|
Festival Review Christopher Morley, November - December 2006, Musical Opinion, page 65. An extract from the 'Midlands Update'. |
|
|
|
.... 'Immediately the Stratford International Flute Festival closed its doors for the year The Virtuoso Violin, a series of Master Classes and recitals devoted to the study of Bach and Paganinni and already known to regular readers of Musical Opinion, set up shop for the fifth time. Founded by the Stratford-based violinist Rimma Sushanskaya. the last pupil of David Oistrakh, together with the late Bach keyboard specialist Rosalyn Turek, it attracts high-calibre young string players from around the world, forging particular strong cultural links with Sushanskaya's native Russia. There is also an important connection with the Birmingham Conservatoire, where she teaches. |
|
Sushanskaya has recently
developed a burgeoning interest in conducting , and in the last couple of
years she has marked her festival's conclusion by directing a concert in
which various members of the Virtuoso Violin Course play concerto
movements, to the accompaniment of an orchestra drawn from the rest of
their colleagues plus local high-calibre string players. Which is
where Musical Opinion stands up and declares an additional
interest. Preparing a feature for the magazine on Sushanskaya's Festival last year, my colleague Robert Matthew-Walker was so impressed with the ideas behind the enterprise that he offered to compose a piece for this year's concluding concert, and the result was his Serenata Concertante, the Festivals first ever World Premiere, given on the 14th August in Stratford's Holy Trinity Church, with William Shakespeare sleeping just a few yards away. This very attractive work, scored for 6 Solo Violins and String Orchestra, is irreproachably tonal and English in feel, and makes a welcome addition to the string orchestra repertoire. Its 7-minute span neatly structured, the first Interlude for the solo Sextet leads to a gracious Waltz, the second, a complex 6-part Cadenza, ushers in a brief moment of aching emptiness before the effective, symmetry-making conclusion. It received remarkable preparation in only a matter of days from Sushanskaya and her students, who gave an impressive first performance. It now deserves to join the ranks of well-formed compositions in the characteristic British String Orchestra repertoire, grateful to both performers and listeners.' |
|
|
|
|
