Big Audience For National Orchestra

Press, Volume C, Issue 29488, 14 April 1961, Page 15

Big Audience For National Orchestra

The National Orchestra, conducted by Mr John Hopkins, gave the first subscription concert of this season in the Civic Theatre last evening to a large audience. Much very commendable playing was heard.

The programme began with William Walton’s overtrue “Scapino.” It went away with splendid flourish and gave promise 0* an exciting evening’s playing. A large number of instruments are required for the work, and they did not pull their punches. Many problems of balance faced the conductor and the players, but they all seemed to be solved satisfactorily. The playing was high spirited and arresting, and its many facets held attention closely. “Scapino” is programme music representing a portrait of a stage clown of that name. The cheeky grin, the capering pose, the swagger, and the devil-may-care flash of the eyes are all brilliantly brought out in the music and were also faithfully captured in the performance.

The next work was Mozart’s Symphony No. 31, in D, known as the “Paris” Symphony. It received a beautifully controlled and disciplined performance. The tone was bright and vibrant, and immaculate clarity of line was kept throughout the work. Broadly singing legato melodies in cantilena style and passages of taut contrapuntal development were all stylishly treated, and there was both solidity and polish in Mr Hopkins’s in-

terpretation. It was lovely music graciously performed. A large orchestra was again needed for Dvorak’s “Scherzo Capriccioso,” Op. 66, which ended the first half of the programme. Power—particularly from the large brass section—and lyrical delicacy alternated in this composition, and Mr Hopkins brought out both moods with balance and suavity of contrast. Perhaps the brilliant cut and thrust of the Walton Overture took some of the shine out of Dvorak’s efforts. ‘ Mr Peter Glenn, whose excellent playing as leader of the horn section of the National Orchestra has given so much pleasure over many years, was the soloist in Richard Strauss’s “Horn Concerto in E flat.” He produced smooth and lyrical playing. However, interesting though it was to hear a horn concerto, the composition is dull. There was some slightly untidy playing in parts of the Moussorgsky “Pictures at an Exhibition,” but this excellent piece of programme music made good effect. This setting of it was a transcription by Ravel. It could be argued that the original pianoforte work is the more effective. There was a bizarre atmosphere in “Gnomes,” and plaintive sounds indicating shadows and depth in ‘The Old Castle.” Sombre rumbling sounds of the “Polish Ox-Waggon” made contrast with the piquancy of the “Ballet of Chickens in the Shells,” and there was plenty of sardonic humour in the “Two Jews.” Bustle, sunlight, and a profusion of good things to buy were found in the “Market at Limoges,” and stark chords from the brass gave a chill to the “Catacombs.” Powerful brass also provided the brightest colours to the “Great Gate of Kiev” but all sections of the orchestra contributed fully to the scene of bustle, liveliness, and confusion of traffic there. Another concert will be given on Saturday evening. —C.F.B.