The lucky audience at St Swithuns last Sunday were treated to a landmark concert by the Bridport Chamber Orchestra.

Under their new conductor, Venezuelan Arturo Cerna, the players seemed invigorated, with the lower strings especially together in timing and intonation. Arensky’s Tchaikowsky Variations gave us some beautifully sonorous, romantic passages and the last section felt especially ravishing with soft, luxuriant ensemble playing. Then Alexandra Ennis and Rachel Burrough were soloists in Bach’s Double Concerto for violins. It took a few bars for the tempo to settle down, but the soloists, with very different timbres from their instruments, complemented each other perfectly and drew out the intertwining melodic line as it jumped from one violin to the other. The church acoustic, and the perfect balance between soloists and tutti made this a memorable performance.

Corelli’s “Christmas” Concerto was a similar model performance – relaxed, perfectly in tune and together. This was string playing at its best. And the “Snowman” suite to end the concert gave us all a nostalgic glow as we left into the cold November darkness.

But I shall remember the concert for its Venezuelan piece – Romeros’ “Fuga con Pajarillo”. The timings in this were fiendish – a fugue in triple time based on a South American dance, with constant syncopation and stresses on the off-beat. The sheer concentration from every musician was almost palpable! The pizzicato sections, in particular, were a triumph. We must have more music like this.

Bridport is so blessed to have an orchestra of this calibre.

 

BRUCE UPTON