Drama and emotion from Horsham Symphony Orchestra

Drama and emotion characterised the programme chosen by conductor Steve Dummer with the HSO.

Stravinsky’s only Violin Concerto from 1931 comes from his neoclassical period when harmonic style was expressed in contemporary language: an ultra-modern treatment of old forms used spiky dissonance, asymmetrical rhythms and idiosyncratic orchestral spacings.

This creates a serious challenge for the orchestra who must achieve cohesion amidst the chaos whilst exploring and demonstrating the textural complexity involved. Here, the Horsham musicians succeeded dramatically. Soloist Sophie Mather played with a beautiful assurance in the difficult, abstract music, a score which commands attention and respect, if not love. Particularly fine was the violin/flute duet and final Capriccio with its echoes of Bach.

Emotion was forefront in Mark Elvin’s tone poem ‘On This Day, in This Life’. Six orchestral ‘snapshots’ depict first waking to walking, dancing, running and finally coming to rest. Gentle soft sounds of dawn build into long breathed melodies and exciting crescendi before falling away as the light fades.

It is attractive, contemporary music, accessible on first hearing: it employs familiar rhythms and conventional musical idiom. Into the pot goes a big band sound, a fairground, a tango, a march, a pop group, a chorale. It felt as if the orchestra -and certainly the audience - enjoyed it very much.

Like all Tchaikovsky’s six symphonies, strict form is overtaken in the Fifth by streams of melodic invention. Steve Dummer and the orchestra revelled in the colour and originality of this famous composition, all the players gracefully combining to ensure its perennial freshness – notably the solo horn.

Wonderful music making under the baton of Steve Dummer. Lucky orchestra, lucky Horsham!