Nottingham Youth Orchestra Concert
Nottingham Youth Orchestra's concert on 16 April 2005 , in Southwell Minster, included Whitlock's Symphony in G minor for organ and orchestra. William Ruff ( Nottingham Evening Post ) wrote the following critique:
The NYO's taste for adventure shows no signs of fading. Every year, its members are not only invited to show off their talent and commitment by playing the familiar classics of the repertoire but to stride off down unfamiliar routes as well.
This time it was the turn of English composer Percy Whitlock to be dusted off and given an airing. His Organ Symphony (written 1936-7) is a rarity which calls for virtuosity from soloist and orchestra alike. Organist John Keys coaxed an alluring range of tonal colour from the Minister's instrument – matched by full-blooded playing from his youthful colleagues and their conductor Derek Williams. But was the piece worth reviving? My own opinion: Whitlock was essentially a miniaturist whose ‘symphony' might have sounded more coherent if it had been half the length.
We were on much firmer ground with Malcolm Arnold's richly colourful English Dances (lots of strong contrasts: rhythmic bounce and yearning nostalgia in quick succession) and with Elgar's Enigma Variations , Elgar demands tight discipline and draws on a huge palette of sounds as the music captures widely disparate characters. The NYO had all the flexibility one could ask for – as well as reserving extra energy for the ebullient finale.
Coates's Knightsbridge March came as a very jolly (and welcome) encore .
Hillingdon Philharmonic Orchestra's ‘An English Summer' Concert
Despite the heat, the proximity of a busy main road and the low level buzzing of local light aircraft a large and supportive audience was in attendance for Hillingdon Philharmonic's Summer Concert on Saturday, 18 June 2005 , in All Saints' Church, Hillingdon, London, under the baton of its founder, Peter J Williams.
The well-filled programme opened with Sullivan's overture to HMS Pinafore . Other items included Elgar's Sea Pictures (with Rebecca Stockland), Eric Coates's London Suite , the first performance of Jatinder Chopra's Diary of Summer (which struck me as being brilliantly scored but somewhat lacking in development), Delius's On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring . Holst's Somerset Rhapsody , and the first concert performance in over 65 years of Percy Whitlock's Wessex Suite (1937). The orchestra (ably led by Hilary Holloway) coped well with such a demanding programme. Wind, brass and percussion were well to the fore. The strings suffered somewhat, as a result, though the church's acoustics might have been partly to blame. Nonetheless, it was good to hear such a glorious feast of English music and to witness the obvious foot-tapping enjoyment of the audience.
New Whitlock Book
It is hoped that a new Whitlock book, containing his collected music journalism, surviving correspondence, and selected newspaper articles will be available in time for the 60th anniversary of his death on 1 May 2006 . As a taster we reproduce below one of the many letters Whitlock wrote to Leslie Barnard ( to whom many thanks …)
To: Leslie Barnard [undated: December 1939?]
The Pavilion, Bournemouth
Dear Leslie,
This will be only a short one (yes, I know! I've threatened that before, and rarely keep my word). Thank you for yours.
The Food Office work proceeds, but we are not in full swing yet – hardly any swing at all in fact – just preliminary staggers as yet.
The orchestra also continues its good work, not unentirely unappreciated by the public, though mostly supported by the more knowledgeable Tory element, as most good things are.
The ARP continues to be just about to do something. My pupils continue to come for lessons, when I am free to give them them. In fact, my life, as ever, is just a matter of filling in the continuo part.
Reginald Foort played to 375 people at the Westover on Sunday afternoon: WE played to 800 on Sunday night. Reginald Whitworth has been here, telling me about his experiences as a Sarjeant-Major in the last war. Reginald Palmer has forsaken the RCM and hopes to continue with me.
One of our staff is a communist – he has persuaded me to invite 4 drunkards and a labour MP to share our cottage – perhaps.
Now I must continue the work I left to write to you.
All the best.
PW |
