of balance
WHEN it mixed Beethoven with Berlioz on Saturday, the Ludlow Orchestra posed the question of "how classical" the French master was, with his adventurous, often experimental, use of the orchestra for Harold in Italy.
This gave the orchestra an insuperable problem. It had to balance a big, noisy wind and percussion with a comparably large and tonally unified string sound.
Helen Wearing played the viola solos in Harold with style, confidence and accuracy. Her warm tone easily dominated, except when she was pitted against the combined orchestral forces.
Cheerful
The problem of balance was less acute in Beethoven in the first half. Richard White won from his band a cheerful interpretation of the relatively light-hearted Symphony no 8. Because of the less technically taxing score, intonation was more secure.
White chose a slower than normal tempo for the jaunty scherzando, which seemed to reduce a cheerful canter to a somewhat lumpy trot.
Both the symphony and the Egmont overture beforehand received enthusiastic applause from a large audience in St Laurence Church.
Stephen Tunnicliffe
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