New plays new world

Just a short walk and a wine later and we were in Gewandhaus Grosse Saal for another student orchestra. I'd love to have seen the professionals but they are now on tour in China and my one personal contact is in London. This was the Music Schule Leipzig Johann Sebastian Bach playing Hamish MacCunn and Poulenc and Dvorak New World Symphony. It's a big orchestra of perhaps 90 with four basses. the MacCunn felt like a fanfare, all lively and outgoing. The Poulenc Le biches suit FP36b seemed similar to my ears, adventurous and busy. Then after interval, the New World in four movements, the tempo not too extreme despite the fuoco, but still some challenging bass lines at least. This is a student orchestra and I did pine for some extra volume for some loud passages (but then what must have been an fff followed and I was satisfied) and there was some rushing on tricky lines (funny how the hard lines get played faster with some nerves) and sometimes the balance or awareness of other parts needed something, but this was just so much pleasure. We both glowed at the end. They deserved their standing ovation, presumably from family and friends and the pretty-much sellout hall. And what a theatre to play in! Famed but also intimate for the size and apparently renowned for its acoustics. It certainly sounded nice when I concentrated on tonality. So a joyous outing to finish an evening in Leipzig.

The Youth Symphony Orchestra of the Leipzig Music School JS Bach performed Hamish MacCunn, Poulenc and Dvorak at the Gewanthaus Grosse Saal under Ron-Dirk Entleutner (conductor).