache.
After the interval, Walton's Crown Imperial gave brass and percussion quite a lot to do and created a real sense of occasion without going 'over the top'. I will say, however, that this orchestra turns pages more loudly than almost any other band I've heard.
The concert finished with the Enigma Variations, Edward Elgar's homage to his friends based on an unknown theme. This is what would be called in orchestral circles "a big play", but the Studio Symphony performed with as fresh a sound and sense of concentration as if it was the first item on the programme. David Openshaw, whose conductorship is an enduring mixture of experience and personality, gave the orchestra exactly what they needed in terms of guidance and inspiration for this great piece. The opening of the Nimrod Variation, for example, was a stunning moment, with committed musicians moving from stillness to grandeur in a way many professional orchestras would envy. This counts for a lot, and Studio Symphony's enjoyment communicates itself to the audience.
Andrea Rea
Source: News Letter
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