Maidstone Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Brian Wright
Mezzo soprano: Susan Legg
Mote Hall, Maidstone
18 October 2025
This imaginatively programmed, quite full, concert made a pleasing start to MSO’s 115th season.
It’s a delightful change to have a song cycle in lieu of a concerto and a treat to hear Elgar’s Sea Pictures live because it doesn’t get out as often as it should. Susan Legg is a warm singer who communicates with her eyes as well as her voice. She gave Slumber Song all the tenderness it needs while Wright balanced the accompanying orchestra, especially the harp, behind her impeccably. Sabbath Morning came with requisite Elgarian grandiloquence. The off-beat orchestra work in Where Corals Lie, the best known number in the cycle, was crisp and witty. But the crowning moment was probably Legg’s encore: Blow the Wind Southerly which she sang with haunting poignancy. Katherine Ferrier would have approved.
The concert began and ended in nineteenth century Russia. Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet – with its heart-in-mouth exposed wind opening – got careful attention to detail. All those upward scales rose rousingly to Tchaikovsky-ian melodic climaxes as the drama twists and turns: a competent enough performance although it never quite soared.
Smetana’s Vltava, which launched the second half, is an attractive, busy little pot boiler and surprisingly difficult to bring off, not least because it calls for much stamina especially from the strings. It was a commendable effort but the tension was palpable. I could actually see some string players counting frantically in order to place the pizzicato accurately and almost heard the relief when they reached one of Smetena’s most evocative big tunes and the titular river surged on. Full marks to brass and cymbal at the end.
Possibly because players were still on a high from having got though Vltava decently, the opening of Borodin’s second symphony was ragged although it soon settled rather well into its grandiose, mysterious mood. Like Wright, who said so in his introduction, I remember when this symphony was frequently performed and recorded but it has unaccountably slipped into semi-obscurity in recent years. So well done MSO for reviving it. Highlights of this performance included the insouciant horn part played with aplomb in the Scherzo and, in the Andante the beautiful harp and oboe duet, picked up by horn and nestled over string continuo: the quality of lyrical sound at that moment was exceptionally well nuanced. Then the Finale gave us lots of cohesive melody and drama with particularly fine work from trombones, piccolo and tambourine.
I drove home from this pleasant concert with my head happily rattling with competing melodies.
