Memory of
=[2R
s
RTCSOy
REVIEWING the recent
- season by the Guildford
Philharmonic
Orchestra,
my main memory is of a
standard still higher than
It was a combination of the
uplifting. symphony, the. thought
of Handley's illness, and- the
feeling for ~Mr. Forster which
created
a
memorable
musical
atmosphere, For after all. this
season has reminded' us forcibly
that music is for heart as well
as head. When the two facets
fuse, we may glimpse the eternal — as lovers too must know.
Bax
is a
British
composef
combining both these intrinsic
ingredients, elements. His music
paints visual sound in abstract
eternal terms. Like all art, and
previous years.
In
this
13th
amnual 'series
under ~ Vernon . Haandley.
the
G.PJO.
emerged
excitingly
as
compacrable
nagional
to . any
orchestras.
.of
‘our
~In
fact.
their
account
of
the
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 in F
minor surpassed
that by the
London
Philharmonic
also
and
with
like
—
it
ended
meandering
up
made
to
a
musical
Canterbury
pil-
its
tragedy
passionate
One
of
the
most
traval of this score.
No.
in G minor, they played
and sang out their hearts in
the Beethoven Choral.
val
piece
was
included. a
orchestrated for
epilogue
to
Lhe
with
the
Beethoven
Emperor
Concerio
and
then . Tchaikovsky’s
Theme
and
Variations’
from Suite No. 3 n G. Highlycharged music — powerful if
not
profound. That
afternoon
opened with the aural panoply
of Rossini’s Thieving Magpie.
This was certainly an
moving
a metlcwlous Mozart Symiphony
concert
scale, low-key
por-
G.P.O.
and
Choir ' strove
to
their very limits with results
of
‘which, + Handley = himself
would have been proud. After
final
emotions of the previous eight
~months’ music.
The season
had started on
an acoustically spectacular note
rever-
evenings
of
- the
was
season
heard
quite
recently ' when
Handley - collapsed
and
John
Forster took- over only a few
hours before the concert. The
the
another
British
work, Appalachia by Delius. Like a large-
the strange and strong resonances of Tchaikovsky's Hamiet
overture.'
The
inexorable
the
The
everything from the call of a
lone
piccolo
to
outcries
of
fierce, fragmentad brass. After
and obliquely syncopated shafts
of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in
G major, the season ended with
G.P.O. navigated all ‘its eddying
vortices and cross-currents.
The programme opened with
of
building
response.
first - performance
of
Basse
Danse ' by John .McCabe. This °
_engrossing contemporary medie-
Theme
of John
Blow,
played
with
“timeless
eloquence. The
in
mystique
cumulative
Talking of British composers,
dral 'in November and repeated:
two British
works heard the
week before in the Civic Hall.
The Philharmopic Choir sang
Holst's Ode to Death and Sir
Arthur
Bliss
was
‘present
to
hear - his
Meditations
on
a
urgency
a
its
same concert.
Cathe-
berated
be
Nielsen Flute Concerto was a
briefly brilliant eruption in phus
My own view of the finest
complete concert was one not
actually ' in
Guildford.
The
ge
cannot
ing yet ultimately rewarding,
Cello Concerto in A minor.
G:P.O.
itself, it
recorded. " by the
‘'GP.O.
a
decade ago it is uncompromis-
a'coda of memorable totality.
Apart
fromthis, -~ another
Russian
symphony
remains as
probably the ‘most wholly’ successful
onchestral
offering.
It
was
the
Prokofiev
Symgphony
No. 6 in E flat minor, which
took us by surprise both
by
its profundity” and the standardof playing inspired. The rest of
that concert was equally unforgettable. including Kabalevsky's
grimage
life
fully appreciated by any short
cuts in either trouble or time.
The Bax
Symphony No.
was
played
during
December.
Like
the
Fourth
Symphony
under Handley .a week or two
earlier,
The
‘crescendos
were
triggered with quaking, precise
power
\
ful
-
season.
Recently
event-
there was
the -stage-lights failure
in
the
final -concert.
During Octtober
the audience heard ghe sirens
supp‘ementmg
music
in
the
evening of the Guildford pub
bomb;
Perhaps -aptly,
these
were ‘héard behind two Britich
composers, Delius and Ma.lcolm
Arnoid.
Three weeks later we hnad a
nostalgic vet fresh sound of the
Grieg
Piano
minor. Instead
Concerto
of
a
in
A
Sibelius
symphony, Handley played two.
of the composer’s tone poems.
Each
engrossing
individually,
but perhaps when paired they
were a big too repetitive.
The
least
thrilling
concert
was
in
January,
The Fauré
Melisande
and
suite - Pelleas
turned out to
miniature..
The
certo No.
Mozart
estly
was
4
be a
reticent
Violin
Con-
in 4
major
side.
So
also
intimate
on
the
it
by
mod-
was
left . to
the
Brahms
Fourth
_Symphony to bring a ‘blaze into
‘the wintry afternoon, when the
G.P.O. started to unravel its
jagged jigsaw of son et lumiere:
One or two mishaps. marred
this srplenadld season. One must
mention the acoustic problems
encountered in the Guildford
Cathedral when the G.,P.O. and
Philharmonic Choir gave us the
Britten ~ War
Reqn.uem
For
some
reason,
the Canterbury
Cathedral concert sounded so
much
more
‘embracing, - less
remote
'than
this
one.
A
casualty
not
connected
with
- players or performance.
This
Mahler
wds
the season that
came
to
Guildford!
Handley
and
the . G.P.O.
brought
us
a
potent
performance -of his Symphony No. 5
in- € sharp minor. A solid hour
that gradually engulfed us 6 in
its ‘hypnotic flow. The Beethoven
Triple
Concerto
had
preceded it -— . quite ,an hors
. d’oeuvre!
For the most memorable,
not necessarily the most moving performance, I must return
to where [ began: that remark-
able
reading
of
the
Tchai-
kovsky
Fourth . Symphony.
— J.E.T
‘
;
;
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