T
THE ADVERTISER, NOVEMBER 17, 1989
r the blrds
in next Sunday’s
concert by Guildford
Philharmonic
Orchestra.
The concert honr
ours and raises
money for the cente-
nary of the Royal
Somety for the Protect;on of Birds.
Ascendmg
Conductor is Ver-
Its programme includes Respighi’s
The Birds, Delius’s
On Hearing the First
Cuckoo ‘in Spring
and Vaughan Williams’s The Lark
lover and wildlife
photographer, whose
bird pictures will
non Handley, a bird
also be on show at
the Civic Hall.
The concert is on
‘November 26.
trlumphant return
THE choice of Vernon
Handley as stand-in
conductor for GuildPhilharmonic
ford
Orchestra on Saturday
was - an-ocadt -of
1nsp1rat10n.
Not only does he have a
lines: “They shall grow not
old, as we that are left grow
old . ..” and evokes poignant
images of jaunty recruits
laughing and joking and
dying.
Elgar responded with a
sensitive musical setting for
choir and soloist, the poi-
" gnancy coming over in mespecial relationship with the
lodic
line above jolly
orchestra, in his role as for- _marching rhythm; nobility
mer. borough director of “and religious feeling emerg-
music, but he is the acknowl- ~ing from the grief.
edged expert on the music of
The choir was
Edward Elgar.
Orchestra, choir and conductor welded a unity of
‘vision that was quite out-
standing. The performance of
the famous Enigma Variations could have made a de- finitive recording.-
‘This was Guildford’s pro-
‘fessional orchestra at its very
best, totally committed and
‘caught up in Handley’s electrifying intensity.
© The concert began with Elgar’s setting of the Laurence
‘Binyon poem For the Fallen,
. which mourns the glorious
“dead without wallowmg in
patriotic glory of war.
It contains the legéndary
in fine
voice, responding to Hand-
“ley’s phrasing with delicate
..control. The_ :soloist for ‘the
- Elgar, and later for Finzi’s In-
{timations ofImmortality, was
Jan Partridge, and this re‘nowned lyric tenor was sadly
-a huge disappointment. '
His thoughtful phrasing
‘was lost on ‘the maijority of
the packed audience in
Guildford Civic Hall, for
there was absolutely no pro-jection powering his voice to
the back row. Strained and
thin, it ‘rarely rose above
orchestra and choir.” If they
had been silenced to match
his weakness, the wonderful
shape of the music would
have been lost.
ted the Civic concert
in place of the indis-
Handley’s interpretation
and his superb relationship
with choir and orchestra
made the whole concert tech- nically immaculate and exciting. The Enigma Variations
were a joy, each one beautifully crafted with spot-on dynamics, rhythm changes
and sudden windows of light.
There was no holding back
‘on the whizz-bang-crash personalities portrayed, and
‘there was equally the greatest
delicacy in the wind and
cert was given over to Finzi’s
setting of William Wordspoem
from Recollecttons of Early
Childhood.
'SURREY youngsters will be
performing in the final concert of this year’s School
Proms at the Royal Albert
The youth orchestra has
100 members drawn from all
over the county, and the average age is just 15 years.
The prom programme will
include Malcolm Arnold’s
overture Tam O’Shanter, conducted by John Forster and
Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March No. I conducted
by Antony Hopkins.
splitting climaxes, and the
still, small voice of the
philosopher.
Partridge’s voice was very
still and small, the only disquieting element in a fabulous concert.
The
Jane Garrett
IIME
Youngsters to
play in Proms
for the fifth time.
This marvellous modern
work follows Wordsworth’s
mood ‘'changes
closely
through -the poem, with ear-
ewwovne
Groves.
The talented young musicians are all members of the
Surrey County Youth Orchestra, which is taking part in
the prestigious concert series
The second half of the con-
i
posed Sir Charles.
"Hall.
string solos.
worth’s ~metaphysical
Vernon Handley, forGuildford
mer
of
director
Borough
music, who conduc-
Wle
three prom
concerts
run from November 27-29.