The Orchestra of the Haslemere Musical Society opened its 100th season with an inspirational concert at St Christopher’s Church, Haslemere, on Saturday, 14 October 2023, to an enthusiastic packed audience which included the Mayor of Haslemere, Councillor Jerome Davidson. We were treated to an evening of the popular and the less well-known regions of the classical music spectrum.

The concert began with the overture to Il ritorno di Tobia, Franz Josef Haydn’s first oratorio, which is based on the story of Tobit and his son Tobias from the Apocrypha, set in Nineveh. This short work was given a confident opening by the orchestra which includes a selection of Haydn’s delightful melodies from this seldom performed oratorio. The work was composed and first performed in Vienna in 1775.

English composer Constant Lambert (1905-51) was the founding music director of the Sadler’s Wells Ballet, (1931-47) subsequently the Royal Ballet, and is best remembered for his ballet music (Horoscope, Pomona) and his work for piano, choir and orchestra, Rio Grande (1927). The HMS Orchestra gave us a less often performed example of his output, Aubade héroique (1942) which was dedicated to Vaughan Williams, one of his tutors.

As conductor James Ross explained, Lambert’s Aubade héroïque looks back, in its dreamlike serenity, to Debussy’s Berceuse héroïque, for piano composed in November 1914. Lambert had taken the Sadler’s Wells Ballet on a tour of the Netherlands and became trapped due to the German invasion. Lambert explains that “this short piece was inspired by a daybreak during the invasion of Holland, the calm of the surrounding park contrasting with the distant mutterings of war." From the cor anglais’s entry before the orchestra joins in with gentle strings and individual instrumental highlights and distant trumpet calls before the music fades away. This captivating work was charmingly played by the orchestra.

We were then introduced to the evening’s soloist, Ezo Sarici, a young Turkish violinist who is training at the Royal Academy of Music and has won many prizes for her musicianship across Europe. She treated us to an excellent and very emotional performance of Mendelssohn’s wonderful Violin Concerto in E minor. The soloist blended superbly with the orchestra. It often sounded as if the violin was crying, such was the emotion created by this wonderful concerto. Indeed, the depth of feeling on the soloist’s face matched the melancholic mood of the music. A truly superb performance.

After the interval, we were introduced to Charles Gounod’s Symphony No. 1 in D, a work that is seldom programmed in current times. Gounod is known more for his operas, Faust (1859) and Romeo et Juliette (1867). Although composed in 1855, almost 30 years after Beethoven’s death, this work sounds more like Haydn or Mozart without a hint of romanticism. In the usual four movements, fast, slow, minuet-like scherzo and slow-fast finale, it is certainly not ahead of its time. It opened with a Haydnesque allegro with brass interjections; the delightful second movement was lively, even if the melodies were far from memorable. The minuet-style scherzo led into a slow introduction to the finale which ended with a boisterous allegro vivace. The work was well played by the orchestra and they were courageous in tackling such an uninspiring symphony.

This was a fine musical evening which was much enjoyed by the assembled music loving clientele. The highlight of the evening was undoubtedly the wonderful performance of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto by the guest soloist, Ezo Carici. It was a delight to hear such a professionally competent presentation of this justly popular concerto in Haslemere. We left the church into a cold evening with musical warmth in our hearts.

Roger Saunders

President - Haslemere Recorded Music Society