Concert

Dot and I headed off to an orchestral concert this afternoon, the first in quite a while as we seem to be away a lot. The Armidale Orchestra presented quite an ambitious program including Chabrier's España, Mozart's piano concerto No 20 (K466),  Brahm's Rhapsody in B min (op 79#1), and Dvorak's 5th Symphony. And, they played exceptionally well, perhaps the best I've heard all 49 of them play. The conductor was a long-time colleague who used to be professor of politics and dean of the faculty of arts at a time when I was head of school, Graham Maddox.

The stunning element in the concert was the soloist for both the Mozart and the Brahms, who played brilliantly. Local soloists usually fluff a few notes and have problems modulating tempi and volume of sound, but this performer - James Maddox - was perfect in tempi and every aspect of control ... and electrifying in his cadenzas to the piano concerto where he used extant cadenzas written by Brahms (first movement) and Beethoven (final movement). However, I should point out that James is a professional musician who lives in Bonn (Germany), plays with a variety of German orchestras to critical acclaim, records CDs, runs music festivals, and so on.

By now you've probably guessed that the conductor is the soloist's father and James was no doubt enticed back to visit family and donated his services gratis. The audience wasn't complaining! In fact the applause among the excited crowd was long and deafening. We're lucky here to have such connections and access to good quality music at bargain prices. Our tickets only cost A$15 (or c. 8.8 GBP) each and that included program and refreshments.

Coming home-grown concerts include:

1. The Armidale Symphony Orchestra (September 5) - a recreation of the Proms
2. The Australian Youth Wind Quintet (September 7)
3. Armidale Choral Society - Haydn's Missa in tempore belli (or Paukenmesse) (November 14)
4. Armidale Symphony Orchestra - music inspired by the works of Shakespeare (subtitled The Food of Love) (December 5)

The music scene is certainly energetic because Musica Viva concerts featuring top international acts will be interspersed among these events.

AS