THE EAST ANGLIA CHAMBER ORCHESTRA AT WEST ROAD CONCERT HALL .
East Anglia Chamber Orchestra
This glorious concert, held on 22nd January 2022, could not have been a more welcome joy to kickstart a sluggish new year. In the hands of these accomplished musicians, Elgar’s Violin Concerto in B minor, and Dvorak’s Symphony No 7 in D minor swept the audience from tragic and sorrowful to heroic and hopeful.
The East Anglia Chamber Orchestra was founded in 2010. Such is its reputation as the best orchestra in the region, it has the enviable ability to invite a professional soloist and conductor for each of its concerts. On this occasion the guest soloist (violinist) was Michael Foyle, who played a 1750 Gennaro Gagliona a marvel of the violin world, One instrument of this genre is valued at a quarter of a million pounds - Michael had his on loan.
Michael Foyle Violin Soloist
Jacques Cohen, a professional conductor who also teaches and composes .These guest appearances serve to raise the profile of the orchestra and surely challenge this talented ensemble to another level of achievement in terms of precision, pace and concentration.
The opening of the Elgar concerto was solemn, brooding and majestic, a perfect prologue to Michael Foyle’s solo entrance.This must be a heart-stopping moment for the monumental demands ahead of him. This composition is said to be one of the most wide-ranging - and exhausting - solo violin pieces ever written. Just to begin is a challenge .The soloist’s presence before that moment is prescribed as ‘nobilimente’ - majestic. For a moment, in the pause before Michael Foyle drew the bow over the strings, he appeared as a toreador in his bearing and expression, tense and watchful - but steadfast. But once he folded his warm instrument into his chin in such an intimate gesture, he resembled a passionate lover. Theatrically and musically this was the signal of the powerful performance to come.
Maestro Jaques Cohen
Conductor Jacques Cohen beamed and swirled with passionate energy throughout both of the evening’s pieces. Like a puppet master, he seemed to tease out the maximum from the performers; His intriguingly small hand and finger gestures were delightful to observe, as if to convey a language, invisible to us the audience but apparent to his watchful orchestra.
The Dvorak Symphony was a stunner. It begins in D minor, tragic and atmospheric. By the time we were transported to the finale, the symphony had shape-shifted into D major key through the musical journey from tragic to triumphant.The entire experience was tangibly life-affirming.
The East Anglia Chamber Orchestra have two more dates (so far) in the diary for 2022: Saturday 30th April at 7.30pm in the West Road Concert Hall, and Saturday 18th June at 7.30pm in Kings College Chapel. Do not miss an encounter with this fabulous 48 player strong orchestra, to blow away any lingering winter doldrums , welcome the Spring and celebrate the summer. Life enhancing.
REVIEW BY JULIE STEVENSON
