NSWO News'Dazzling' end to NSWO season - Nottingham Evening Post (July 13, 2009) Nottingham Evening Post, Monday 13th July 2009
DANCES played a big part in the exhilarating close to the NSWO's season under Keiron Anderson's direction. Philip Sparke wrote his Dance Movements for the US Air Force Band. The first had a Latin-American flavour, while the last recalled the panache of West Side Story. Woodwind and brass were featured in the inner movements, one evoking a country dance, the other a romantic ballet. This work needed the extra resources of piano, cello and harp. It was a tight squeeze on the platform of the Djanogly Recital Hall, but the orchestra kept their collective wits about them. Kenneth Hesketh created airier textures in his Danceries, which combined 17th-century tunes with melodies of his own devising. Old and new elements merged in the final Quodling's Delight. Earlier, the orchestra revealed similar delights in Gustav Holst's classic Suite No 1 and in Lincolnshire Posy, Percy Grainger's challenging arrangement of traditional songs collected on rambles. The concert opened with the imaginative effects of Eric Whitacre's Noisy Wheels of Joy. Transcriptions for band of his Lux Aurumque and Morten Lauridsen's lyrical O Magnum Mysterium enhanced this dazzling evening. Peter Palmer  |