Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra - Bristol Music Review
Posted on: 2015-07-27
Our rating:
Once again the BSO was at the top of its game, masterfully working its way through a program of well-known classics with aplomb. The Colston Hall's resident orchestra and Bristol music lovers' favourite ensemble demonstrated its faultless range.
Musicianship of the highest calibre was once again on display when the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra wowed a near sold-out audience for its Classical Extravaganza at the Colston Hall on Saturday 25 July 2015.
As a veteran BSO fan over the years, I've followed their concerts with fervent enthusiasm, always thrilled and impressed by the diversity of their repertoire and the sheer artistry of their playing. Without doubt, the BSO sit more than comfortably alongside the likes of the esteemed Royal Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestra, and they were voted in a recent UK poll in fact as the nation's favourite orchestra.
The BSO Classical Extravaganza was a triumphant return, back by popular demand, with a selection of mostly familiar orchestral favourites that were accompanied by some hypnotic, trippy lasers, multi-coloured lights, indoor fireworks and pyrotechnics.
Mozart's cheeky and flirtatious The Marriage of Figaro Overture jump-started the evening in sprightly fashion, followed by Shostakovich's lilting, wistful Waltz II from his Jazz Suite No.2, and Ravel's tender, melancholic Pavane for a Dead Princess.
An intro announcing the next piece would be Ravel's immortal Bolero elicited a chorus of enthusiastic 'Aaahhh's from the masses and resulted in one of the most impeccable interpretations I've heard: the quiet, insistent start led by the snare drum and theme repeated to minimalistic ad infinitum, slowly increasing in volume and flavoured with a frequently changing kaleidoscope of timbre and orchestral colours.
Handel's stately, noble and elegant Largo from Xerxes provided a few minutes of tender grace before the crash, bang, wallop of another Stravinsky masterwork, The Firebird, which gave the BSO a chance to vigorously flex its orchestral muscles with its syncopated, riotous, slightly schizophrenic Infernal Dance and bold, majestic Finale.
Twenty minutes and one interval ice cream later, the second half plunged us into the mighty, empowering lyricism of Wagner's Tannhauser Overture. John Williams - generally well represented at concerts like these with music usually from Jurassic Park, Harry Potter and Star Wars - was refreshingly represented with his lesser-known, exotic and soaring theme from Memoirs of a Geisha, while Leonard Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from West Side Story was a rip-roaring, funky, jazzy, ballsy, brassy tour de force that unleashed the unbridled fury and passion of the BSO.
The audience was also given the chance to choose the piece of music they'd like to hear most out of a choice of four - decided by a flashing clap-o-meter - with the biggest cheer going to Sibelius' emphatic, stirring masterpiece, Finlandia. (Vaughan Williams' Wasps Overture, Borodin's Polotsvian Dances and - the one I'd have personally preferred - William Walton's gutsy, Elgarian Crown Imperial were the other three.)
Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture was incontrovertible musical perfection - its immediately recognisable and hummable theme blasted out with all the fire, guts and glory you'd expect, while the evening was rounded off with Grieg's perky, playful In The Hall of the Mountain King (perhaps recently best known as the music used in the Alton Towers TV advert).
Under the assured baton of conductor Frank Zielhorst, once again the BSO was at the top of its game, masterfully working its way through a program of well-known classics with aplomb, gusto and total, consummate control. The Colston Hall's resident orchestra and Bristol music lovers' favourite ensemble demonstrated its faultless range and skill with an orchestral powerhouse performance that led to the audience showing its appreciation with wolf whistles, claps, cheers and the now customary standing ovation.
5/5
Reviewed by Jamie Caddick for 365 Bristol - the leading events and entertainment website for Bristol
Tags: Review, Orchestra, Symphony, Classical, Music, Colston Hall, Bristol.
Article by:
Born and raised in the suburbs of Swansea, Jimmy moved to Bristol back in 2004 to attend university. Passionate about live music, sport, science and nature, he can usually be found walking his cocker spaniel Baxter at any number of green spots around the city. Call James on 078 9999 3534 or email Editor@365Bristol.com.
