A small number of us from the Choir enjoyed a wonderful afternoon last Sunday in the not-so-preposessing confines of the Ryde Civic Centre.  Carlos was conducting the Ryde Hunters Hill Symphony Orchestra in an ambitious program, one which he previously admitted was proving extremely challenging and possibly stretching themselves just a little too far.

Well it did not show.  From the arresting first chords and precisely timed intervening silences of the opening of Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture, it was clear that the orchestra and conductor meant business.  What followed was a masterful and authoritative reading of a short but complex work.  From that the orchestra moved on to the sublime Harp Concerto by Gliere, with the Choir’s friend Georgia Lowe as soloist.   What a delightful work!  The second movement especially, a theme and variations, was captivating in its charm, with an apparent simplicity which I suspect masked a lot of inner workings.

Then came Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony.  The horns declaimed the opening theme with firmness and style, setting the scene for a performance that was engaging and full of high-class musicianship, yet full-bloodedly Romantic, at times so exciting as to appear to be at the edge of the conductor’s control.  The applause at the end was indeed well-deserved, as the audience had enjoyed a memorable musical experience.