Concert reviews

Petersfield Orchestra Concert
Thursday 21st March 2024
Petersfield Festival Hall

At the top of Wenceslas Square in Prague, the recently refurbished National Museum holds many treasured musical items. There are manuscripts by Beethoven and Mozart as well as relics of Bohemia’s most renowned and nationalistic musical sons: Bedrich Smetana (his oboe) and Antonin Dvorak (a draft of his Symphony from the New World). The only Russian contributions to the building are the pockmarks of heavy machine gun fire that were left behind from the Soviet crackdown of 1968.

Be that as it may, it was an inspired choice to couple works by Smetana and Dvorak on the same bill as Rachmaninov’s much vaunted Piano Concerto No. 2: three supremely popular pieces in one night.

As usual, the concert itself was preceded by an informal discussion chaired by Piers Burton-Page. Several facts emerged. The conductor, Robin Browning, and the soloist, Jamie Cochrane, had links with Essex where Jamie was born. Both had worked together on a work by Leonard Bernstein called the Age of Anxiety.  They emphasised the need for strong empathy between soloist, conductor and the orchestra itself for a good performance. Also, Jamie started playing as a child on a toy piano bought at Woolworths.

The Festival Hall at Petersfield was packed for this concert, which is part of the wider Petersfield Musical Festival. This ancient market town has a strong contingent of people who enjoy classical music. Worthy of note is that the Petersfield Orchestra has over seventy donors and friends who support it.

The programme opened with one of Smetana’s symphonic poems from his ambitious opus Ma Vlast.  The whole cyclical work is a tribute to his homeland, Bohemia.  This movement, Blanik, is about a legendary mountain under which sleeps St Wenceslaus and about his army ready to repel invaders to the fatherland.

The orchestra gave a powerful, majestic start to the evening. They brought out the beauty of the Central European countryside and the immense pride in what is now the Czech Republic. Sources close to the upper string sections secretly confided that it was devilishly difficult to play. Even so, the ensemble carried it off with terrific aplomb and was encouraged by thunderous applause.

Jamie Cochrane is a handsome fellow with a host of instrumental and academic qualifications gained at Oxford. He’s played at top venues too – the Albert Hall and the Sheldonian Theatre, to name but a couple.

Jamie performed Rachmaninov’s Concerto No. 2 with great clarity and also with surprising strength for one so young. His playing was flawless: a virtuoso was at work on the keyboard, ably supported by a highly responsive orchestra.

Under the management of Robin Browning, the orchestra’s dynamics were perfect. As Rachmaninov intended, the players were hushed to allow the piano to execute lovely melodic solos and lightning fast cascades of notes. There were also surging groundswells from the lower strings as the wonderful big tunes filled the auditorium.

Robin Browning has a graceful conducting style, and he waved his baton with unerring accuracy. His left hand carefully controlled the softer volumes while, at other times, his great sweeping gestures lifted the whole orchestra as one.

Dvorak’s Symphony no 8 was a delight to listen to. The eight-strong viola section, ably led by Lilias Lamont, really shone. Dvorak, himself a viola player, would have congratulated them. All the memorable melodies were brought out and punctuated by some deft, birdsong flute solos by Sheila Price. A stratospherically high violin solo was carried off with great confidence by the leader, Helen Purchase. The whole orchestra did justice to the Czech composer’s magnificent work. And the audience showed their appreciation with prolonged and joyful applause.

My last review of Petersfield Orchestra was in 2018. It was good to see that strong lead violinist and keen athlete, Helen Purchase, was as highly proficient as ever. Then as now, like most regional orchestras, the regular players are often supported by a sprinkling of professionals and talented amateurs from other ensembles. For example, Mel Espin (second oboe and cor anglais) has played in many local bands as well as the Orchestra Allegro Moderato in Milan.

There were several silver haired stalwarts and some not-so-hirsute musicians on the platform too; all still going strong. First division players such as violinists Rodney Preston and Cathy Matthews, Mark Frampton (bass), Nick Knight (timpani), Sarah Woods (percussion), Colin Wilson (bassoon) and ace clarinettist, pony-tailed Robert Blanken, were all there in force.

There were also some relative newcomers such as Matthew Clark, now in his second season with the orchestra. He is a highly capable violinist who also leads the Meon Valley Orchestra. Skilful principal cellist Nigel McNestrie showed his customary prowess, leading the lower strings. 

After the show, one player was heard to remark that conductors are rarely satisfied. However, Robin Browning sometimes says that he is an artist and musical manager steering the orchestra to perfection. He certainly got close to his ultimate goal with this performance.

The orchestra’s next concert is on the 20th of June again at the Festival Hall and features local soloist Alexandra Peel playing the lovely Mendelssohn violin concerto. 

As this highly respected orchestra inches towards its centenary in 2027 yet more knockout performances are sure to be in the offing.

Stuart Reed

The major work in the Petersfield Orchestra’s November concert was Sibelius’s 1st Symphony, something of a challenge to rise to the demands of this major work from the orchestral repertoire – and the players acquitted themselves very well indeed. All the important melodies were stylishly pointed and brought out, especially that of the last movement. The second movement’s tempestuous central section featured exciting interjections from brass and percussion, whilst in the more relaxed moments there was ebb and flow which gave the music space to breathe. There was great rhythmic drive to the start of movement three and its motivic character well emphasised. The big melody of the last movement was sonorous, and the final climax and subsequent pizzicato chord ending was well judged.

This concert opened with the Symphonic Suite from Lieutenant Kijé by Prokofiev. It took a little while for the orchestra to settle into this piece, with the ensemble at the start of a couple of movements slightly unsteady. However, there was much to enjoy, especially in some very fine solo playing. The off-stage opening cornet solo, and later on-stage, in the 3 rd movement was especially memorable. There’s was idiomatic saxophone playing too, particularly in the Romance, some nifty trombone moments in the Troika and a brief tuba solo in the final movement didn’t go unnoticed.

Lieutenant Kijé was followed by Suite No 1 from Tchaikowsky’s ‘The Nutcracker’. Here, neat playing in the overture was followed by characterful performances of the subsequent contrasting dance movements. The celeste solo in Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy was rhythmically played and delicately accompanied. The excitement of the Trepak contrasted well with lilting and expressive string playing in the Arabian Dance.

This very enjoyable concert was conducted with clarity and firm control by Robin Browning. It is not surprising that their concerts are always sold out. The orchestra’s next concert will be on March 21 st 2024.

Ian Schofield

Cordelia Williams, a rising star in the world of classical piano and Hampshire resident, thrilled the audience in her sold-out concert with the Petersfield Orchestra on Thursday 23rd March. She played the famous Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor flawlessly, displaying total command of the instrument both technically and expressively, and richly deserved the warm ovation she received from the Petersfield Musical Festival attendees.

Speaking after the concert, Cordelia said: ‘Everything we did in rehearsal came together tonight. Robin Browning’s conducting was clear and the ensemble excellent. Schumann is very close to my heart.’ Notable amongst the orchestral sections was the wind, which provided a playful dialogue with the piano, in particular the oboes and clarinets. The strings also took up the main musical themes which cascaded from cellos to violins. Particularly effective was Cordelia’s passage-work during these moments which gave a wash of delicate filigree piano sound and which was delivered with utmost delicacy and beauty.

The Schumann concerto is a pillar of the romantic piano repertoire. A huge symphony orchestra sets up the passionate climaxes, but playfulness and the dance are never far away in the contrasting sound-world. It was written as a statement of Schumann’s love for his beloved wife, Clara, and the exuberance and energy of his inspiration never flag from the opening to the final powerful and triumphant chords.

In the pre-concert talk Cordelia demonstrated she is not just an ordinary pianist. A young mother herself, she has written a book called the Happy Music Play Book, which sets out musical activities for young children, emphasizing the importance of music in child development. Music education is a cause close to her heart, and she is currently fund-raising for a Kenyan pianist to finish his studies at the Birmingham Conservatoire. Her CD, Nightline, was recorded specifically for lonely mothers feeding their infants in the middle of the night.

After the interval, conductor Robin Browning gave a fabulously rousing rendition of a late romantic musical cornerstone, Elgar’s Enigma Variations. Both audience and orchestra were uplifted by the superb melodic themes and orchestral ingenuity which deploys every instrument idiomatically, particularly the timpani, brass, percussion and winds.

The Enigma Variations gives a portrait of Elgar’s ‘friends pictured within’, each cameo depicting a particular character. The Petersfield Orchestra played confidently and with total commitment, clearly relishing the big sound and famous, surging themes. The Hall was hushed with awe during the beautiful Nimrod variation.

First up in the concert was the lesser-known Mendelssohn’s Overture, Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage Op.27 which had echoes of his more famous maritime work, The Hebrides Overture or Fingal’s Cave. This was another example of romantic music-making for enjoyment and delight, painting colourful pictures inspired by two poems by Goethe with all the composer’s characteristic craftsmanship and technical command of orchestration and musical effects. It provided a perfect ‘amuse-bouche’ for the big musical works to follow.

In all, a wonderful evening of romantic music created and played with huge inspiration and energy by an orchestra on top form.

Review by Sarah Hard, Peterfield Musical Festival

24th March 2023

The 96^th season of the Petersfield Orchestra opened with Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Overture. The performance was characterised by well-sustained climaxes, and precise fast rhythmic passages featuring impressive playing from percussion and timpani. I especially enjoyed the finely tuned woodwind playing in their ‘chorale-like’ passage towards the end.

This was followed by Alexander Arutiunian’s Trumpet Concerto – a tour-de-force for soloist Lucy Humphris. In one continuous movement, it demands a wide instrumental and dynamic range, passages of reflective lyricism alternate with energetic passages of rhythmic vitality, culminating in a virtuosic cadenza.  Lucy met all these demands with apparent ease – never sacrificing musicality for sheer bravura, exceptional musicianship was on display here, and the enthusiastic audience response she received was well deserved.

The concert concluded with Tchaikovsky’s fourth symphony.  As with the earlier overture it was clear that this orchestra had been well rehearsed.  Their full-bodied string sound served the climactic moments of the first movement very well as did some very sonorous brass playing, and in the second movement I was particularly struck by the quality of the solo woodwind playing.  The pizzicato playing in the third movement was very neat and the interaction between the various sections of the orchestra in the movements central section was well judged, with antiphonal playing between horns, and trumpets and trombones was effective and impressive. A rousing performance of the 4^th movement brought this excellent concert to a rousing conclusion.

This most enjoyable concert was conducted with authority and restrained clarity by Robin Browning.

Review by Ian Schofield

19^th November, 2022

Stuart Reed | Concert review: 2019 spring concert

Peter Rhodes | Concert review: 2018 autumn concert

Stuart Reed | Concert review: 2018 summer concert

Philip Young, Petersfield Musical Festival

Petersfield Post, 2017 Petersfield Musical Festival

Petersfield Post, 2016 autumn concert