The Vale Royal String Orchestra is looking forward to its first concert following the relaxation of the Covid rules. It is a varied programme featuring Bach’s Brandenburg concerto No 5 with soloists, Andrew Millinchip (Harpsichord), Charlotte Crosbie (flute) and Robert Anderson (violin).
From Jewish Life by Ernest Bloch is a set of three short movements for solo cello and string orchestra exploring the entire range of the solo cello. The movement’s structures are simple using of Eastern European modality to create a distinctive atmosphere The soloist is the Orchestra’s principal cello, Alison Burns.
Local composer Alan Lees wrote his Three Thingummies for Strings based on Old French Tunes as a bit of fun.
The Serenade by Dag Wiren is well known and may be familiar to some as the signature to the BBC programme Monitor some time ago. It is very tuneful full of catchy phrases.
Edvard Grieg composed The Elegiac Memories marking his return to composing after a period of illness. There are two melodies, the first depicting the ‘Wounds of Life’ and the second ‘Last Spring’ sees rebirth but knowing death is on the way.
Another local composer, Richard Williams, features in a short atmospheric piece, Verdant Vales.
The concert concludes with Holst’s Brook Green Suite which was written for the St Paul’s Girls School string orchestra in the year before his death. There are three movements with the last being an energetic dance.
