Formed in 1888, The Manchester Beethoven Orchestra is an amateur orchestra based in South Manchester and their repertoire, despite their title, extends to more than just Beethoven, as was amply and ably exemplified this evening.
In this evening's concert, at The Stoller Hall, we heard three works, all very well-known and much-loved pieces. But first, we stood for the Ukrainian National Anthem - a thoughtful and sobering touch.
The orchestra's resident conductor, Frank Lennon welcomed us to their concert and introduced each piece with a few snippets of information about them before conducting.
The concert opener, Overture to 'Coriolan' by Beethoven was welcome. The play for which this was written was by Von Collins, and is about the legendary Roman hero of whom Shakespeare also wrote, Coriolanus, and was written in 1807. At just 8 minutes' long, the music takes us through a microcosm of the entire play starting with the opening theme of the play itself, and ending with Coriolan's tragic death.
The final piece before the interval was one of my favourite pieces of music, and one I was particularly looking forward to; the brooding, dramatic, and emotionally charged Cello Concerto, written by Edward Elgar in 1919. To say that the events of the preceding 5 years had not affected this composition in any way would be utterly wrong. In fact it could be argued that this composition could not have been possible if it had not been for the first world war. There is a plaintiveness and a sorrow embedded into this concerto which is not seen in many of his later works. It is a passionate piece written from the heart, full of sweeping lyricism juxtaposed with contremplative melacholia. Playing the solo cello this evening was guest soloist, Clara Hope Simpson, currently studying at The RNCM.
After the interval and we all returned to listen to one of Tchaikovsky's most-played symphonies, his fourth. Again, a very well-known piece full of Russian bombast and patriotism. This seemed almost ironic in the light of the Ukraine Anthem at the start and our current world situation. But one must remember that this was composed in 1878, and Tchaikovsky, never one for hiding his light under a bushel, always wore his compositional heart firm and square on his sleeve. This is a symphony of sweeping melodies, stirring themes, with a wild and ferocious finale.
A superb programme of wonderful and popular classical music played with obvious love by the talented Manchester Beethoven Orchestra.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 28.5.22
on - 28.5.22
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