Concert, Sunday 7th March 1999

Young pianist gives masterly performance as substitute:

Bad luck turned to good when the orchestra lost its third soloist in recent years - and enjoyed a masterly performance by a 23-year-old pianist.

The orchestra must have felt jinxed when Anya Alexeyev had to pull out on medical advice and the hunt began for a pianist who could perform Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2. It's an ill wind, as they say, and the orchestra's large and loyal band of supporters who warmly applauded Marko Martin could well have witnessed a star in the making. He was born in Estonia and began his musical studies at the age of eight. A succession of awards earned him a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music in London in 1996 and shortly he will play the same Brahms concerto at the Barbican. The work has the grand qualities of a symphony with four movements, and conductor James Stobart ensured the crucial integration between piano and orchestra was accomplished successfully.

Marko Martin gave a virtuoso performance full of animation, emotional intensity and sparkling technique.

The programme was unashamedly popular and began with Mozart's Overture to the Magic Flute followed by Elgar's Enigma Variations, in which James Stobart achieved perfect balance between all sections of the orchestra. The impact was heightened by the moving strains of Nimrod, a piece capable of making the hairs on the back of one's neck stand on end. And it did!

Alison Croose, "Eastern Daily Press", Monday 8/3/99.

Masterful:

James Stobart and the Norfolk Symphony Orchestra, completely unfazed yet again by a last-minute replacement soloist, drew a tumultuous ovation from (yet again!) a completely sold-out Lynn Corn Exchange on Sunday, in their series of masterworks concerts.

The main event was Brahms' second piano concerto, with 24-year-old Marko Martin in the hot seat. His performance was full of power, athleticism and unflagging stamina, integrating and balancing extremely well with Stobart's direction. Composed in the shadow of Beethoven as virtually a four-movement symphony, perhaps the 45-year-old Johnny Brahms was influenced by his own teenage piano gigs in the broth halls of Hamburg, delving deep into those passions writing it. Once Martin lays to one side his concern with the complete technical control of the solo part and matches his own passion with that of Stobart and Brahms, this boy has got it stitched up. Jessica Berners' cello laid down for him a beautifully-shaped opening in the third movement, a gift he accepted most gallantly and politely when he should have devoured it for us most indulgently!

Elgar's Enigma Variations must be one of the most complexly-designed musical structures of the romantic period ever placed on a music stand, but the NSO unravelled it all, individually and sectionally, with great care, insight, and extreme sensitivity, using a very large palette of colours, while Stobart's meticulous rehearsing never lost sight of the big picture during his inspired performance. He gave us everything, with wonderful whispering, delicate filigree, witty woodwind, magnificent burnished brass, a sizzling Troyte (Variation VII) and particularly sumptuous strings.

The concert began with a slightly heavily-strung full-blown Magic Flute overture, which fully revealed the mystical elements of the opera's story, notwithstanding that tiniest blip. The whole concert was superb - excellent value, with yet more to come to Friends if the NSO can keep it up. Stay with it.

Neville Mackinder, "Lynn News", Friday 12/3/99.

Concert, Sunday 9th May 1999

NSO triumphs again:

A highly talented young pianist added significantly to a rich musical feast in which the orchestra again demonstrated its skills.

Evocative pictures were created by the musicians' sensitive playing of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, as they conjured up the mystery of the Arabian nights. A series of familiar themes, full of beauty and excitement, were introduced by beguiling violin solos played by the orchestra's capable leader Jane Foottit. James Stobart conducted the orchestra with firm yet sensitive control, eliciting a delightful performance which brought well-earned enthusiastic applause.

It is hardly surprising the NSO concerts continue to be sell-outs while they present such varied and interesting programmes. This one opened with Weber's overture to Oberon, which provided another vehicle for the orchestra to display its versatility.

The county orchestra's supporters were introduced to the musical skills of 25-year-old Moscow-born Elizaveta Kopelman last year, and for many the highlight of their latest concert was her performance of Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto, the Emperor, in which she again impressed with her assured and artistic handling of a demanding work.

Alison Croose, "Eastern Daily Press", Monday 10/5/99.

Sumptuous symphony:

The Norfolk Symphony Orchestra was on tip-top form before a capacity audience last Sunday afternoon at Lynn's Corn Exchange.

Beginning with the overture Oberon, the very first three notes of the solo horn call set the seal for the whole concert - maximum communication and fearless determination with absolute enthusiasm from top to bottom, very carefully controlled by the no-nonsense professionalism of James Stobart.

The overture displayed all the qualities of precision and sparkling clarity demanded, particularly of the lithe and athletic strings, and Stobart whipped up a brilliance of sound and tautness of rhythm and impetus which was to continue throughout the whole concert.

Elizaveta Kopelman, the young Russian soloist returning for the Emperor, is obviously every conductor and orchestral player's favourite (and not Scheherazade herself!) because she is such an intelligent and musically-sensitive pianist, integrating and blending with total rapport while still maintaining a forceful eagerness and confidence to spin out before us the tempo and shapes she wants. The attentive audience loved every single note of this magnificent performance and let it be very warmly known.

Finally Scheherazade, perhaps the most endearingly popular symphonic piece of all time, was given a sumptuous reading by Mr. Stobart - full of Eastern promise and Rimsky's suggestion to invent our own story to fit the music. It was full of both powerful drama and grandeur, and opulent warmth and voluptuous charm, with the rich, romantically sensuous strings excelling (perhaps lacking a little in the bass). Individual soloists right across the whole orchestra responded magnificently to Rimsky's frightening challenges, particularly the subtly sinuous and beguiling allure of Jane Foottit's story-telling violin solos.

Altogether another brilliant NSO success, but if you missed it catch it again at Blickling Lakeside on Saturday, June 19, including Proms Special Items and early evening jazz from 6pm.

Neville Mackinder, "Lynn News", Friday 14/5/99.

Concert, Sunday 21st November 1999

Memorable programme opens afternoon season:

The NSO launched their new season of Sunday afternoon concerts with a memorable programme which delighted a packed audience. The orchestra continues to grow in stature with seasoned performers from major orchestras playing alongside younger and still developing talents. Conductor James Stobart draws them together to excellent effect and no wonder they have such a loyal band of supporters.

Careful programming continues to be an important ingredient and the orchestra burst into life with the Overture to Roman Carnival by Berlioz, an exciting piece which provided a dramatic opening to capture the audience's attention. The mood changed when Xue Wei took to the stage to perform the Sibelius Violin Concerto. The work is technically very demanding but the 36-year-old Chinese born soloist gave a fine display of virtuosity while ensuring the work lost none of its intense emotion. The orchestra complemented the soloist's fine performance but the 95 musicians' greatest challenge was presented by Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony. This work, considered one of the greatest of the 20th century, fully tested the musical skills of all sections of the orchestra. They were well up to the task and produced a performance which was both sensitive and stirring.

Alison Croose, "Eastern Daily Press", Monday 22/11/99.

Mountain of a challenge for NSO:

Those lucky enough to have heard James Stobart and the Norfolk Symphony Orchestra's sell-out concert at Lynn Corn Exchange last Sunday afternoon were challenged very strongly in many ways with a massive 20th century symphony by Shostakovich as the final item.

The concert began with a jubilant exhilarating overture, full of Mediterranean sunshine, whipped along by James Stobart like a chariot racer. Roman Carnival (Berlioz) is a breathtaking orchestral essay in instrumental skills, brilliant colours and tight incisive rhythms. The NSO rose splendidly to its demands, finishing in a blaze of glory and magnificent triumph.

Xue-Wei, the international virtuoso soloist, was totally enthralling for his return visit, with a tremendous performance of the Sibelius Violin Concerto. The great depth of his understanding of this concerto, and the sympathy from James Stobart, brought out all the separate elements of uplifting humanism, while the overall taut rhythmical grip saw it through to its spellbinding fulfilment.

Xue-Wei's level of communication was so intense that it occasionally tempted the lower winds to get drawn into the very slightest over-involvement, partially blocking the clarity of the solo violin line, and it might have induced the too-early spontaneous applause! But that apart, the three movements combined to present a most rewarding reading of this sublime concerto, even if it did have its moments.

Now, the Shostakovich 5th Symphony is (to me) a complete enigma presenting enormous analytical problems for the listener trying to identify the irony from the sarcasm, the glorification from the bombast, the black jokes from the genuine wit, but not least of all to find the true overall meaning of the message.

The extensive essay in the programme notes (Stobart) was most illuminating, and well worth several readings to help put Shostakovich's political plight into perspective.

The performance was an enormous mountain of a challenge to Stobart and the NSO, but the summit was reached superbly. Shostakovich's demanding orchestration, with extremes of dynamics and registers (horns) and the daunting physical and technical stamina required in every department, makes for disaster if not meticulously prepared and most conscientiously approached with great care and determination by all concerned.

This concert proves the team is winning hands-down, and Lynn counts itself very fortunate indeed to be presented with these masterpieces.

Neville Mackinder, "Lynn News", Tuesday 30/11/99.