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October 2007
Cadogan Hall, London
Concert - September 27th 2007
One year on from the highly successful 2006 concert in Cambridge, the English Schools’ Orchestra and Choir moved back to London for this year’s concert in the beautifully restored Cadogan Hall. This fine hall, with its excellent acoustics, proved to be an ideal venue in which all the performers were able to display their considerable musical skills to a large and appreciative audience.
The programme was, as usual, adventurous and challenging for both choristers and instrumentalists, and began with an excellent performance of Constant Lambert’s ‘Rio Grande’. The 70 singers from schools in London and Hertfordshire were in excellent form and negotiated the tricky technical demands of the piece with professional assurance and real skill, and the essential spirit and colour of the music was interpreted with considerable confidence and panache. The virtuoso piano part was played by Ellena Hale, a student at the Royal Academy of Music, who is already forging a highly successful career as a concert pianist of immense promise.
Since its creation in 1995 the English Schools’ Orchestra, whilst always playing music from the treasured canons of the 18th and 19th century composers, has often ambitiously ventured into 20th and 21st century music, and the concert this year, included the London premier of a work by Sir John Tavener. Written for string orchestra and soprano soloist, ‘The World’, is a setting of an elliptically enigmatic poem by Kathleen Raine, to whom it is dedicated ‘with great affection’ for her 90th birthday. For this piece the orchestra was joined by the distinguished soprano soloist Patricia Rozario and together they created a riveting performance of this intriguing music.
Three songs with orchestral accompaniment from ‘Knaben Wunderhorn’ by Gustav Mahler came next. Encouraged by the beauty of Paticia Rozario’s singing and interpretation of these beautiful songs, the orchestra excelled in providing an intense and sensitive accompaniment for these evocative songs.
After the interval the orchestra really came into its own with a stirring performance of the Triumphal March from Elgar’s cantata ‘Caractacus’. The ESO’s splendid brass section enjoyed the chance to conjure up the grandeur and excitement within the music (let alone the tales of brutality and noble suffering of the captured Britons).
Of all Sibelius’s seven symphonies, the 5th in Eb is one of the most original in structure. It contains some extremely testing passages for all sections of the orchestra, especially the strings and woodwind, and the ESO surpassed all expectations in producing a very fine performance indeed which perhaps ranks amongst its finest achievements to date. The playing in all sections was impressively confident and under the direction of conductor Robert Pepper, the interpretation of the musical content was thoroughly colourful and convincing. Huge credit must go to these young players for producing such a mature and professional performance of a major orchestral work. They well deserved the prolonged and vociferous applause accorded at the close.
As always,the members of the orchestra enjoyed the marvellous facilities of the Music Centre at The Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School in Elstree, Herts for the week’s course leading up to the concert, and the expertise of the dedicated team of professional instrumental tutors, who year by year ensure their young players are well-prepared technically and musically and able to give such impressive performances. The orchestral players came from schools all over the country (and one from Madrid!). Long may such inspiring enthusiasm for making such fine music continue.
Alan Taylor,
Course Director, English Schools' Orchestra and Choir