Concert artistic achievement

Press, 28 November 1977, Page 6

Concert artistic achievement

By C. Foster Browne Dobbs Franks directed the Canterbury Orchestra, through a Saturday evening concert in the Town Hall.which will long be remembered as a highlight of artis-j The programme began with Bach’s Concerto in Ei for Violin and Orchestra. Ruth Pearl was the soloist,, and produced golden tone., always alive and graced, with’ beautiful bloom from the veriest whisper to the, brilliant challenges of heri fortissimi. The orchestra rose to the example and played with clean line, crisp rhvthm. and careful and effective changes of levels. , The second movement: created an atmosphere of, ineffable peace, and was the finest playing of it I can remember. Ruth Pearl’s tone, was so gentle, vet richly im-i hued with life-giving shades i of nuance, bringing life with 1 abundance of spiritual -insight. singing so clearly through the orchestra yet rfften so softly that it seemed no more than the

passing sigh of an autumn I breeze. From this delicacy she could and did rise with, magnificence of controlled crescendi to sounds of triumph. Superb playing by I the cellos ended this move-1 ment beatifically. The' ; whole performance was a model of stylistic elegance. | Another work, deserving: • of highest acclaim, was the performance by Patrick) O’Byrne and the orchestra of Schoenberg’s Concerto for • Piano and Orchestra. Op. 42. • Technically the work has • fearsome difficulties.; I surmounted by Mr O’Byrne; (with graceful ease and; confidence. For such a young player he showed remark-I able insight and with unfail-1 i ing clarity gave a performance which went far beyond deft manipulation of techni-' cal intricacies. With Dobbs Tranks con-' .trolling the orchestra with i masterly insight, choosing (exact tempi, and giving ba!-; ance to even the most complicated textures. both • soloist and orchestra gave a. performance which, above' • all else, made clear (Schoenberg’s astonishing and

towering thematic development. This performance, overwhelming at times, broke through what could be strangely difficult for some I hearers in harmonic idiom, and swept like consuming flood-waters carrying all be- ‘ fore it. That which was lyriical was utterly charming, I economical in utterance and iof apparently beguiling ‘ simplicity. Mr O’Byrne’s tonal qualities had strength I in gentleness and vivid life even at pianissimo level. There was Siren-like fasciniation in this music. The heavy-bombardment playing had shattering intensities. It was all most exciting and exhilarating and a revelation of Schoenberg's architectural genius. For those who found Schoenberg disturbing, incomprehensible. and even : unattractively unpleasant, it I may be some compensation 'to know that this concerto was as nothing to what he can do when he spits on his • hands and really gets down to business in being tough. As though all this had not ■ been plentifully rewarding,

the cornucopia was given another tilt and the concert, ended with a sparkling, enticing performance of Schubert’s Symphony No. 2. This series of concerts will contain all the Schubert symphonies and already highly imaginative and effervescent performances have been given us. Such a one was this, dispelling the cares of the passing week and spreading abroad promise of expansive happiness and good fellowship — even to orchestral management committees and their tiresome hangers-on, we might faintly hope. From the beginning like the happy chattering of birds, to the ending where the same irrepressible spirit of the work was summed up in full measure, we had playing of delighting, texture, with every changing nuance — and there were many — having the unmistakeable hallmark of careful planning, yet it all seemed so natural and inevitable. Throughout the evening there was golden playing, deserving of all that can be put into its preservation.