What's wrong with old-fashioned entertainment.....Answer absolutely nothing! This concert by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Brass and Woodwind Sections was a model of exactly that. The programme (see below) didn't perhaps have the same gravitas as exemplified by the Sibelius Second Symphony the full orchestra had played under the baton of Kirill Karavits the night before to a packed house at the Hall for Cornwall. But it was stylish, hugely polished and beautifully executed. And let's face it any programme which includes a Leonard Berstein score is going to produce a lot of fireworks and excitement. As the players clicked their fingers to get us into the mood of the West Side of New York, the menace of the scrap to come was palpable and the sheer joy of wonderful, gripping, rhythmic energy pulsed through the hall.
Here is a paean to the art of the arranger too. Because on the evidence of this concert there are some very clever musicians weaving some nifty licks into traditional tunes and settings to bring this music to us in imaginative and entertaining ways. I did not catch their names (I will try to back edit) but a few Redruth audience members and also musicians in the audience ...as they gave me a lift to the station afterwards were fulsome in their admiration.
One to a part the flute, oboe, bassoon, tuba, two trombones, french horn and trumpet ranged around the stage in a huge crescent, the ensemble produced faultless performance of what in the dear old days of yesteryore would be called a "light" programme. Not forgetting the percussionist, or more precisely the drummer who not only gave a few wonderful flurries but took to the spoons as well! The BSO has not forgotten its roots in seaside entertainment.
All were led by the Chief Executive of the orchestra ...in his new found role of guest conductor,,,,, for Dougie Scarfe was incredibly (as I found out later) making his debut as conductor of the orchestra in St Austell. Dougie and his team at the BSO have during his regime at the top been real supporters of Carn to Cove, the rural touring performing arts scheme in Cornwall - and audiences across the Duchy. Managing to slide sectional concerts into the "day after" their big symphonic concert in Truro, the orchestra was this year simultaneously performing in the Guildhall in St Ives to a large enthusiastic audience with the String section . In the recent past the orchestra has been to such widely spread and diverse spaces as the Perranporth Memorial Hall, Milbrook Church, Launceston Town Hall. At Perranporth I met a couple who said "we have never heard a classical orchestra live before...its marvellous and joyful"
The audience at St Austell too were a fascinating bunch, half of whom had never been to the Keay Theatre before, the theatre space in the St Austell College (now Cornwall College) buildings on the edge of town whose funding for public facing activity was cut some years ago and so is understaffed but which a new energy from teh College may bode well for the future - and there were lovely teas and cake served in the interval as the audience and the performers started chatting in true "rural touring" style! I spoke to two elderly people from the Rame Peninusula (so a good 30 miles drive away) who said they had been following the orchestra during Lockdown online (the BSO streamed live concerts for free during the pandemic) and had been contacted by the orchestra to offer them tickets to the revival of live events.
In fact thanks to the support of the Cavatina Trust (who offer Carn to Cove chamber classical music concert tickets for free to those under 26) , there were a large number of young people attending the concert in groups and with parents. An eight-year-old proudly studying the cello, the piano and the cazoo (most proud of this one) , was the youngest but they came with parent strung along from a wide scattering of schools - Penair (Truro), Fowey River Academy, Brannel School (the Clay country) Tregolls Primary (Truro), Redruth School, Bishop Bronescombe Primary, Truro College (6th form and Tertiary) and `Richard Lander (secondary Truro). So all beating a path of some distance from a radius of 20 miles to this rare concert opportunity. One example was a 15 yer old female Flugel horn player (who plays is both Indian Queens and Bodmin town band as well as the Cornwall Youth orchestra), her mum describing herself as the "taxi-driver".
We had the added joy and fun of a the "formal announcer" Ed ? who like the classic BBC besuited announcer delivered his scripted programme note from the side of the stage ... in a way which produced a fair amount of intended laughter, with some knockabout jokes with the players and some unintended ones too. In fact the enthusiastic audience was up for some Saturday afternoon fun and they got it.
The programme was also diverse showcasing the Sea Interludes of Ethel Smyth, she has always been well-known in Cornwall as a result of her opera The Wreckers, which is set in the Duchy and has been performed frequently here (and another production is in the offing), Florence Price - folk song settings and also the music of the black British composer Coleridge Taylor
All in all a triumph for which Jess Leonard at Cornwall College, Phil Webb (sadly laid low by Covid-19 at the last moment) of Restormel Arts along with Carn to Cove and the orchestra need a round or applause. Roll on the next concert in St Austell! www.carntocove.co.uk
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra return to Cornwall and are splitting their sections to play two simultaneous afternoon performances for strings and brass/wind.
Music from the Upper West Side to deepest Somerset with BSO principle brass and winds. A programme journeying to New York with Bernstein, Amelie’s Paris with Yann Tiersen, and rural England with Vaughan Williams and The Wellerman.
Repertoire:
Vaughan Williams – English Folk Song Suite
Various Sea Shanties
Trad Scarborough Fair
Coleridge Taylor – Symphonic Variations on an African Air
Anon – Sumer Is Icumen In
Ethel Smyth – After Sunset, Before the Storm
Florence Price – Three Little Pieces
Bernstein – Cool from West Side Story
Yann Tierson – Amelie theme
Tallis – Nata Lux
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