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About the RTWSO concerts
The
RTWSO has long been established as an important arts organisation in
Kent. The orchestra presents six concerts each year in the Assembly
Hall Theatre, Tunbridge Wells, starting at 3pm on Sunday afternoons.
The 2011/12 season will appeal to musiclovers of all ages. RTWSO
concerts are an ideal way to experience entertaining and accessible
live music. Support the RTWSO by going to its concerts, booking early,
booking often and spreading the word to your friends about the joy of
listening to classical music.
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 Sunday
2 October 2011
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Roderick Dunk conductor
Freddy Kempf piano
Rossini
Overture, ‘The Italian Girl in Algiers’
Beethoven
Piano Concerto No. 3
Brahms
Symphony No. 3
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The RTWSO’s 90th season of concerts
is brimming with diversity and underpinned by first class soloists. It
starts with an overture by Rossini, which is among the jewels of the
Classical period. The music is remarkable for its fusion of
driving energy and elegant, pristine melodies.
Freddy Kempf is one of today’s most successful pianists and has built a
reputation as a physical performer, not afraid to take risks. He will
perform Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto, which is rich in emotions
containing intense, stormy and
agitated music. As the composer experiments with new orchestral sounds,
it marks his transition from the Classical to Romantic styles with
turbulent passages and freedom of form. The piano writing is muscular,
challenging the capabilities of the instrument.
In his Third Symphony,
Brahms achieved a new level of thematic coherence and organic unity for
a large-scale work. This meticulous masterpiece is compact with
well balanced proportions. Season sponsors, Classic Violins & Tim Toft Violins Ltd.
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Sunday
6 November 2011
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Neil Thomson conductor
David Pyatt horn
Vaughan Williams
Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis
Mozart
Horn Concerto No. 3
Bizet
Jeux d’Enfants (Petite Suite)
Larsson
Concertino for Horn
Bizet
Symphony in C
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Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia is a beautifully imagined work of passion,
mystery and radiance with shadows lurking in the corners. It’s an
outstanding example of the creative reinterpretation of the past.
Horn player, David Pyatt has an extensive
repertoire, as demonstrated in this concert. He will begin with the
Third Horn
Concerto by Mozart. Written at the height of his powers, this popular
piece contains a wonderful romance in the middle. Larsson’s concerto is
full of Swedish melodies and one can hear the influence of Carl
Nielsen. The finale requires quick fingerwork and calls for great
power and stamina.
Bizet is nowadays remembered for his
lyric operas. But he was equally at home in the suite form, and his
Jeux d’Enfants bears the stamp of his genius. Bizet’s early symphony is
stylistically close to Gounod, yet reveals a spontaneous
melodist and charming orchestrator in an accomplished piece that
foreshadows Carmen. Season sponsors, Classic Violins & Tim Toft Violins Ltd.
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Sunday
4 December 2011
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Roderick Dunk conductor
Lara Melda piano
Arnold
The Holly and the Ivy
Tchaikovsky
The Nutcracker Suite
John Williams
Harry Potter & The Sorcerer’s Stone
Grieg
Piano Concerto
Anderson
Christmas Festival Overture
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The sensational winner of the 2010 BBC
Young Musician of the Year, Lara Melda, will perform one of the
best-loved of all Romantic piano concertos. Grieg’s enduring piece owes
its popularity to the pianistic bravura and proliferation of simply
constructed, yet dramatic ideas. His musical expression defines the
character and beauty of Norway, not least in the signature opening,
based on intervals characteristic of Norwegian folk music.
Christmas is a magical time of year and this family concert will set
the mood. It opens with Arnold’s Fantasy on Christmas Carols from The
Holly and the Ivy, a festive work arranged by Christopher Palmer from
the 1950s film score.
John Williams has earned a reputation for
his music in blockbusters, not least through the success of the Harry
Potter themes.
Characters of a different kind come to
life in Tchaikovsky’s graceful music from his ballet. But the holiday
season can’t begin until you’ve heard Anderson’s tuneful tapestry.
A
concert for John Sumner Season sponsors, Classic Violins & Tim Toft Violins Ltd.
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Sunday
5 February 2012 - The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert
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Roderick Dunk conductor
Callum Smart violin
Walton
Orb and Sceptre
Tchaikovsky
Violin Concerto
Coates
The Three Elizabeths
Elgar
Wand of Youth Suite
Walton
Crown Imperial
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Royal events have inspired some truly
great music. To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s accession
to the throne, this concert features several ceremonial pieces.
Walton’s Or and Sceptre march was composed for the coronation of
Queen Elizabeth II. With its bright trumpet fanfares, the grandeur of
the music is paraded for all to hear. Like his Crown Imperial march,
performed at the coronation of King George VI, it quietens for a trio
section. Elgar’s love of ceremony and reflective quality make his Wand
of Youth Suite
unmistakably English in tone. Similarly, Coates represented the
nationalism of his time in his suite.
Callum Smart, from Tunbridge Wells, was a
prize-winner at the 2010 Menuhin Competition in Oslo and played in the
final of the 2010 BBC Young Musician competition. For his début with
the RTWSO, he will perform Tchaikovsky’s lyrical Violin
Concerto, an autobiographical work born out of personal despair. Season sponsors, Classic Violins & Tim Toft Violins Ltd.
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Sunday
4 March 2012
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Christopher Adey conductor
Jong-Gyung Park piano
Nicolai
Merry Wives of Windsor Overture
Schumann
Piano Concerto
Rachmaninov
Symphony No. 2
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Full of captivating melody, Nicolai’s
light-hearted overture is bright and fresh. He revered Mozart and
sought to emulate his elegance and clarity of form. The introduction
suggests the broad landscape of the Thames-side town of Windsor.
Schumann was the essence of the Romantic composer who wrote in a
personal idiom. His Piano Concerto was inspired by his love for his
wife, Clara. Composed during the idyllic early months of his marriage,
it reflects the composer’s happiness at the time. Written by a pianist,
for a pianist, the work displays a unique understanding of the
instrument. After her engaging performance last season, we eagerly
await hearing soloist Jong-Gyung Park again.
Russian music doesn’t get any more
Romantic than Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony. Lush, expansive and
gloriously indulgent, it sweeps from vast brooding landscapes to
soaring love scenes. This flowing piece demonstrates the composer’s
mastery of technique from skilful counterpoint to brilliant
orchestration.
Sponsored
by Relish restaurant Season sponsors, Classic Violins & Tim Toft Violins Ltd.
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Sunday
1 April 2012
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Neil Thomson conductor
Guy Johnston cello
German
Overture ‘Nell Gwyn’
Elgar
Cello Concerto
Bliss
Prologue & Five Dances from Checkmate
Britten
Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
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Nowadays German is remembered for his incidental music and as a
successor to Sullivan in the field of English comic opera. We celebrate
the 150th anniversary of his birth by performing his Nell Gwyn overture.
Elgar was an outstanding figure in British musical life. The intense
passion and reflective melodies of his Cello Concerto draw from a world
shattered by the consequences of the First World War. Similarly, in
1937, it was impossible for Bliss to ignore the politics of Europe. As
befits the theme of a warlike game of chess, the brutal power of
Checkmate never fails to capture the imagination in the struggle
between the opposing forces of love and death.
The Young Person’s Guide is an
effervescent set of variations on a theme by Purcell. Britten’s
wellcrafted showpiece gives each section of the orchestra a chance to
shine, culminating in one of the great moments in 20th-century music.
Sponsored
by The Friends of the RTWSO Season sponsors, Classic Violins & Tim Toft Violins Ltd.
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