Spring concert thaws the senses

With principal conductor Barry Wordsworth at the helm, the orchestra steered the audience into the warmth, with a climactic performance of Igor Stravinsky’s ‘The Rite of Spring’, which combines the ferment of joy with terror as Spring explodes in a riot of music.

As rapturous applause and cries of ‘More’ reverberated across the auditorium, it was hard to believe that nearly one hundred years ago, when Stravinsky’s ground-breaking work was first performed, there were boos and hisses from the audience.

Another highlight of a wonderful afternoon of music was La Valse by Maurice Ravel, which whirled faster and faster into a dark percussive climax that had the same menacing intensity of Stravinsky’s masterpiece.

The Russian Easter Festival Overture by Rimsky-Korsakov evoked the delicate flutter of wings and shimmering strings of Vaughan Williams sublime Lark Ascending.

Saint-Saens’ Cello Concerto No 1 in A minor was performed with faultless intensity by Gemma Rosefield but its delicacy failed to assault the senses like the apocalyptic brilliance of either Ravel or Stravinsky.

Review by Dianne Jones