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Last Friday evening brought
one of those momentous musical occasions with which East Devon’s
own EMG Symphony Orchestra regales us from time to time. They were
playing in Exeter Cathedral to celebrate 50 years of twinning
between Exeter and Rennes. Appropriately the EMG players were
joined by musicians from the Ensemble Vocal et Instrumental
Jean-Marie Lorand, from Rennes.
Behind the orchestra of approximately
ninety players, there
were massed choirs, including Ottery St. Mary Choral Society,
Cantilena and Exeter Chamber Choir, as well as a number of
French singers, totalling well over one hundred members.
Musically it was a truly
Anglo-French affair with works from Parry and Elgar, representing
England, and Berlioz as the French contribution. The English half
was conducted by EMG’s musical director, Roger Hendy, opening
with a rousing account of Parry’s anthem I
Was Glad, written for the coronation of Edward VII and sung at
every subsequent coronation. Then there was Elgar’s masterpiece,
his Enigma Variations.
There are times when listening to the EMG Orchestra that I have to
pinch myself to realize that it is not a professional band that I
am hearing, their playing is of such a high standard. It certainly
was on this occasion and the famous Nimrod variation was beautifully played from its quiet opening to
its climax.
The
second half brought that real blockbuster of a piece, Berlioz’ Te Deum. Berlioz was
always one for the big gesture and excesses in the creative
process. When this work was first performed in Paris, in 1855 he
had two adult choirs, each of 100 voices, a children’s choir of
600, a tenor soloist, an important part for the organ, and a giant
orchestra – with no fewer than 12 harps, totalling about 1000
performers. Mercifully, for present day performances, he later
revised his score to employ no more than 130 voices, but he still
required an over-sized orchestra.
Under the baton of Jean-Marie
Lorand the combined forces made a magnificent sound which
reverberated around the building. Although short of some items of
detail and sometimes lacking in good diction from the choir, this
was a memorable performance of this very extrovert work. Thomas
Hobbs sang the tenor solo in the Te
Ergo superbly. Unfortunately it was difficult to distinguish
the singing of the Cathedral Girls’ Choir. Perhaps this is why
Berlioz originally asked for 600 children’s voices! Cathedral
organist Andrew Millington was in the organ loft for his very
important contribution.
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EMGSO CONCERT 4th. MARCH 2006.
ST. DAVID'S CHURCH, EXETER
Jane Gordon - violin
Brimble - Fantasy Overture
Tchaikovsky - Violin Concerto in D major
Dvorák - New Word Symphony. |
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In
front of a packed St. David’s Church, Exeter, Devon on a
cold but fair Saturday evening, EMGSO gave a most
magnificent concert featuring a new work by Allister Brimble
(Fantasy Overture), the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto (Jane
Gordon - soloist) and Dvorák’s’ 'New World 'Symphony.
The
concert got off to a very bright start with some interesting
cold mystical sounds created by Allister Brimble’s new
work specially commissioned by EMGSO. The music seemed to catch
the imagination of the audience especially as it transformed
from a very simple whole tone motif into a short development
section containing interesting textures and climaxes.
Jane
Gordon’s return to Exeter was eagerly awaited and this
occasion the audience was not to be disappointed. From the
outset, she played with total assurance of tone and texture
in what was a delightfully fresh rendition of this famous
work. The mixture of changing tone colours, tempi and
nuances she and the orchestra produced a good
ensemble containing many varied, dramatic and subtly
interpretative passages. The soloist accomplished the
beautiful slow movement elegantly and with ease with
excellent together with some sensitive string accompaniment
and excellent woodwind soli. Then dramatically we were
whisked into a fast and furious finale with real gusto and
great panache. Jane’s performance was interpretation was
quite electric and was given a well-deserved standing
ovation. The orchestra under the direction of Roger Hendy
accompanied this young soloist quite brilliantly giving way
to the violin in those delicate quieter and ethereal
sections of this wonderful work. It was a truly inspiring
performance.
The
second half comprised of Dvorak’s New Work Symphony and
again EMGSO was in flamboyant mood under its Director. The
symphony was well blended and those delicious highlights in
the second and final movements did note fail to raise the
profile of this popular masterpiece. The performance rounded
off what was a truly wonderful evening’s music much
appreciated by the concert-goers.
D.M.
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EMGSO
and Devon Youth Orchestra - Tippett and Berlioz
EXETER
CATHEDRAL CONCERT 18th. April 2005. |
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Much has been said about
the possible dire future of serious music in this country and the
state of music teaching in our schools is considered partly to
blame. But a certain amount of comfort can be taken from the EMG
Symphony Orchestra’s concert, given in Exeter Cathedral last
week, when they were joined by about 40 string players from the
Devon Youth Orchestra. From the high standards of playing in this
concert it is obvious that there is some good instrumental
teaching here in Devon.
The combined forces made a
massive array of over 100 players, producing an orchestra of a
size rarely seen these days, especially in Devon. With Talaton’s
Roger Hendy at the helm, as the regular conductor of the EMG
Symphony Orchestra, the two orchestras were well moulded together
and produced a magnificent sound. Wagner would have
approved of the massed forces for the wildly dramatic Ride
of the Valkyries, from his opera Die
Walküre, which opened the programme.
Michael Tippett’s great Concerto
for Double String Orchestra was the main reason for bringing
the two groups together. One of the great English works of the
last century, as its name suggests, it requires two separate
orchestras which oppose, combine, and alternate to make
fascinating music. However, it was not a case of the youth
orchestra pitted against the EMG players. Very wisely each of the
two ensembles consisted of a mixture of the two groups, providing
experience in each. A very strong and creditable string sound
was produced and the complicated rhythms were well handled, making
this a very satisfying performance of which all could be proud.
It says much for the young players that they were able to tackle
such a complicated work.
After the interval
Berlioz’s great Symphonie
Fantastique was left to the EMG players alone and, without
disparaging in any way the efforts of the youngsters, there was
apparent a greater clarity in the sound.
This tremendous work, conceived while Beethoven was still
alive, was a major leap forward in compositional style and must
have had a startling impact on contemporary audiences. It still
has a similar impact on today’s listeners and the Exeter
performance brought excited applause. And no wonder, for
this was a thrilling performance and the beginning of the March
to the Scaffold was quite spine chilling.
Sadly, support for the
concert was less than might have been expected. Perhaps, here in
East Devon, at least, making music is in safe hands, but audiences
need to recognize the fact and fill all those empty seats.
J.D.
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Critique from East Devon
Press 6. 12. 2004.
Concert Exeter University
Great Hall
Saturday 27th
November 2004.
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The EMG Symphony
Orchestra brought a very popular programme to the University
Great Hall for their latest concert on Saturday.
Conductor Roger Hendy, also well known as
a Honiton teacher, considers his orchestra to be the best in
the South West and on the evidence of this concert, and the
standards that have been maintained on other recent
occasions, I would certainly agree with him.
Much of the orchestra’s success has been
due to his own dedication and flair, but also to the quality
of the leading players, many of whom are of professional
standard. Few amateur orchestras are able to put on the
platform a band complete in every department and in excess
of 80 players, including a solid body of strings. East Devon
is indeed fortunate to have this orchestra to provide some
of its musical needs.
The opening work in Saturday’s concert
was indeed popular. Bernstein’s overture to his operetta Candide
first produced on Broadway in 1956, had, by the 1980’s,
become distinguished as the most played orchestral piece by
a living composer. It set the evening off to a good start,
its sparkle, vivacity and boisterous exuberance being
brought well to the fore in an exciting performance.
Elgar’s Cello Concerto has also become
increasingly popular in recent years and to play the solo
part EMG brought back Richard Jenkinson, principal cellist
of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Having worked
with EMG on several occasions his rapport with the orchestra
and the conductor was extremely good. He brought out
particularly the autumnal qualities of the work (this was
Elgar’s last major composition) and underlined the moments
of passion and meditation. The orchestra accompanied with
sensitivity but allowed itself the few moments of excitement
that the composer provided in his score.
Tchaikovsky’s symphonies, at least the
last three, are some of the most popular in the repertoire.
And so, with his Fourth, in F minor, the concert ended along
familiar lines. The whole work is bound up with the power of
‘Fate’ which Tchaikovsky said ‘hinders one in the
pursuit of happiness’. This heavy burden, so apparent in
the music, was well realized and the orchestra was able to
bring its full weight to bear very successfully, especially
in the outer movements. The famous pizzicato scherzo was
delightfully accomplished.
Of course, there were moments when
criticisms could be leveled at specific aspects of the
performances – for instance, wind solos could have been
more marked in the Tchaikovsky – but few members of the
audience could have gone away less than satisfied. The
concert was given in aid of Hospiscare and in view of this
worthwhile cause it is a pity that the audience was rather
smaller than usual for EMG concerts. |
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EMGSO
CONCERT EXETER CATHEDRAL 13th. MARCH 2004.
Under its
conductor Roger Hendy the orchestra played to standards rarely
found in amateur players. And they never take the easy option.
This time, as the main works, they chose The
Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss, and A
London Symphony by Vaughan Williams.
But, to
open, the large brass and percussion sections were given a chance
to shine with the Fanfare for the Common Man by the American composer Aaron Copland.
The players made a fine sound as the music echoed throughout the
cathedral, but in the opening bars the trumpets gave the
impression of being a little nervous at being given the
opportunity to open proceedings, as they failed to take some of
their notes cleanly.
Then the
young soprano Claire Prewer, who is making a considerable name for
herself at home and abroad, came on stage to sing the popular aria
from Dvorak’s opera Rusalka.
I last heard this young singer in more intimate surroundings and I
wondered how she would cope with the backing of a large orchestra
and in a vast building. I need not have had any such concerns for
she was perfectly at home and she sang this charming piece with
expression and meaning and with a voice of great clarity.
And she
stayed on stage for the highlight of the evening, the Strauss
songs. No composer could ever have written a more conscious
swansong than this. At the age of 85, in 1949, he had suffered the
deprivations of war and was weary of life when he discovered poems
by Eichendorff and Hesse which mirrored his own feelings exactly.
Four of these he set for soprano voice and orchestra and produced
one of the most poignant musical experiences for any audience.
And at
this stage in his life, when it might have been expected that he
would make the easy choice of writing for a small orchestra, he
followed his practice of old and employed huge forces.
But it was
never intended that these forces should overwhelm the soloist and
Roger Hendy made sure that his players were completely controlled
as they made beautifully sensual sounds, with soaring strings and
lush, warm harmonies. And there were those exquisite interludes
for solo violin, expressively played
by leader Clare Smith.
The
orchestra’s accompaniment of Claire Prewer was sensitive and
supportive, as her voice soared beautifully through the building.
The large vocal range required posed no problems, except that it
may well have been that in the lower register the voice may not
have carried to the extremes of the cathedral. For one so young
she was able to express so completely the thoughts of an old man
and to make this performance an emotional experience.
The second
half of the concert was taken up by a very different work, the
Vaughan Williams symphony. The orchestra was now able to let
itself go in this robust depiction of London life and they did so
in fine fashion.
East
Devon Press. March 20th. 2004.
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GREAT HALL, UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
SATURDAY 29th. NOVEMBER 2003.
ROTARY BENEFITS FROM EMG
CONCERT
The International Rotary movement appeal for
the worldwide eradication of polio is set to benefit from a
considerable sum as the result of last Saturday's concert in the
Great Hall of the University of Exeter. Given by the EMG Symphony
Orchestra, the concert project was coordinated by the Rotary Club
of Otter Valley, and they helped to ensure a tremendous response.
Musically, the concert conducted by East
Devon's Roger Hendy, was another triumph for the orchestra. It
is a great tribute to the musicians to be found locally, here in
Devon, that playing of such quality is possible. And the orchestra
never takes easy options in choosing its programmes.
This was a concert of Great
Russian Classics but, except for the final 1812 Overture, it didn't consist of the obvious popular works but
rather two outstanding works of the 20th. century -
the Fifth Symphony of Shostakovich and the First Piano Concerto of
Prokofiev.
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Roger Hendy & EMGSO
Robin Davis (piano) |
EAST
DEVON PRESS CRITIQUE.
16th July 2003
Positively
marvellous!
The
days, it gets more and more difficult to find anything
negative to say about the playing of the EMG Symphony
Orchestral.
These
musicians, who do so much to provide high quality music
throughout East Devon, have achieved such a peak of
performance that one can only marvel at the fact that they
are amateurs and semi professionals, rather than full
professional players.
This
remarkable standard has been achieved under the baton of
Honiton's Roger Hendy who, in his 20 years as Musical
Director, has conducted more than 100 concerts with the
orchestra both here and on tours aboard.
Their
latest concert was given in St. David's Church, Exeter and
despite the counter attractions of Exeter Festival, the
church was full.
The
programme on this occasion was a popular one, well suited to
a steamy, hot evening. It opened with the incidental music
to Rosamunde and, responding to Roger Hendy's every
wish, the orchestra gave a nicely rounded performance of
this delightful music.
Soloists
in Mozart's Concerto for Flute and Harp were
flautist Jane Pickles, who has held posts with many leading
orchestras, and harpist, jean Price, a daughter of East
Devon who hails from Combe Raleigh.
The
orchestra was suitably scaled down in chamber proportions
for this work and there were some beautiful playing from the
orchestra and both soloists although, as often happens in
this concerto, with the nature of the instrument, the harp
was not always sufficiently projected.
To
finish, there was a cracking performance of Dvorak's Eighth
Symphony. There were some slightly ragged moments -
even the most renowned orchestras have them - but the
woodwind, horns and brass were able to shine. The horns
played those fiendishly difficult passages especially in the
last movement with apparent ease!
Proceeds
from the concert went to Clyst Caring Friends, based at
Broadclyst.
A
positively marvellous concert! |
EMG SYMPHONY
ORCHESTRAL CONCERT
EAST
DEVON PRESS CRITIQUE.
28th March 2003.
When
the Dean, the Very Reverend Keith Jones, introduced the recent
concert by the EMG Symphony Orchestra at Exeter Cathedral,
I am sure almost every member of the audience endorsed his
remarks. He referred to the troubled times in which we were living
and expressed the feeling that the chosen concert of English music
would be particularly appropriate to focus people's thoughts.
Although the troubled times to which he referred concern the whole
British nation, the music in the concert was indeed by English
composers, but no doubt Scots, Welsh and Irish would have felt
that here was a message for them too.
As
usual, the orchestra was conducted by Roger Hendy, and led by
Clare Smith. The packed cathedral was proof of the tremendous
following this orchestra has in East Devon and playing of
the standard we heard on this occasion explains why.
Throughout Roger Hendy cajoled his players into performances both
of great brilliance and heart-searching delicacy.
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The first
item on the programme harked back to that other war when the
Spitfire fighter was one of the decisive weapons of victory.
It was the Spitfire
Prelude and Fugue taken from William Walton's music for
the film The First of the Few that told of the development of the aircraft
and the way in which its inventor R.J. Mitchell burned
himself out in the process. It was a rousing opening to the
concert, with the brass making their presence felt, and the
fugue taken at a cracking pace. |
Next
came something completely different in the Fantasia
on a Theme of Thomas Tallis by Vaughan Williams. The music
spans the centuries from the 16th to the 19th
and at its first performance in 1910 a critic remarked that one
could never be sure whether one was listening to something very
old or very new. What is certain is that this work for strings is
an indisputable masterpiece of English music. It was interesting
to see that Vaughan Williams' instructions had been followed and
that the called for, smaller, second orchestra was placed
separately from the main orchestra. Unfortunately they were behind
the main orchestra and they seemed a little diffident and not
always as audible as they might have been. Nevertheless, this was
a beautiful performance, with some good deep string tone
always apparent from the full orchestra, and solos nicely taken
by the section leaders.
Then
there was what is almost certainly the greatest symphony ever
written by an English composer - the Symphony No.1 in A flat by
Elgar. Roger Hendy told me how exhilarated he had been when
rehearsing this work and how his awareness of its greatness had
increased the more he looked into it. It was all-apparent in this
impressive performance. Those broad tunes, the marvellous brass
outbursts, and the flowing episodes from the five horns -
extremely well played, incidentally, all came in their turn
and underlined the stature of the work. The moment when the second
movement allegro melted into the adagio was magical.
This
work, with its military overtones combined with questioning doubts
and conflicts, and finally optimism and hopefulness, was an ideal
choice for the times.
The
audience reacted appropriately and the applause, I'm sure, would
have gone on much longer, if the orchestra hadn't signalled that
it was time to call a halt.
East
Devon Press March 2003. |
