Brandenburg Concerto No.3 at Dewsbury Town Hall

Well, this was a surprise. Normally the lunchtime concerts at this venue comprise small groups of musicians but today the Orchestra of Opera North pulled out all the stops and fielded a team of seventeen players. I was really pleased as this is one of my favourite pieces of classical music. In fact, it was instrumental – see what I did there – in arousing my interest in the genre.

I had heard pieces of classical music at primary school when the headmistress would play a 78rpm record each morning to break the silence whilst all of the school gathered in the hall for assembly, and my great uncle had a few which I would play on his gramophone, but once I got into pop music it was goodbye to all that. In the late sixties I was into a group called The Nice, a slang term for drug dealer, so they specialised in psychedelia, I enjoyed the music although eschewed the chemicals. On one of their albums Ars Longa Vita Brevis, they put their spin on Sibelius’s Karalia Suite and today’s piece which they called Brandenburger. After listening to them I sought out the ‘originals’. You may remember them for their version of Bernstein’s America from West Side Story which was banned by the BBC, a badge of honour! Keith Emerson, the organist, went on to form Emerson, Lake and Palmer who introduced millions more to classical music with Fanfare For The Common Man. If you would like to see who to blame for my writing about classical music then please go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msX_v0s79oU

Before the music began I availed myself of the food on sale and as it was a sunny April day I headed straight for the soup as it was also blowing a wind straight from the Arctic. It was an amazing tomato creation which was so thick as to more resemble a gel than a liquid. A round of sandwiches and I was ready to go.

The Orchestra of Opera North

This performance introduced the newly appointed leader, Katie Stillman, so that was an added pleasure. It began with J S Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No.1 in F major, a piece not covered by the aforementioned prog rock group, which utilised the whole ensemble. It was in four movements, some of which had everyone playing and others with just strings or wind.

The third item on the agenda was called Fratres, by Arvo Pärt in a version for solo violin, string orchestra and percussion. To facilitate the rearranging of the furniture for this combination, there was a piano solo, Homage á Bach, by Henri Dutilleux, played by Annette Saunders on piano, dramatically lit by a spotlight whilst the rest of the stage was darkened so as not to allow the activity in moving the chairs and music stands to detract from her magnificent keying.

The fourth work was Drones and Violin No.1, a title worthy of The Nice, which involved a background of – you guessed it – drones, supplied by the cellos and piano, with the violins taking the melody.

Annette Saunders, piano and new Leader of the Orchestra of Opera North, Katie Stillman, violin.

Finally we came to the main event, Brandenburg Concerto No.3 by J S Bach, but not before there was another spotlit piece, this time with Ms Saunders being joined by Ms Stillman for a duet between piano and violin, enabling the stage to be rejigged again. The music was mesmerising.

Only the strings section was involved in the finale which was a wonderful end to another amazing lunchtime at Dewsbury Town Hall. I really can’t praise these events highly enough. They involve some of the best musicians you will ever hear, in sets which last about an hour, so give the perfect taster, in more ways than one, of what Opera North has to offer, whilst being well curated sessions in their own right. There are only three more left in this season’s calendar, so why not book a slot now at https://www.operanorth.co.uk/kirklees-concert-season/

The String Section take a bow, or one each!

For a full programme of events from Opera North, please go to https://www.operanorth.co.uk/

Dewsbury Town Hall events can be found at https://www.kirklees.gov.uk/beta/town-halls/events-and-shows.aspx

Photographs by Stan Graham