Review: Amersham Festival Winter Concert (From Bucks Free Press)

Review: Amersham Festival Winter Concert

9:28am Monday 18th January 2010

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Before even writing a word about Friday‘s Amersham Festival Winter Concert, I must commend the loyal audience itself. Despite the foul weather and with certain pavements still ice-coated, there was virtually a full house at St Mary’s Parish Church.

This also reflects, of course, on the repute of the Amersham Festival Chamber Orchestra under its conductor Iain Ledingham. One can almost take the quality of its playing as read. But it was the thought behind the repertoire that impressed. It is not too easy to make a programme of Italian 17th and 18th century music sound both varied and interesting.

At the heart were two of Vivaldi’s finest concertos, yet as different as you can make them. The Oboe in C Major with its contrasting movements of grandeur, serene beauty and jauntiness; and the ‘Cello in C Minor with its relatively short, sharp movements, were quite irresistibly different. They were played with assurance and confidence by “regulars” Christopher Hooker and Anne-Isabel Meyer respectively.

We also heard two Concerto Grosso from his Opus 6 by the slightly younger Corelli. The C major is secular in nature and provides lively contrasts within itself and with the “Christmas” concerto, which ends delightfully with a crib-side Pastorale. In turn they contrast nicely with the Vivaldi.

Even more radical, from a later generation, was the young Rossini’s (to quote him) “horrible” String Sonata No 3 in C major, in fact a thoroughly enjoyable, largely extrovert work that made me want to hear the other five.

And lastly the rarely heard Carlo Besozzi - his Oboe Concerto in C Major. Besozzi is possibly an Eric Coates of his time. This flamboyant piece has a cadenza in each movement of seemingly staggering technical difficulty. Christopher Hooker played them with consummate professionalism and - as the composer must have intended - brought the house down.

It was not only the central heating that provided a glow to the evening - it was the whole event.

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