[Music] Leamington Sinfonia - spring concert

It's been a busy weekend, so I'm breaking the posts up a bit to avoid a deluge all at once!

Not only was it the final weekend of the 2014 6 Nations, but also the BULSCA Student Championships (more on that tomorrow). Except that I was only able to attend the Sunday of that event this year, because I had a concert on Saturday night! My orchestra, the Leamington Sinfonia, were performing at Kingsley School in Royal Leamington Spa. We had a great program of music, featuring one of my favourite symphonies, and gave what I think was a really good performance.

We kicked off with 'The Thracian Horseman' by Anna-Margarita Oprenova. It was only the second ever performance of the piece (the first having been by the Birmingham Conservatoire), and it went pretty well considering how ropey the first half in particular had been during rehearsals. The piece features lots of unusual time signatures that switch around all the time, and the first half features an exposed running baseline from the cellos and bassoons. We hadn't managed to get it to click properly, but just about pulled it off on the night.

We then performed Schumann's 'Piano Concerto in A Minor' with soloist Liang Shan. Not my favourite piano concerto in the world, but the first movement is quite fun. Liang was mesmerising to watch, with his fingers gliding over the piano's keyboard; it really made me want to pick up my piano music again.

After the break was that symphony that I mentioned - Tchaikovsky's 'Symphony No. 5'. I adore this symphony. It's strong, powerful, and forceful in the first and fourth movements, but also features some really gentle moments, particularly at the start of the second movement with a beautiful horn solo. In fact there are great solo moments throughout, including a couple for the bassoon (which I got to play, yay!). It builds and builds all the way through, from a quiet, understated clarinet opening to the finale with the entire orchestra playing their hearts out. It's gorgeous, and you should listen to it.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra performing Tchaikovsky's 'Symphony No. 5'. Well worth listening to.

I thought that we gave a really good performance of the work. The afternoon's rehearsal had been a bit dodgy in places, as had the rehearsal earlier in the week, and I was starting to worry about over-rehearsing. But the whole orchestra pulled together to give their all. I'd not managed to make it all the way through the symphony without my lip giving out at any point during rehearsals, but somehow did it during the concert. All in all it was a great concert - that's not just my opinion either, as the review in the local paper is pretty favourable!