Yet another legendary PSO concerto-collaboration

ByPhilip Buttall

Plymouth’s Minster Church of St Andrew once more hosted our own Plymouth Symphony Orchestra’s (PSO) Summer Concert, this time on a gloriously balmy and sunny evening.

Against the background of the superb Piper/Reyntiens tower west window, the orchestra opened its account with a suitably ‘well-studied’ performance of Brahms’s Academic Festival Overture – a work which the composer pretended to belittle, because of its seemingly ‘pot-pourri’ design, even though, Brahms being Brahms, it’s cast in a regular symphonic first-movement form.

Maximum effect

Unsurprisingly, the players, on this occasion under the highly-experienced and totally-assured leadership of violinist, Dawn Ashby, produced a resounding performance which perfectly mirrored Brahms’s exact conception of the work: never short on high spirits, but always under the composer’s habitually-restraining hand, until the massive climax where he introduces the most famous student-song of them all, ‘Gaudeamus Igitur’, as if to be saying: ‘Term is finally out, so, off you go, have a real ball – with my blessing!’ Conductor, Anne Kimber, pulled this off brilliantly, just like a church organist who senses exactly when to unleash the full power of the 64-foot stop to achieve the maximum possible effect.

Above: Anne Kimber (Conductor)

Left: Dawn Ashby (Leader)

For all its impressive acoustics, however, the venue’s abundant columns do compromise both the audience’s view of some of the orchestra, and, somewhat more significantly, the players’ ability to see the conductor, and vice versa. But factor in last night’s strong and intensely penetrative sun’s rays, which, with almost laser-like intensity, then strikes the eyes of different players at different times, and it’s really quite amazing, and a real tribute to all involved, that the ensemble is always as taut as it is, particularly under these somewhat rarer conditions.

Of all the major violin concertos out there, notwithstanding Brahms’s own superb contribution to the repertoire, Tchaikovsky’s lushly-romantic and electrifying Concerto in D, provided the ideal follow-on on the night, even with the strains of ‘Gaudeamus Igitur’ still seemingly echoing from the vaulted ceiling.

Quite phenomenal

After the briefest of orchestral preambles, young Dutch-born violinist, Charlotte Spruit entered the scene with a preliminary flourish, before alighting on the work’s well-known main theme. From the very moment her bow touched the strings, two things became immediately apparent: not only was Charlotte clearly a quite phenomenal player, but the instrument she was playing on matched this in pure quality of sound and workmanship.

Sparkle

In her biography, she describes it as ‘an 18th-century anonymous Italian violin’, which is on loan to her from the Dutch Musical Instruments Foundation. Given that the pre-eminent Stradivari and Guarneri families of violin-makers were active in 17th-century Italy, I’m pretty sure that Charlotte’s violin was possibly from one of these two makers – perhaps as a ‘cash-in-hand’ job for some wealthy Cremonese nobleman, wishing to remain anonymous! Either way, given that both first-movement themes have a singing, rather than assertive melody, Charlotte couldn’t have been better equipped for the task ahead. However, having said that, she was equally blessed with more than sufficient technical prowess to ensure that every passage of solo fireworks simply sparkled with the utmost virtuosity and panache.

Dutch-born violinist, Charlotte Spruit: “…more than sufficient technical prowess to ensure that every passage of solo fireworks simply sparkled with the utmost virtuosity and panache.”

The instrument’s magnificent tone, especially when muted, really came into its own in the second-movement Canzonetta – a plaintively-melancholic melody that, with its modal inflections, most definitely alludes to the composer’s mixed Slavic origins. Born in Russia, he considered himself Russian, but his paternal family originated from Ukraine, and some of his works incorporate Ukrainian themes and melodies. However, Tchaikovsky isn’t a common Russian surname, nor is it very Ukrainian-sounding – if anything, it rather hints at the plausibility of Polish descent.

Luxuriate

Following a short, contrasting middle-section, there is an embellished return to the opening, where we could once more luxuriate in the warmth and heartfelt emotion of Charlotte’s playing. The finale opens abruptly with a loud orchestra first-beat, and, after some further preliminary flourishes, Charlotte embarked on what is effectively a Russian dance, reminiscent of the ‘Trepak’ from Tchaikovsky’s ‘Nutcracker’, and marked ‘Allegro vivacissimo’ – ‘very fast and lively’.

The rest, they say, is history, as Charlotte sailed through the rest of the electrifying last movement, in total control throughout. Whatever obstacle the score threw at her – from delicate high-harmonics to rapid passages of extreme and uncompromising ingenuity – Charlotte swept them aside in what will surely rank as yet another of legendary PSO concerto-collaborations, on this occasion by such a seemingly-modest, yet truly-gifted player, who most richly deserved her standing ovation. Yet again, though, so much credit must also go to Anne Kimber’s secure direction and the highly-disciplined response from every single orchestral player in her charge.

On Charlotte’s part, there was a barely-noticeable, yet quite sublime moment late on in the concerto, when an orchestral entry got momentarily out of synch, something which an already well-seasoned professional Charlotte picked up on immediately, simply adjusting her part to sidestep any potential hiatus. No wonder the orchestra loved her as much for her musicality as for her charming and amenable disposition!

As a keyboard player, I have always had a soft spot for American composer, George Gershwin’s piano music, but, not having played an orchestral instrument, I have always tended to find his purely symphonic works generally less attractive.

Pizzazz, verve, and glamour

Gershwin’s Overture to ‘Strike up the Band’ – which opened the second half – originates from his eponymous musical, which ran unsuccessfully in Philadelphia in 1927, and then in a revised version on Broadway in 1930, though to somewhat greater acclaim. To their real credit, however, PSO really managed to pull something out of the bag culminating in a fine performance which displayed all the pizzazz, verve, and larger-than-life glamour of the Big Apple way back in the 1930s. In fact Anne Kimber and her players did such a great job of selling it to everyone present that, with the benefit of hindsight, it might possibly have provided a more-effective close to the evening as a whole, than the composer’s arguably better-known tone poem, ‘An American in Paris’.

Brio and brie

Gershwin specifically refers to the rhapsodic and vaguely programmatic nature of ‘An American in Paris’ and this is where I feel its somewhat amorphous design – and the distinct need for a little judicious pruning – make it less effective in performance. Granted Anne still managed to squeeze every ounce of ‘brio’ – or should I say ‘brie’ out of Gershwin’s score – right down to PSO’s virtuoso taxi-horns. But, harking back to the close of the March concert, the audience reaction would easily have registered a ‘9’ or more on the ‘clap-o-meter’, whereas tonight it did feel more like a ‘5’. This is absolutely no reflection whatsoever on the respective performances, but rather the perceived ‘oomph-factor’ of each work.

First and Second violins
Cellos and Basses

Meanwhile, Barber’s hauntingly-beautiful ‘Adagio’, certainly added a lush of filling to this otherwise generous New York ‘Gershwin Sandwich’; it also afforded the perfect opportunity to show off arguably PSO’s jewel in the crown – the quite formidable string section.

One of the key points in successfully coaxing a winning performance of the ‘Adagio’ – formerly heard as the central movement of Barber’s String Quartet, Op 11 – is the choice of an appropriate tempo. The four players of the original string-quartet version are able to respond to the subtlest changes of tempo or dynamics with the greatest alacrity, whereas the forty-plus PSO string section doesn’t have that same luxury.

Ease and efficiency

‘Adagio’ implies a slow and stately tempo – literally ‘at ease’. However, to start out at the optimum tempo in  performance, there are a number of important considerations to consider, even before the first note is played – for example, the church’s generous reverberation time when compared with that of the rehearsal venue, and even whether the church is half-full or brimming to the rafters. Needless to say, with Anne’s vast experience, both as conductor and flautist, she was able to factor all the relevant parameters with the ease and efficiency of an on-board computer, resulting in an emotionally-charged performance that always had sufficient onward momentum and direction, yet never felt rushed. While, of course, the first violins were very much in their element here, they were clearly well-supported by the imposing presence of the second violins, and violas.

On this particular occasion the cello section just seemed to be missing a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’, and while no one could possibly ask for more from the two double-bass players on duty, I do feel the orchestra as a whole would benefit immensely from having even one, or ideally two more players.

Job’s a good ‘un

But I’m sure that everyone present is yet again extremely grateful to Anne and her gifted band of players, for currently providing Plymouth with the only opportunity to hear live symphonic music, and to be able to welcome to the city such talented artists like Charlotte to join them, each time!

Guildhall update

Even though the master-plan was for PSO to return to the newly-refurbished Guildhall for their next appearance – their 150th Anniversary Concert, in fact, they have only just heard the venue will now not be ready in time – I say no more!

If you were looking forward to hearing a piano concerto – the original plan for November, I believe – then unfortunately, you will need to wait until next March at the earliest.

But the good news for the rest of us is that at least one more concert will benefit from the infinitely superior acoustic and far greater intimacy of St Andrew’s, especially when PSO has managed to pull off another major coup to save the day.

Those of us who attended the concert back in March can still, no doubt, vividly recall the absolutely superb performance of Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with young British soloist, Maxim Calver. Anne has persuaded him to return for the Anniversary Concert, again in The Minster Church of St Andrew on Wednesday November 26, 2025, on this occasion to perform arguably the most well-loved concerto for the instrument – Elgar’s own, quite sublime Cello Concerto in E minor, and, if that wasn’t a mouth-watering proposition already, it will be sandwich between two more fabulous works – Verdi’s Overture to ‘Nabucco’ and finishing with Tchaikovsky’s spectacular Symphony No 4.

Now if that doesn’t register a straight ‘10’ on the ‘clap-o-meter’, I’ll be extremely surprised!

Full details are available by visiting the PSO website. 

Full details are available by visiting the PSO website. 

CLASSICAL WITH PHILIP R BUTTALL

Philip Buttall
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