I went last Wednesday to the English Chamber Orchestra’s concert at Cadogan Hall in London. The orchestra was in tremendous form.
It was an extraordinary programme, featuring the world premiรจre of a new work by a
Brilliant Young Composer ("Serenade for Strings"); a mature piano concerto by Mozart (No 23 in A, K488), directed and
played by the same BYC; Tchaikovsky’s "Rococo Variations" for Cello and
Orchestra, scintillatingly played by Michael Petrov and conducted by our BYC;
and the fourth symphony of one of our best and best-established British
composers ‒ a
follower of Benjamin Britten ‒
David Matthews, and conducted by the BYC.
Hmmm… Britten. Didn’t he famously undertake all three roles - conducting, composing
and playing concertos at concerts with the same ECO - half a century ago?
Surely our London music critics will all have been there
last Wednesday? After all, it was a pretty rare occasion. What’s more, there
was nothing else in the classical music line at the other leading concert
venues in London that evening.
Really, I’ve been waiting, quite patiently, for the reviews.
Thus far, there’s been not a word. And we’ll not need to hold our collective
breaths any longer. Perhaps they all needed an evening off.
The Brilliant Young Composer, conductor and concerto pianist
was, of course, the amazing talent that is Alissa Firsova.
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