Todmorden Orchestra, with conductor Nicholas Concannon Hodges and leader Andrew Rostron, ably presented a programme full of emotion. It began with Brahms’ Tragic Overture. This had a dramatic, strong opening, with a sense of struggle, resistance, and eventual triumph.
The expert and graceful playing of soloist Michael Foyle in Dvorak’s Violin Concerto in A minor was much appreciated by the audience. The concerto opened powerfully and ended with lively Czech dance rhythms.
The final piece was Tchaikovsky’s symphony no6, the Pathetique. The first movement has a feeling of yearning, but the second is a dance and the third a vigorous march. However, there is a dismissive feel to the march. It is sending itself up. The last movement reveals the feelings that the first movement suggested and the second and third tried to hide. It is full of passionate sadness and dies away at the end.