New Bristol Sinfonia - Reviews

Aggressive yet utterly captivating  Published in the Bristol Evening Post, 23rd June 2009

New Bristol Sinfonia: Victoria Rooms.

This orchestra is renowned for its adventurous programming and Saturday’s concert was no exception with two powerful Russian masterpieces.

For Tchiakovsky’s Violin Concerto, young soloist David Chivers showed great talent which was evident from his first entry where he achieved a beautiful tone. There was a warn-hearted account of the Canzonetta before the finale concluded the performance of masterly maturity.

Shostakovich wrote 15 symphonies and his tenth is now widely regarded as the finest of the cycle. It has been called “A composer’s testament of misery, forever damning a tyrant (Stalin).”

At times this is savaged music, though incredibly exciting. This amateur orchestra gave a superb rendition of this testing piece which was worthy of any professional outfit.

8/10

JOHN PACKWOOD

Concert was held on Saturday 20th June 2009 - archived information can be viewed here.