MUSIC REVIEW: Chetham's Symphony Orchestra concert - The Stoller Hall, Manchester.

This evening I found myself once again sitting in the lovely Stoller Hall witnessing what can only be described as pure musical magic. The Chetham's Symphony Orchestra is comprised of upper school pupils - and so majority of these skilled and mature players are still just teenagers. That is astounding - just close your eyes and listen, and you'd believe that they'd been playing together for years and were an established and well-known symphony orchestra on a par with the best. 

The concert this evening had a thread running though it, as it was based around Ralph Vaughan-Williams. The first pieces were compositions written by composers who had inspired and influenced him and his writing, whilst after hearing a short piece of his own, we then heard two further compositions from composers who had been influenced by him.

Conducted the whole evening by the quite brilliant L. Reynolds - a young conductor I don't believe I've had the pleasure of witnessing before. His control over the orchestra and just exactly how much he was able to squeeze out of them in terms of dynamics and passion was amazing. A joy to watch.

The first two pieces were both from the French 'Impressionist' repertoire. I knew both composers but had never heard either of the two pieces before. Ravel's 'Une Barque Sur L'Ocean' is a piece of pure impressionism: almost entirely without melody the boat can clearly be visualised bopping a long the water. Its journey starts in quiet and calm, perhaps taking in the view of the shoreline as it gets further out to sea; and then the winds blow, the waves get higher and the boat is being pitched and tossed by the weather suddenly turning more inclement. The journey continues, the water subsides, the sun shimmers on the smaller waves, and all is well. 

After this we heard Jacques Ibert's Flute Concerto. To play the flute solo, 16-year-old Chetham's student S. Patterson - and boy oh boy, did she know her way around the flute! If you are not careful, the sound produced can either sound too breathy or can distort if you blow too hard, and so there is a huge amount of skill required to maintain a clear pitch, never mind being able to play all the technically difficult passages required of her. Her mastery of the instrument was amazing and she truly made the flute, and the music, dance. It's a concerto in three movements - mostly quite jolly and upbeat, with a sweeter and more reflective second movement. It is 'concert etiquette' not to applaud between movements; however on this occasion we all made a spontaneous exception, and clapped loudly after both the first and second movements, it was just so brilliant!

After the interval, and we returned to not just the Symphony Orchestra but The Chetham's Chorus too as well as four soloists (SATB). We were about to hear a piece by the evening's inspiration, Ralph Vaughan-Williams himself. Again, I knew the composer, but again, not this particular piece. It was turning out to be something of a journey of musical discovery for me! His 'Serenade To Music' played here in its orchestral version, required an almost operatic approach to it. In fact, the short piece (13 minutes) felt much more like a single movement from a much larger work such as a cantata; and despite it having the Vaughan-Williams trademark orchestrations present within, it felt a litle more like pieces written by his contemporary, Edward Elgar. The piece takes text from Shakespeare's 'The Merchant Of Venice', and doles out parts of the text unequally between the four soloists and the choir. The choir sounded superb. High up above the orchestra on a separate row of seating, their ethereal sounds floating down passing over the orchestra made for a lovely soundscape surrounding the auditorium in pure harmony. Of the four soloists, I was drawn most to the bass-baritone, whose lush mellow articulation truly impressed. The programme credits the four soloists, but does not give their vocal range nor their gender so apologies in advance, however they were: N.Martin, L.Farrimond, S.Snowden, and S.Knock.

The penultimate piece was an uber-contemporary piece of experimental music by A.Witter-Johnson called 'Fairtrade?' Using the instruments in unconventional ways to create alternative sounds, made for a short cocophony rather than a discernible melody or even structure to the piece sadly, and left me cold. A young orchestra member did introduce the piece but sadly due to technical difficulties she was unintelligible. Absolutely not her fault, but other noises, such as orchestra members walking in behind her and the setting of the mic itself just meant I could not understand anything. Sorry. 

The final piece of the evening however was my absolute highlight - and this time not just a piece of music that I did not know, but also the composer too. I had never heard of Ruth Gipps before, and now I am searching everywhere to find music by her. This piece, her Second Symphony (opus 30), was truly wonderful. There were elements of ballet music and film music throughout this programmatic work. It was dynamic, romantic and dramatic; lyrical, tuneful, and in a single word.. delightful! My favourite moment being when a military quick march which dominated the middle section gave way to a gentle string lament. Heartbreakingly beautiful.

Once again, it was a huge privilege to be in the audience to witness such a wondeful spectacle. Once again I was constantly piching myself, reminding myself that these were still students. Utterly breath-taking, utterly delightful. I can't wait until I next have the opportunity to hear these talented musicians. 

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall

on - 22.10.21