Christ Church Bath is hosting another Saturday afternoon recital series this autumn and (having missed all of last year’s) I went to the opening concert, given by the strings of the Trowbridge Symphony Orchestra with David Winters on organ and conducted by Philip Draisey.<\/p>\n
It began with one of Handel’s organ concertos, pieces that I think of as standard fillers in choral concerts to give the singers a rest. And in fact that is how they started life, as interludes during performances of Messiah<\/i>, which must have made it very long if there were no cuts!<\/p>\n
There followed two elegies, one by Parry and then an Elegie<\/i> by William Henry Reed, now best known as Elgar’s friend and biographer, but a prolific composer and a local one too, as he came from Frome. He was also involved in the Three Choirs Festival and the Elegie<\/i> was commissioned by Gloucester Choral Society (despite having no choral element in it).<\/p>\n
The concert ended with Respighi’s Suite for Strings and Organ, a more expansive work and like a lot of Respighi employing conscious archaisms, so completing the symmetry of the programme. I sensed that the composer intended it to be played by a rather more powerful organ than we had here.<\/p>\n
The concert was very well attended and preceded by home-made refreshments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Christ Church Bath is hosting another Saturday afternoon recital series this autumn and (having missed all of last year’s) I went to the opening concert, given by the strings of the Trowbridge Symphony Orchestra with David Winters on organ and … Continue reading