Americana!
Maidstone Symphony Orchestra
Conductor Brian Wright
Mote Hall, Maidstone
16 May 2026
Well, a generous, all-American programme (six 20th century works) was certainly an inspired way of finishing the 2025/6 season with a bang – lots of literal ones, actually, because in many ways this was an evening which belonged to the percussion section.
Five nimble percussionists were led by Lewis Blackwood alongside Keith Price on timpani in, for example, John Adams’s Short Ride in a Fast Machine (1986) with which the concert opened. The rhythmic complexity requires lots of concentration and counting but it pounded along in this performance, in which I particularly noticed some strong work from lower strings which often gets lost in the excitable texture.
Then came the glory of Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story (1961) which, among many other unusual effects, requires the hard working percussionists to click fingers and shout “mambo”. MSO did it pretty proud with very few infelicitous moments. The quiet string quartet moment was a treat and the flute cadenza followed by muted strings was nicely controlled after a slightly shaky start. The music tells a story and Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers were clearly in the room.
Erich Korngold’s haunting violin concerto (1947) has joined mainstream repertoire and become very familiar in recent years. Benjamin Baker, who has appeared with MSO several times before, played it from music on a pedal-controlled tablet – always a brave choice in my view. He and Wright found luscious lyricism in the first movement especially in the horn and harp duet and the spectacular cadenza. Baker has a way of landing on a high note and waiting a nanosecond before adding vibrato and it’s very effective because it makes for incisively crisp playing which also manages to be lushly romantic – and filmic because this is Korngold after all. The folksy energy in the finale was fun too.
Baker played Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s Louisiana Blues Strutt for his encore to make sure we stayed in America. It has become a popular encore choice and I’ve heard it several times before. It’s quite a party piece although, of course Baker made it look effortless.
The second half began with the Aaron Copland’s famous Fanfare for the Common Man (1942). It’s a showcase for brass, obviously, but this performance ensured that we also heard the horns in harmony beneath which was a pleasant change. The trouble with a work as well-known as this with so many sustained notes is that the tiniest imperfection shows but, in general, it was well played and suitably rousing,
It was a good idea to let the percussion and brass have a rest at this point and give the audience a complete change of mood. Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings (this version 1938) is a lovely piece which requires much attention to detail which Wright, and MSO leader Andrew Laing made sure it got in abundance here. Passion, tenderness and accuracy were the order of the day.
And finally came Gershwin’s ever-cheerful An American in Paris (1928) complete with pitched taxi horns played with a grin by Emily Eno. Thoroughly warmed up (and probably exhausted although it didn’t show or sound) MSO played it with gleeful energy. I particularly liked the way Wright managed the colourful mood changes. And the moment when solo violin duets with the tuba (Andy Bridges) was a high spot.
All in all, a full and enjoyable concert which triggered dancing ear worms in my head all the way back to London.
