Concert, Sunday 16th November 1997

From Russia with verve!

LYNN Corn Exchange was an appropriate venue for the almost totally revitalised Norfolk Symphony Orchestra, when, last Sunday afternoon, they presented a programme of popular classics guaranteed to tickle the palate of any discerning music-lover.

Conducted by its director, James Stobart, the 80-strong ensemble seems to have been completely overhauled. As had, in 1902, the opening work, Sibelius' Symphonic Poem En Saga. This patriotic piece with its variegated tone colours, was, despite a faltering start on brass, an absolute delight. Its haunting, ethereal atmosphere was sensitively engendered, and the strings' quiet glissandos superbly executed. But that work was just a preamble to a performance on piano which was sheer joy.

Young, attractive and diminutive Russian pianist Elizaveta Kopelman, delighted the capacity audience with a performance of the ever-popular Piano Concerto Number Two by Rachmaninov, which displayed such incredibly well-honed technique it belied her tender years. The portentous beginning was performed with extraordinary confidence, whereas the agitated middle section was projected with tremendous energy. And the slow movement's smooth, sustained notation was performed with tremendous feeling. Contrastingly, however, Miss Kopelman seemed to revel in the bright and breezy passages in the final movement. And the expansive lyricism of the finale was executed with such tremendous verve she left me, and I'm sure many in the audience, emotionally drained.

Brahms' Symphony Number One (dubbed Beethoven's Tenth Symphony) was the concert's concluding work. This was performed with intermittent dynamism, despite one or two lapses in the brass section. Highlighted by smooth violin phrasing, sparkling pizzicatos and well-articulated woodwind passages, its vivacious and voluminous finale brought about a zestful conclusion to a most enjoyable musical event.

Rex Mountain, "Lynn News", Nov. 1997.