Concert at Symphony Hall
CBSO matinee concert at Symphony Hall, Birmingham- January 2018
The Centre’s first outing of the year was a visit to Symphony Hall, for the third year running. We were pleased that Centre member Bernard Colechin, who celebrated his hundredth birthday on 18 January, was able to come along. As usual, Terry, our coach driver, negotiated the Birmingham traffic and redevelopment with his customary care and good humour.
We were treated to a lively and impressive programme by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with a Japanese conductor and a Croatian pianist: Glinka’s Ruslan & Ludmila overture; Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2; and Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 2.
The Rachmaninov symphony was an epic performance – passionate with soaring romantic melodies. It was a delight to experience such powerful and lyrical music – and the audience loved it! The members of the orchestra clearly enjoyed playing the symphony as much as the large audience enjoyed listening to it.
We are lucky to have a world-class orchestra on our doorstep. The CBSO will soon celebrate its centenary – it has made formidable progress since Sir Edward Elgar conducted the first concert in 1920.
Chris Fonteyn