Four o’clock on a Spring Sunday; the perfect setting of St Alkmund’s Church. And a fine concert given by string players of the English Symphony Orchestra. A capacity audience were delighted by the performance of three superb works which Zoë Beyers directed from the violin; each work bore the unmistakable hallmark of its composer.
Elgar’s Serenade for strings was the first work; although an early composition it is immediately recognisable as being by Elgar. It has that elusive quality of Englishness-hard to define but easy to recognise! It’s no surprise that this glorious work has been so popular for so long . The players brought out the pleasant nature of the music; the excellent programme notes quoted two commentators, one of whom suggested it resembled a cradle song while the other, Michael Kennedy, saw it as an aubade.
Mendelssohn’s early Concerto for Violin and Strings in D Minor completed the first half of the concert. It seemed impossible to believe that this was the work of a boy aged between twelve and fourteen. It has the emotional impact of much of Mendelssohn’ s music, especially the long, singing lines of the Andante. Although the concerto anticipates the more mature work for violin in E Minor, it is a beautiful work in its own right and Zoë Beyers’ performance, ably supported by her colleagues, brought out the warmth and beauty of the piece. Their lively, rhythmic performance showed just how much they love the concerto.
The final work was Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence . One of my neighbours whispered perhaps it should have been called Souvenir de St Petersburg for, from the opening bars it was unmistakably Russian. The addition of the second cello to the group brought an instant symphonic sound – in fact the violent opening of the piece really sounded like a symphony orchestra; the superb dynamics enabled the musicians to move effortlessly to a much calmer passage.
This is a beautiful composition, highlighting Tchaikovsky’s abilities as a symphonic writer as well as a skilful user of folk-like melodies; the brilliant writing for strings from the glorious slow movement to the irrepressible energy of the first and final sections of the work gave these superb artists a wonderful chance to demonstrate their musicianship at its very finest.
This was a wonderful concert, yet another in Shropshire Music Trust’s excellent season which is bringing capacity audiences. The Trustees deserve congratulations on their bold planning.
Andrew Petch
