Marina Theatre, Lowestoft
Marina Theatre, Lowestoft
The third season of the RPO's residency in Lowestoft got off to a rousing start last night with Mozart's Marriage of Figaro Overture. Murray Stewart was the latest in a series of conductors to visit Lowestoft with the orchestra, and his calm and unassuming manner was ideally suited to this relatively small venue. Via a rushed Hall of the Mountain King, a sequence of English pieces followed. Vaughan Williams's Fantasia on Greensleeves was again too hasty, but the orchestra relaxed for Elgar's Nimrod and a sublime Lark Ascending, with the orchestra's leader, Clio Gould, as soloist. The William Tell Overture ended the first half.
The programme continued another four popular favourites before the most substantial item of the evening, the Haydn Trumpet Concerto. Brian Thom-son was firmly in command as soloist, apart from a few problems in the finale, where the tempo was a little too speedy. Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila Overture brought the concert to its official end but, as an encore, Offenbach's Can-Can was much appreciated with a standing ovation from yet another capacity audience.
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