Review of Concert 27 June 2009

A Taste of France  - 'French Feast's Tasty Starter'

The orchestra opened its all-French summer programme with Fauré's Pavane, highly appropriate for this evening, since it was conceived as an item for inclusion in a series of light summer concerts.  In keeping with Belle Epoche mores, it is an elegant, albeit commercial, re-working of a Renaissance dance form, designed for entertainment rather than high art.  In this performance it received a reading that displayed a pleasingly light touch for the most part although, towards the end, more than a hint of an English pastoral tone had crept into the orchestra's playing, a fuller and less pithy timbre that does not sit comfortably with Fauré's music.

Thus an elegant ambience gave way, to my ears at least, to a more bucolic and dramatic soundscape.  More dramatic still is Berlioz's song-cycle Les Nuits d'Été, on this evening featuring the soprano Penelope Martin Smith.  The text is unmistakably Romantic, potent imagery, heavy with symbolic and often dark meaning, aimed at exposing the essence of personal experiences.  Martin Smith has a powerful rounded tone, a flexibility of enunciation, a range of vocal colour and control of dynamics that, combined with her crystal clear diction, resulted in a deeply emotive and expressive performance, particularly in her ability to melt into and re-emerge from the orchestral texture. For its part, the orchestra worked well with its singer to extract the maximum from the text. The orchestra opened the post-interval proceedings with more from Faure, this time his Sicilienne from the Pelleas et Melisande Suite.

We were presented with another light and unmistakably French piece, as a prelude to the main item of the second half, Bizet's Symphony in C major. This is the exuberat creation of a 17-year­old. Accordingly, it becomes the duty of any interpreter to consider its composer's age and experience and to infuse a performance with a youthful musical joie de vivre.  This point had been taken on board by the orchestra as it worked through the score with brio and a strong performance.

Mark Mortimer  (Kentish Gazette).

Next Concert

Saturday November 27th 2010, 7.30 pm

St Peter's Methodist Church, Canterbury CT1 2BE

Our next concert has a strong French flavour.  It begins with the colourful and exciting symphonic poem by the French composer Paul Dukas inspired by Goethe's ballad of the same name, The Sorcerer's Apprentice.  This is followed by Suite no.2 of orchestral music from Bizet's Carmen, which was put together after the composer's death by Ernest Guiraud and largely features the famous arias.  The final piece is Saint-Saens Symphony no.3, a work written at the height of his creativity, which makes unusual use of piano and organ as part of the orchestral texture.  Tickets are £8.50 for adults and only £2.50 for children of school age and students.  They are available on the door, from the Secretary on 01227 751196, and online through WeGotTickets by clicking on the button below.. 

More Information

Details of forthcoming concerts are also listed in the Events Diary of the Canterbury Arts Council website.