{"id":1922,"date":"2014-10-16T13:12:05","date_gmt":"2014-10-16T12:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eso.co.uk\/?p=1922"},"modified":"2014-10-16T13:12:05","modified_gmt":"2014-10-16T12:12:05","slug":"triumphant-eso-debut-in-elgar-concert-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/festivalmontpeyroux.com\/eso\/triumphant-eso-debut-in-elgar-concert-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"Triumphant ESO debut in Elgar Concert Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The English String Orchestra’s debut concert at the new Elgar Concert Hall in Birmingham was a resounding success with audience and critics alike. Both musicians and audience members were quick to hail the venue’s marvellous acoustics, sightlines and amenities. The orchestra responded to the rapturous audience reception with a touching encore- the world-premiere of Donald Fraser’s new orchestration of Elgar’s song, “Pleading.”<\/p>\n

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Details of the orchestra’s upcoming 2015 Elgar Concert Hall season from the ESO will be announced later in October.<\/p>\n

Birmingham Post critic Norman Sinchecombe hailed the successful concert with a four-star review in the Birmingham Post, available here<\/a>. According to the Post:<\/p>\n

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John McCabe modestly describes his new work for double string orchestra as \u201ca big slow piece with quick bits\u201d. Pilgrim is inspired by a symphony of Vaughan Williams, one of McCabe\u2019s musical heroes.<\/p>\n

Vaughan Williams\u2019 fifth symphony used themes<\/a> from his opera A Pilgrim\u2019s Progress but, surprisingly, it\u2019s not that sublime work which fired McCabe\u2019s imagination \u2013 it was the old man\u2019s fiery and feisty ninth symphony.<\/p>\n

So there\u2019s a questioning, questing turbulent character to McCabe\u2019s work: a timorous, niggling theme, passing from one section leader to another, is resolved only right at the end in a well-deserved moment of tranquillity.<\/p>\n

The performance, conducted by Kenneth Woods, was vigorous and thrusting, maintaining tension even through extended quiet passages.<\/p>\n

The orchestra was at its finest in Vaughan Williams\u2019 wonderful Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis. Woods placed the string quartet in the centre of the first orchestra with second at the back of the platform<\/a> , giving the spatial interplay of the themes ideal clarity.<\/p>\n

The contributions by the first violin (Michael Bochmann) and viola (Helen Roberts) were tender and touching. Fittingly, given the venue, Elgar\u2019s Introduction and Allegro for Strings got an exhilarating performance: rhythmically crisp with the composer\u2019s \u201cdevil of a fugue\u201d winningly despatched \u2013 a fitting climax to a well-programmed concert.<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/a>
The first-ever English String Orchestra rehearsal in Elgar Concert Hall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  The English String Orchestra’s debut concert at the new Elgar Concert Hall in Birmingham was a resounding success with audience and critics alike. Both musicians and audience members were quick to hail the venue’s marvellous acoustics, sightlines and amenities. The orchestra responded to the rapturous audience reception with a touching encore- the world-premiere of … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Triumphant ESO debut in Elgar Concert Hall”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/festivalmontpeyroux.com\/eso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/festivalmontpeyroux.com\/eso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/festivalmontpeyroux.com\/eso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/festivalmontpeyroux.com\/eso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/festivalmontpeyroux.com\/eso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/festivalmontpeyroux.com\/eso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1922\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/festivalmontpeyroux.com\/eso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/festivalmontpeyroux.com\/eso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/festivalmontpeyroux.com\/eso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}