Manchester's Royal Northern College of Music held a whole day on Saturday devoted to just the string section of the orchestra, and had stalls, workshops, information and tutelage for those instrumentalists who play violin, viola, cello or bass. In addition to all of this, the college had prepared three concerts throughout the day too, and it was these three concerts that I was there to watch.
The first of the day, starting just after lunch featured members of the RNCM String Orchestra, as well as a few working professionals in amongst them too (these were to perform at a later concert). In this concert there were three works performed, the first two of which were inspired and influenced by Beethoven, whilst the third was a work by the master himself which he never intended for public performance.
First we heard Sir Michael Tippett's 'Fantasia On A Theme By Corelli', conducted by the college's Head of Strings, Chris Hoyle. This was a curious mix of the Baroque and contemporary both in terms of sound and composition. The second piece was a modern piece, having been composed only a couple of years' ago by Anna Clyne (in collaboration with a choreographer), and was intended as a ballet. Called 'Stride' it is based around Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata, and was much more lyrical and tuneful, even balletic, than I had thought it might have been. The concert concluded with Pavel Fischer directing Beethoven's broody and tumultuous String Quartet 11, performed here in an arrangement for String Orchestra by Mahler.
The second concert of the day was a little shorter, starting at 5pm. This concert was performed by the first year RNCM String students, who have only been performing together since the beginning of the school year in October. Unfortunately, unlike the first concert, the introductions here were done without mic and I did not hear anything at all, so am having to rely solely on the RNCM's online programme from their website. Starting with Mozart's Divertimento For Strings (K138), and directed once again by Chris Hoyle, this was a bright a jolly start to the concert. We then listened to a rather long piece or set of pieces for solo violin, performed by Ning Feng. The concert ended with what was, for me at least, the highlight of the whole day; Puccini's 'Cristanemi'. This was a really lovely piece of music and despite the ensemble presenting this as a kind of experiment for them... playing from memory, no conductor, and trying to listen to and feed off each other, it worked wonderfully.
The final concert of the day came at 7:30pm, and for the first piece we were straight back to Mozart and again another Divertimento. This time Eb Major (K563) and performed by string trio Ning Feng (violin), Lise Berthaud (viola), and Nick Trygstad (cello). After the interval and the RNCM String Orchestra was conducted (without score) by Henk Guittart, having a very followable and precise style of conducting he was nice to watch. The piece was Arnold Schoenberg's early but famous composition, 'Verklaerte Nacht'. Superbly played, controlled and emotional, this was a lovely finish to a whole day celebrating the largest section of a standard orchestra.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 14.1.23
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