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).

Seriously satisfying students

Gewandhaus Orchestra touring in China, sad. Orchestral concert in Gewandhaus, check. Brahms and Bartok, check. Admittedly it was a Hochschulsinfonieorchester, a university level student orchestra but we weren't disappointed. This was a capable orchestra performing in the Gewandhuas, not the Berlin Phil but sehr gut none-the-less and a really interesting program. The orchestra numbered about 70 in full strength for the Reinecke with 5 bassists. The program was Reinecke Symphony no.3 Gmin, Brahms concerto for cello and violin op.102 Amin and Bartok Wonderful mandarin suite Sz73. Reinecke was a known name but not a known piece. He was the director of the Gewandhaus orchestra for 35 years in the late 1800s and currently enjoying his 200th anniversary. Great piece! Variously busy and frenetic then calm and idyllic. I wondered if it spoke of machine versus nature. Then the Brahms cello and violin concerto that NCO played in Llwewllyn. From the first notes, an expressive and attractive piece. And Bartok, a known name but not particularly known to Megan or me. I'd expected atonality and modernism but got something more lyrical although still powerful. And the orchestra did it all proud. They suffered from the eternal problem of being too loud for the soloists, that's both hard and common, but otherwise their swells were a delight, their dynamics luscious, their sense of timing lovely. I often measure timing with bass pizz and it was good, although the pizz volume wasn't always there. Intonation was great except maybe a few minor spots. The soloists were very good, especially the cello to my ears, if again maybe not too powerful. So not at all let down by a student orchestra in lieu of the Gewandhaus in the Gewandhaus. Much enjoyed and something learnt.

The Symphony Orchestra of the Academy of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig performed Reinecke, Dvorak and Bartok in the Gewandhaus, Leipzig, under Matthias Foremny (conductor) with soloists Johanna Schreiber (violin) and Jonas Palm (cello).