Fitting finale for departing conductor

HENLEY Symphony Orchestra presented a rich, sweet cocktail of popular late 19th and early 20th century “dance music” as the very last performance with its popular and
talented conductor, Ian Brown.

He has been an outstanding conductor of the orchestra for more than 27 years and at Saturday’s short concert, he demonstrated his skills in encouraging and shaping the orchestra’s playing for one last masterful time.

This was a joyful event packed with well-known short pieces by Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns, Bartók, Dvorák and Strauss, chosen to suit adults and children.

Henley Symphony Orchestra had sent invitations and some free tickets to primary schools, a scheme generously supported by Henley Town Council.

Mindful that the programme was designed for families, compère Anjali Singh and her companion Deborah Rochfort introduced each piece including banter and jokes along the way. There was a cracking start with Offenbach’s Can Can, increasing in pace and volume, it was received enthusiastically. Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre followed which was described as “spooky” by the compère and the significance of the opening single notes and the diabolus in musica explained.

The tale of Sleeping Beauty was told and pieces from Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty Suite appeared twice in the programme with Romanian Folk Dances (Bartók) and Slavonic Dances (Dvorák) sandwiched between.

Then, rather controversially, the compère encouraged adults and children to dance to Bartók’s last piece, Fast Dance, somewhat ambitious for the very hot afternoon, but it allowed the children to move around a bit.

The orchestra was lively throughout and produced some really beautiful playing although, perhaps, the heat did eventually affect some of their playing, especially in Dvorák’s No. 7 dance in C minor where the strings were somewhat ragged. Maybe they were exhausted by watching the dancing to the preceding Bartók piece.

Occasionally, the brass section was not quite pitch perfect but it was wonderful to see two new young players in the horn section but the woodwind section delivered delightful patches of lyrical melodies in Tchaikovsky’s pieces, especially the flute in the Rose Adagio.

The much-loved contribution of the harpist in that piece was magical as was the leader David Burton’s sensitive playing briefly showcased in Bartók’s Dance from Buscam.

Finally, the audience was treated to a stunning and dramatic finale with Strauss’s Thunder and Lightning Polka and Ian Brown bowed out for the last time with the orchestra with much well-deserved applause.