Final concert of the season - already! The Chamber Philharmonic Europe were in town to close the Skipton Music season with a varied programme - Nielsen, Borodin, Hummel, Schubert, Albinoni, Mozart.
The group consisted of 8 performers (soloist Pawel Zuzanski also performed as first violin) plus trumpeter Kirill Gusarov. An international bunch - at the end when the players were announced individually, the list of countries of origin included Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Kazakhstan....
For me, the concert was quite mixed. Some pieces were excellent - very high quality performances; others less so. Kirill Gusarov was superb - both his solo, and the orchestra, in Hummel's Concerto for Trumpet & Orchestra in E flat major, were really great; Kirill made the long phrases and trills of the trumpet sound so simple. Before that, a quartet from the Philharmonic performed Borodin's Nocturno from Quartett No. 2 in D major - a very well known piece but nonetheless performed strongly and simply. I'm sure most of the audience were holding their breath.
After the interval, Pawel Zusanski took the solo spot for Schubert's Rondo for Violin and Orchestra D438. Whilst a solid performance, it didn't match the Hummel in intensity. The other 'crowd favourite' which followed, Albinoni's Adagio in G minor for String Orchestra, was again performed with a simple, powerful manner.
The main concert finished with Mozart's Divertimento in F major K.138 - performed well especially in the 2nd and 3rd movements. The audience were then rewarded with two encores, Kirill Gusarov contributing Rafael Méndez' Romanza. Both encores excellent.
Maybe it's the way they play... but the assembled group didn't address the audience at all (even their bows were subdued) throughout the main programme. After being introduced at the end and between the encores, there was much more engagement - which was appreciated by the audience.
As for next year's Skipton Music - the proposed programme looks inviting, including names such as Alina Ibragimova.
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