Q. Programmer’s Challenge. Which piece of music would be appropriate for the ROYAL Tunbridge Wells Symphony Orchestra to play at a concert in the first week of November?
A. Music for the ROYAL Fireworks by Handel, of course!
With Bonfire Night only 48 hours after the concert on 3 November, this was the obvious choice to open proceedings. In this Baines/Mackerras arrangement of Handel’s spirited and ebullient composition, the Royal Tunbridge Wells Symphony Orchestra, with guest conductor Paul Hoskins, created the right balance between noise and effects, to the huge enjoyment of many children (and those not so young) in the Assembly Hall audience. This particular piece had been chosen by the Orchestra’s Outreach Team (masterminded by the Orchestra’s Education Officer Yvonne Smith) which had gone into five local primary schools to introduce the music and perform alongside the eager youngsters. One can only imagine the thrill these sessions must have given the youngsters to be able to make a loud noise – legitimately!
What followed was by way of a complete contrast, but not without its moments of fiery piano playing. Making a very welcome return visit to playing with the orchestra, Ke Ma enchanted with her performance of the little known Variations on a Nursery Tune by Ernst von Dohnányi. The piece comprises an Introduction followed by the main theme, eleven variations and a concluding Finale and Coda. The theme, when it finally appeared and was played almost with just one finger on the piano, created much amusement in the Assembly Hall audience among adults and children alike. It was the nursery tune Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star! But after the simplicity of the theme there were explosions of bravura playing by Ke Ma in several of the variations. By contrast, in others, there were moments of ethereal beauty involving the celesta which created an almost Harry Potter-like feel. Dohnányi also very cleverly managed to write some of the variations hinting at other composers’ styles. Amongst Ke Ma’s brilliant piano playing I thought I could hear traces of Mahler, Korngold, Dukas (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) and Strauss – both Richard and Johann II.
If there was a marked dichotomy of sound and tempo between the various variations of the nursery tune, what followed next was an encore which pulled out all the stops, leaving nothing on the table! In just over one minute’s playing, Ke Ma astonished everyone with a jazzed-up version of The Flight of the Bumblebee in an arrangement by Arensky. So many notes played at such speed in a short space of time! The other factor which the audience will remember had nothing to do with the music. Ke was wearing a dress of shimmering, ‘white-light’ fabric which certainly twinkled under the lights in all the energy that she was generating on stage. Totally memorable in many ways!
The second half could have been an anti-climax following the sensory stimulation before the interval. But no, Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7, whilst affording a little respite from the frenetic activity that had gone before, certainly had its own moments of excitement. The two outer movements are strong and tense, whilst throughout there are episodes where Dvořák captures the bucolic surroundings of his Czech homeland. The many shades of light and dark were admirably brought out by the orchestra.
As mentioned above, this concert was conducted by Paul Hoskins, the first of the three shortlisted conductors seeking to become Roderick Dunk’s successor as the RTWSO’s Principal Conductor and Music Director. The two other conductors will feature in the February and March 2025 concerts.
