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Boston Sinfonia, with their conductor Nigel Morley, had a full house for their September concert given in Frampton Church. The evening began and ended with works by Beethoven, first the overture to his opera Fidelio and in the second half, his sixth symphony, the Pastoral. Both works celebrate the human spirit. The overture, a good curtain raiser of a piece, is for the opera, the prelude to a story that of the triumph of that spirit in adversity. The symphony takes us to the joys and terrors of countryside and peasantry ending with a wonderful hymn of gratitude.

Then the very jolly Trumpet Concerto by Haydn had a rather special outing with Michael Bates as the soloist playing a copy of an instrument invented by a fine player. By adding a few keys not only could he perform the expected fanfares and flourishes using the few natural pitches but also melodies. How exciting that first performance of Haydn’s specially written piece must have been! Tunes from a trumpet at last!  A fascinating but uncomfortable experience it proved to be on Saturday, seemingly not a very reliable solution. Thank goodness valves soon came into use. 

In his Hebrides overture, Mendelssohn described his journey by sea to visit Fingal’s Cave. The sea is there in all its moods with surges, storminess and calm. Such a delicate piece it seemed as it followed the Haydn to complete the first half. Its subtleties of dynamics and tempi were well attended to. There did seem to be some small problems of balance especially between soloists in dialogue with one another.

Beethoven’s storm in his sixth symphony, the only work in the second half of the programme, is altogether more terrifying. Nigel Morley shaped his performance of the work well to give us that sense of the sheer exhilaration of being in the country that emerges in the first movement, then the rustic jollity of the peasantry, the gathering and very real storm that interrupts this and the eventual thanksgiving for its ending.  There are so many opportunities in the Mendelssohn and in the Beethoven Pastoral Symphony for soloists and sections of the orchestra to shine. The cello and the woodwind sections deserve special mention on this occasion. Most especially the clarinet solos were beautifully played.

Nigel Morley deserves great credit for harnessing this group for you just cannot beat live performance! Next chance in 2009 with this orchestra is on October 10th.

Brenda Lane.

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