A show of strength… and fine planning
Review of Maidstone Symphony Orchestra’s concert by Dr Brian Hick In his introduction, conductor Brian Wright was correct in his thinking that the programme of works last Saturday epitomised both the planning and strengths of Maidstone Symphony Orchestra. Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring may seem very familiar, but its rhythmic complexities and solo lines are traps for the unwary. The hushed, almost sultry, opening lulls us into a false sense of ease that is gently dispelled. The playing had a slight rawness to it, which was in keeping with the integrity of the score. It should be difficult to follow, but Giovanni Guzzo’s handling of the Brahms Violin Concerto was so captivating it almost made us overlook the Copland. He produced a radiant sweetness of tone, across the full range of his Stradivarius, but no violin is as important as the quality of the musician playing it. The orchestra rose to the challenge, producing a bite and pulse that supported the clarity of his phrasing. Vaughan Williams’s Fourth Symphony was written in the 1930s, but it has all the shock of the new. A sense of terror explodes from the opening bars and the intensity of the writing never lets up. Is this a vision of the future or a man distracted by the building of the Dorking bypass? In the end neither matter, for the symphony, played with remarkably tight control of its rhythms and some fine solo-playing, is a massive outpouring of pain in a world that seems to be running out of control.