The concert was dedicated to the late Ann Davies, who held many posts with the orchestra as well as playing in it. It began with Elgar’s ‘Nimrod’ from the ‘Enigma Variations’, a work dedicated to friendship. The piece began with quiet restraint but built up in volume and feeling.
The ‘William Tell’ overture by Rossini began uncertainly, but picked up with an orchestral thunderstorm and a slower section that evoked a feeling of the natural world. As the programme pointed out, the last section, used as the Lone Ranger theme, refers to an opera with no horses. It does well at expressing the defeat of imperialism.
Tchaikovsky’s ‘Variations on a Rococo Theme’ began with an elegant and cheerful melody, but cello soloist Jane Lindsay ably escorted us through many different moods and paces. I got the feeling that Tchaikovsky enjoyed writing this, and the soloist passed the feeling on.
The final work was Dvorak’s seventh symphony in D minor. The orchestra showed to great advantage here, especially in the wonderful third movement that carries the listener away.