Ravel - La Valse

Tchaikovsky - Rococo Variations

Nino Rota - Cello Concerto No.1

Debussy - La Mer

Music in a good cause

Maidstone Symphony Orchestra, Mote Hall.

ANOTHER superb offering from the town’s excellent orchestra – and all in a good cause too.

The fourth of this season’s concerts was held in aid of Crossroads, the charity which supports carers of all ages and which is in a crucial stage of its life because of funding concerns.

Like MSO, it is certainly worthy of public support and this was another invigorating evening of contrasts.

Ravel’s La Valse started the programme off with its quirky and aggressive version of the famous old dance. One is left with the impression anyone actually waltzing to this would need something extra by the end – like oxygen!

Soloist was Italian cellist Silvia Chiesa, who treated us to Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations and then Nino Rota’s Cello Concerto No. 1. Both were delightful and it was not hard to detect why much of Rota’s music has been successful in films with the more dramatic elements having that ‘look out behind you’ feeling.

Ms Chiesa received a rapturous reception but nobody applauded louder or longer than the other cellists. Need we say more?

The programme finished with Debussy’s La Mer; a case of pastel shades compared with the bold primary colours of Ravel. Conductor Brian Wright told us this piece did not go down well with audiences or musicians when it first emerged. How times change.

AB