Thursday evening was the Trinity Laban Symphony Orchestra at Blackheath Halls and the highlight of the programme was Shostakovich Symphony no. 11. A very powerful piece of music which grabs the listeners' attention at many points and some beautiful trumpet playing from the section of mainly 4th years. The first half was also interesting but I wasn't familiar with any of the pieces and I suppose "interesting" sums up how I felt about it. Always good to experience new music though even if it's not your cup of tea!
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| ACONCB when I was a member in October 2013 |
On Friday I travelled to Bishop's Stortford for the Air Cadet National Concert Band "The Big Screen" Concert. This band is very special to me as I was a member for 4 years and it was one of the key elements towards my progression as a trumpet player - I owe them a lot! The band played a great selection of music very well from a variety of films, although Les Mis will forever be my favourite. Despite this, the highlight of this evening was actually the incidental music during the interval. 5 of the boys had formed a barbershop group and my brother sang a solo! *cue proud big sister moment* It was the first time I've properly heard him sing and it was such a treat. Next step is convincing him to do a duet with Dad...
The third concert was the English Schools' Orchestra at Cadogan hall on Sunday afternoon. The principal trombone player is a friend of mine and the all-Russian programme sounded exciting so my flatmate and I went along to watch. I loved the opening of Shostakovich Festive Overture as I've never heard it played live and as some of you will know, it is an important trumpet feature - the best way to kick off a concert of course! This was followed by Rachmaninov Piano Concerto no.2, an absolutely gorgeous piece performed so beautifully by Cordelia Williams, winner of the BBC Young Musician Piano Competition. The second half wasn't quite as impressive as the first in my opinion, however Prokofiev's 5th symphony was still very engaging and enjoyable to listen to. (I realise I sound a bit like a wanna-be Classical music critic, that was unintentional, simply my opinion!)
So all in all, 3 very good concerts over a 4 day span, making Halloween that slight bit more bearable!
S x
