Last night, Dot and I attended yet another magnificent orchestral concert in Armidale's Town Hall delivered to a large and enthusiastic audience. The orchestra had 17 performers ... if I can count correctly, but the interesting thing about the group is that the principal violinist, Helena Rathbone has starred in that role for 25 years. Apart from a small number of mentors, all the remaining performers are very young, say early 20s, and the ACO collective is a means of introducing them to a musical career. Let's just say that they've got great future prospects. Their precision and tone was perfect and the works were challenging.
The works included were:
Felix Mendelssohn's Sinfonia No 7 in D Minor, written when he was about 13 years old (!)
Paul Stanthope's Dancing on Clouds, written a year or so ago
Ludwig van Beethoven's Romance for Violin and Orchestra in G minor, Op 40
Edward Elgar's Serenade for Strings in E minor, Op 20, and
Ludwig van Beethoven's String Quartet in F minor, Op 95 'Serioso' re-arranged for string orchestra.
This program had the audience in raptures with thunderous applause at the end of each work ... and the Encore. Beethoven's 'Serioso' quartet was, in a way, a gloomy work brought about by the fact that Napoleon Bonaparte had invaded Vienna the year before and life was grim.
One great think about going to concerts in Armidale is that one knows many of the audience and the intermission is useful for catching up with them. Maybe I should have taken along some packs of cards and a card table or two since many in the audience were members of the Armidale Bridge Club!
Just joking!
AS
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