the hangover orchestra

A Dutch string orchestra, named after the French translation of a German expression meaning a sickie taken as a result of a weekend hangover. This is the Lundi Bleu orchestra which gave a concert in church as part of a short British tour; I helped out as a steward.

The orchestra performs unconducted (quite a current trend) though with an important role for the leader, in this concert Johan Olof. The programme combined music by Dutch and British composers; a link was a concerto by Hellendaal, who worked in Britain and died in Cambridge. It was good to hear a piece by him at a normal time of day. The British pieces were mostly by or closely connected to Benjamn Britten; his arrangement of Purcell’s Chaconne in G minor, Pärt’s Cantus in his memory (which I’d never heard live before – an extra tubular bell was added for this one) and in the second half his Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge. I should try to familiarise myself with this last, and in particular listen to it with the names of the movements in front of me.

The orchestra was easily up to the demands of the music and was well received. Visiting ensembles can have a mixed reception in Bath; they have to rely on local publicity to recruit an audience and can find themselves inadvertently programmed against another competing musical event.

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