SUMMER SCHOOL PERFORMANCE
Liszt Piano Concerto No.2 ; Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony
Frome Festival Summer School
16th July 2006 8pm Cheese & Grain Code: 1611 Author: Alan Burgess
This year's Summer School set out to pull together some of the themes which had run through the Festival. This included the focus on Celebrating Somerset, with the first appearance in Frome of the Somerset County Youth Orchestra alongside the local Summer School Choir, as well as the final appearance of Peter Donohoe, the Festival's artist in residence. It proved a resounding success.
I doubt that Peter Donohoe performed better at any point through the week than in the Liszt second piano concerto. In the Cheese and Grain he was also placed virtually in the audience so that the immediacy of the performance was all the more thrilling. More than that, his playing inspired the orchestra of talented young players to scale new heights. This is the second time he has played with the County Youth Orchestra and his faith in them as his supporters was well-founded. It was an exceptional performance which confirmed his reputation as one of the leading pianists of his generation, brimming with a love of the music and a love of making music with young people.
This was a challenging programme for the orchestra. In the concerto they were invariably in an accompanying role, often playing little scraps of motifs which meant they had to be totally focussed, and with occasional solos for members of the orchestra. As the performance progressed, they grew in confidence and responded exceedingly well to soloist and conductor in the final section as the music kicked into the final strait. Among the most memorable moments were some of the dark rich sounds of cellos and basses, exciting brass fanfares, the mature leadership of Matthew Crockett and the assured, warm cello solos of Nancy Redman.
Vaughan Williams' ‘Sea Symphony' is an epic work for orchestra, chorus and soloists. To master the work in a weekend, with two performances, is a monumental challenge. If Peter Donohoe was the chief inspiration behind the success of the concerto, Jason Thornton was the undisputed hero here. He forged an arresting performance from the outset from both chorus and orchestra, who seemed entirely at home in Vaughan Williams' distinctive style. At the moments of more restrained scoring the choir were able to relax and bask more in the music, but in the huge climax at the end of the first movement Jason Thornton lifted the choir sound so that they held their own.
As last year, Jason Thornton engaged two soloists whose voices were perfectly suited to the work. In the slow second movement Riccardo Simonetti (baritone), conveyed perfectly a sense of wonder with a gentle warmth and Sally Harrison (soprano) was magnificent throughout, using her skilful control to match each moment to perfection.
Scherzi are difficult enough to play. They are even more difficult to negotiate when you have to sing a Walt Whitman text but the chorus embraced perfectly the spirit of the final section ‘A motley procession' in when they lifted their heads and hearts in patriotic English fervour.
The dark colours of the orchestra came over impressively once again at the start of the fourth movement with delicate upper strings leading into a clean choral texture and then broader expanses of string sound. So much of this movement was well disciplined with beautiful singing and the range of dynamics both vast and controlled. The sweeping rush towards ‘O thou transcendest' was in direct contrast with the gentler notes as the music reached peace at its final cadence.
It is difficult to do justice to the quality of this achievement. Suffice it to say that the performances which followed during the week as the music went on tour in Germany would have left audiences convinced that the cultural life of Somerset, and indeed, Frome, is in fine fettle.
Alan Burgess
READ SUMMER SCHOOL & GERMAN TOUR REVIEW by Peter Donohoe
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