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Easterbrook Hall, Dumfries
25 November 2007
Conductor - Geoff Keating
Soloist - Murray McLachlan (piano)
Programme :
Geoff Keating :
Festival Fantasia : "More Geese Than Swans"
Rachmaninov :
Piano Concerto No. 2
Carl Nielsen :
Symphony No 1 in G minor opus 7
........ a sample of Neilsen, Symphony No 1, 2nd movement: Andante
Our concert in Easterbrook Hall, Dumfries on 25 November 2007 was a great success. Murray McLachlan was a joy to play with and to listen to. His sensitivity and musicality was outstanding and all the orchestra and audience were enthralled with his interpretation of Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto. Nielsen's 1st Symphony was fun to play and was well appreciated by the audience. As was Geoff's composition, "More Geese than Swans" which was fascinating - cleverly constructed with lovely harmonies and rhythms evoking mother nature and Gibbon's madrigal. The programme notes read thus:
"This Festive Fantasia is an affectionate tenth birthday tribute to the Solway Sinfonia. Its basis is the 16th century madrigal for five voices ‘The Silver Swan’ by Orlando Gibbons. The piece is in three sections. The first is a gentle five-minute meditation on the madrigal, heard after a while in original form on solo five-part brass consort. The music aims to illustrate the atmosphere of the still lake, the majestic swan, and the mood of doomed resignation expressed in the poem.
"The silver Swan, who living had no note,
When death approached unlocked her silent throat.
Leaning her breast against the reedy shore,
Thus sung her first and last and sung no more.
Farewell all joys, O death come close mine eyes,
More geese than swans now live, more fools than wise."
A short linking section - ‘Flight’ - opens with a rising cadenza for solo cello. Peace is shattered by the arrival of the noisy geese, whose calling and squabbling is suggested by woodwind ‘honking’ noises.
In the Allegro, inspired by Hindemith’s ‘Turandot Scherzo’, the geese immediately reveal a shallow, hedonistic nature, as well as a penchant for jazz rhythms! After a series of increasingly vulgar episodes they assemble in fugue formation behind the trombones for a noisy concluding ‘fly past’ .
Writing a piece for known friends has been an enjoyable privilege; some are given taxing solos, and the orchestration is at times designed to highlight the individual sections of the Solway Sinfonia. Throughout the piece the themes are derived from those of the madrigal, and the angular descending phrase to which Gibbons set the words ‘More geese than swans now live’ will become familiar, if not downright annoying, by the end of the performance!
Ten years ago in our inaugural concert in aid of the Caerlaverock Wildlife Trust’s 40th birthday, we gave the first performance of Sarah Berker’s ‘Caerlaverock Suite’, subsequently adopting the swan as our logo. This piece echoes and pays tribute to that event."
GMK
The following crit was published in the Dumfries Standard on 7th December 2007:
AT THE start of a live concert where you have not heard the orchestra before, and the music about to be played is a new Work, there is a heightened tension as bows are applied to strings and you either wince or relax with a smile as the music works its magic.
At the tenth anniversary concert by the Solway Sinfonia on Sunday concerns evaporated, smiles took over and I relaxed into the Festive Fantasia More Geese than Swans composed for the occasion by Geoff Keating, founder and conductor of the orchestra since it was formed ten years ago with a concert in aid of the Caerlaverock Wildlife Trust's 40th Birthday.
His new work echoes the inaugural work at that concert, Caerlaverock Suite by Sarah Berker who still plays in the first violins.
Taking the 16th century madrigal The Silver Swan by Orlando Gibbons as inspiration, this I5-minute piece is in three musically descriptive sections - a meditation on the original madrigal, a section called Flight, evocative of the quiet nobility of swans through a beautifully played cello solo and the chattering geese, shattering the tranquility. The final allegro was a virtuoso piece giving each section of the orchestra the chance to show remarkable dexterity as the work progressed to a thrillingclimax.
It is a work that could well become a showcase piece if taken up by other orchestras.
The celebrated pianist Murray McLachlan joined the orchestra to play the Rachmaninov Piano Concerto no 2, one of the most popular works in classical music and widely known through being used as the emotive background score to Brief Encounter and the comedy capers of Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell in The Seven Year Itch.
These fi1ms emphasise the romantic overtones of the music but I was relieved to find that MurrayMcLachlan and Geoff Keating resolutely avoided over-romanticising the work. From the opening chords this was a powerful, forthright performance projecting the music with a clarity and technical brilliance that was exhilarating.
True, the piano could be regarded as over bright and at crescendos drowned out the orchestra. The string sound was a shade undernourished to begin with but the players warmed to their task and in the Andante rose to the demands of Rachmanininov's soaring melody.
There were times when the ensemble playing fragmented but the woodwind and brass sections provided a solid foundation helped by a strong cellos and bass section.
In the third movement, Murray McLachlan played with a technical brilliance and a freshness of interpretation that was breathtaking.
The speeds were brisk with the orchestra playing for dear life leading to a shattering finale that had the capacity audience in ecstasy.
After the interval with the twin challenges of the first two works over, the orchestra seemed more relaxed for the Symphony No 1 by the Danish composer Carl Neilson. I have to confess that I had not heard his music before and this may have been the case with other members of the audience. So I welcomed the opportunity to experience this early work by a composer I knew only by name.
In four movements, it is a pleasing but not an especially memorable symphony that has echoes of Bruckner and Wagner with even a hint of Schubert.
The orchestra clearly enjoyed playing it and in the slow movement achieved a homogeneity of sound that was quite beautiful. Geoff Keating again favoured brisk tempi that gave the music a lightness and momentum that was most appealing.
The players come from all parts of the region and it is a tribute to them that for ten years they have come together to rehearse for the enjoyment and love of music. Their concert was a considerable success and we should be grateful that we have in our area an orchestra of such excellence.
BC