Reviews: 2003-04

“A good time was had by all at St. Oswald’s Church on Friday, December 6th, at a splendid concert organised by Oswestry Sinfonia and Friends.
“The programme included carols by John Rutter sung by the massed choirs accompanied by the orchestra, and the other items by individual choirs varied from a Gospel version of Silent Night, sung by Adcote school choir (conductor: Catrina Lapage), who also sang “Diamond Bright” by Lin Marsh, to Beatus Vir by Monteverdi, sung by the Shrewsbury Cantata Choir conducted by Ian Ward.

“The Marches Choir under the direction of Sali lames contributed “A Whole New WorId` by Alan Menken and `A Donkey Surprise` composed by the very much missed Tom Bayliss, (formerly minister of Christ Church).
“St. Oswald’s Choir, under the direction of Michael and Veronica Donkin, sang two new carols by Margaret Wegener, and the whole audience joined in the singing of three popular Christmas carols.
“The highlight of the concert was a performance of Howard Blake’s well-loved children’s story: “The Snowman”. Chris Eldon-Lee delivered the narration superbly, while the child’s solo part was beautifully sung by Helen Stanley. To hear this music played live by a symphony orchestra revealed the quality of Howard Blake’s music. The Sinfonia was led by Sali James, conducted by Ian Ward and joined on the piano by Chris Symons.
“This joint effort produced superb entertainment and all concerned are to be congratulated on their achievement.”

– F.S.M

OSWESTRY Leisure Centre was the venue for a concert by Oswestry Sinfonia conducted by Ian Ward, under whose leadership the orchestra continues to achieve remarkable results. The imperfect acoustics of the venue favour the Brass rather than Strings but for the most part a satisfactory balance was achieved.
The concert began with a spirited performance of the well-known overture The Wasps by Vaughan Williams, after which the audience was introduced to a composer of new works being given its first performance. Canadian composer, Mel Mclntyre, was present to hear the first performance of his two works. The first, entitled Three Tableaux for Orchestra was composed during the winter of 2003-4 from an idea for a ballet. After the initial mild shock of the first movement, when the audience became aware they were to hear ‘contemporary’ music, it soon became clear that the composer knew exactly what he was doing and there were some interesting developments in the fast-slow-fast pattern of the three movements. Much more traditional in form was his lyrical setting of the Missa Brevis, sketched in 1983 and orchestrated 20 years later for voices and chamber orchestra. The short work consists of eight movements of the Latin Mass and produced some very enjoyable singing from the Shrewsbury Cantata Choir.
The first half finished with the Brass Cats Suite by Chris Hazell which depicts the characters of four cats from a Wordsworth poem. The suite was originally composed for the Philip Jones ensemble and was admirably played on this occasion by Wrekin Brass, most of whose members are also part of the Sinfonia. It would have been difficult to find a more striking contrast to the Missa Brevis, but was equally enjoyable.

In Elgar's Enigma Variations, performed in part two, the tone of the Sinfonia strings was excellent throughout especially in the opening statement of the original theme and the cello melody in Variation 12. Many solo passages for the woodwind were excellently managed, in particular the beautiful clarinet solo in Variation 13. The Brass were brilliant throughout. Variation 1 was taken at a rather ponderous pace and needed to be lighter, but similar difficulties in the Dorabella variation were excellently managed. The Bulldog variation (No. 11) was exciting, but the nobility of Nimrod and the Finale were thrilling indeed.
The whole concert was well received and, as the conductor said at the close, ‘Let's have a round of applause for Oswestry’, and the audience willingly complied.
– F.S.M