Proficient performers lay on blockbuster event

EVEN by the very starry standards set by Leamington-based chamber groups, this was something of a blockbuster event.

Roger Coull continued as conductor, adding to his prodigious output level which fortuitously includes conducting the Guernsey Symphony Orchestra. This brought him into contact with oboist Ruth Berresford at her summer orchestral course on the island. Together, they performed Bach’s Concerto for Oboe and Violin in D minor with its most beautiful slow movement in which oboe echoes violin and vice versa.

This was a fine example of slow, contemplative playing. But who should set the tempo in pieces like this? Coull was quick to admit that although the violin leads, the oboist is in charge. Berresford took charge and pushed things along when necessary, reining in the harpsichord on other occasions. And Sue Meteyard (leader) confidently confirmed the importance of following the soloist.

Margaret Worsley’s well received programme notes for Dvorak’s Symphony No 6 in D, Opus 60 identifies the composer’s strong links with works by Brahms and Beethoven. I would add Smetana, too, as this composer clearly influenced the folk music based scherzo. Dvorak manages to create a Czech national style within a standard Germanic classical form.

Thanks to some proficient piccolo, tuba and trombone playing and for the most part adequate horn playing, the Sinfonietta’s colourful playing and remarkable expression paid tribute to this milestone in Dvorak’s work.

Clive Peacock