Off to hear Brahms’ Violin Concerto, except that we misread the programme and it wasn’t Brahms but Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, which is a perfectly good piece of music in itself, but not a patch on Brahms beautiful melodic work.

We’ve been to hear this orchestra before and it’s always been good, but today was a bit of an off day. The orchestra seemed unbalanced with the treble notes dominating and a lack of depth. What depth there was came from the horns and today they were not up to their usual standard, sometimes too loud, several notes fluffed and more dominant they should be. The opening piece was Mendelssohn’s Hebrides overture. The playing seemed ponderous, lacking the lightness in touch I associate with this piece.

By contrast the Beethoven violin concerto was beautifully played by a visiting violin soloist and the joy on the faces of some of the violinists during her cadenza was a delight to see. The piece was beautifully played.

The last piece was Haydn‘s Drum Roll symphony which was played well with the horns behaving themselves on this occasion. The virtuoso violin was beautifully played and the timpani enjoyed the limelight, though it was a shame that the limitations of the performance space meant the drums had to be rearranged at the end of each movement. 

Add in some mulled wine and mince pies at half-time, knowing that all the contributions were going to the local hospice, and this was a very enjoyable evening, even if the orchestra sounded as if it needed a bit more practice.