Exeter Cathedral was built with acoustics in mind. Granted, not orchestral acoustics, but acoustics nonetheless. Classical orchestras are highly trained musicians who know their instrument and the piece intimately. It should therefore come as no surprise to know that the sound for The Orchestra Of The Swan's performance in the Cathedral tonight was amazing. What also blows me away with classical music is the dynamic range. For anyone who thinks that classical music is boring and that you need rock, or some other modern music, for energy, you're wrong, and tonight's performance would have convinced you.
The first piece performed was Sibelius' Pelléas et Mélisande Suite, a piece that, to me at least, started out sounding rather dark and brooding, appropriate for a piece about a pair of doomed lovers. Evocative and descriptive (at one point the roll of drums literally sounds like rumbling thunder), the piece strangely feels warmer towards the end.
Sibelius complete, the audience welcomes talented young Polish violinist Agata Szymczewska, who promptly launches confidently into Bruch's Violin Concerto No.1 in G Minor, a piece a violinist friend of mine assured me before the gig is the 'best piece of music ever written for violin'. With Agata's soaring notes and dramatic scale runs filling the cathedral nave I understood his enthusiasm. With bursts of almost solo violin, the rest of the orchestra then swells and builds to take over, horns and flute particularly taking the lead, before once again the violin sings. Agata doesn't just play well, either, she plays dramatically, proving with fancy bow flourishes and emphatic swaying that showmanship isn't purely the domain of more modern music either. She is rightly applauded back to the stage three times, finishing with a charming solo violin piece as an encore.
After an interval, the orchestra is back for Beethoven's Symphony No.3 in E-flat major, better known as Eroica. When it comes to drama and dynamics, there are few that can touch Beethoven: I gave up listening to Eroica in the car when it needed turning up one minute and then down again to avoid deafening. Live, however, the dynamics work beautifully, flowing from powerful, huge swelling horns to soothing interplay between violins and flute. Conductor Gad Kadosh, Tel Aviv born with an impressive music career for one so young, starts the first movement with arms close to his body, communicating with violent shoulder shrugs, but loosening up to more open armed gestures as the piece goes on. The true beauty of this piece is Beethoven's clever use of repetition of the refrain, but more so the subtle almost repetition, leading the ear to expect the familiar only to deny it, then have it build almost unnoticed. The piece reaches its dramatic finale to an enthusiastic round of applause. Beautiful music, played beautifully well in a beautiful setting. What more could anyone want?
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