‘The music was building a picture of huge open countryside – BBC NOW
On a tour through some of America’s greatest music, Maisie lets us inside one of the highlights of this summer’s Festival with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
The final performance I watched at Lichfield Festival was the BBC National Orchestra of Wales performing at Lichfield Cathedral. The concert was part of the Festival’s America250 series and celebrated American music through pieces by Charles Ives, Samuel Barber and Aaron Copland. Violinist Maria Ioudenitch also performed Barber’s Violin Concerto with the orchestra.
What interested me about this performance was how different the three pieces were, even though they were all written by American composers. Three Places in New England by Charles Ives was inspired by different places in New England and I liked the idea that music could create an image of a place without needing any words. Some parts of the music were quite calm but other moments contained lots of different sounds at once which gave it a much busier and more unpredictable feeling.
Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto was probably the piece I found most interesting because the violin has such an important part. Maria Ioudenitch was the soloist, and the violin almost seems to have its own voice against the much larger orchestra. The beginning is much gentler and more emotional and I think this makes the faster sections later on seem even more dramatic. The final part of the piece is incredibly fast and energetic and must take an enormous amount of concentration and skill from the violinist. I liked the contrast between the orchestra creating this huge sound and one violin still being able to stand out.
I found out that the final piece, Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, was originally written as a ballet and it had a really different atmosphere. At some points it felt peaceful and spacious and then suddenly became much livelier. One of the things I liked was how the instruments seemed to take turns introducing different melodies before the whole orchestra joined together. There were moments where the music felt almost like it was building a picture of huge open countryside.
What stood out to me across the whole programme was how an orchestra can change the atmosphere so quickly. With so many musicians playing at once, the sound can be incredibly powerful, but they can also become quiet enough for one instrument to draw your attention. The cathedral created an interesting setting for such a large orchestra and the screens throughout the cathedral also meant that the audience could see close-up views of the musicians as they performed.
I think this was an interesting way for the Festival to celebrate American music because the three composers had very different styles. Rather than every piece sounding similar, they showed how many different emotions and images an orchestra can create.
By Maisie K
If you’re aged 11-18 and would like to be a festival reviewer, applications will open soon for Young Critics – find out more on our website https://lichfieldfestival.org/aspire/young-critics/