Folkestone Symphony
Holy Trinity Church, Folkestone
09 November 2024
Conductor: Rupert Bond
Viola: Robin Ashwell
Folkestone Symphony, more formally known as Folkestone and Hythe Orchestral Society, chose a hugely ambitious programme for this concert but, by and large, they carried if off with aplomb.
We began with Listz’s Les Preludes which opens with some promising, pizzicato chords, perfectly timed under the baton of Rupert Bond, who has recently celebrated 10 years with the orchestra. Full or colours and moods, it’s not an easy work to deliver but Bond found lots of drama with some excellent heavy brass moments in the storm – resonating well in the lofty acoustic of Holy Trinity. The dramatic cymbal clashes at the end were fun too.
Thence to Arnold Bax’s 1921 Phantasy for Viola and Orchestra. Written for Lionel Tertiss, it was originally called a concerto which – three movements played attaca – it clearly is. It was, I suspect as new to the majority of the players as it was to most of the audience. Robin Ashwell, violist in the Sacconi Quartet, played it beautifully, leaning on all the mellow folksiness that the piece is full of. The lento section – with viola, horns and lower strings – was particularly lovely with Ashwell presenting plenty of lyrical, tuneful Irish flavour. Bax, apparently was an enthusiastic hibernophile despite being born in South London.
And so to the Symphonie Fantastique which requires massive forces and barely fitted into the space. As it was the double basses were tucked under an arch, almost in a side chapel, and the percussion section was placed right back on the other side in a side aisle. The tubular bells were behind the raking in the chancel so that they were invisible to the audience. Yet, somehow, Bond held it together through those five gruelling movements, parts of which always sound to me as if they were written a century later rather then in 1830, just six years after the composition of Beethoven’s ninth and last symphony.
Although the upper string sound was wispy in places, especially at the beginning – even five desks of first violins was not enough – there were some terrific moments in this performance. The exuberant valse was as lilting as it should be, with some finely judged rubato, dynamic shading and outstanding work from principal flautist, John Hall. And the adagio was splendid with some delightful, very exposed, playing from Hilary Sell on cor anglais. Assisted by the acoustic, Bond made the end of the adagio with the timp rolls sound really quite creepy as this extraordinary work gets ever more “fantastique”. Next, in the allegretto tubas were produced from their hiding places in the chancel and we bounced into the symphony’s increasing eccentric originality with some good bassoon work.
Berlioz regarded this, his most famous work, as a piece of programme music and left detailed notes which are not, in my view, always helpful. He does, however, explain the madness of the final movement which is a “Dream of a Witch’s Sabbath”. And what fun Folkestone Symphony had with the funeral bells, terrifying piccolo and screeching chords, By then the orchestra was fully warmed up and playing very well indeed – with no sign of the tiredness which they must, surely, have felt at the end of this manic marathon.
