“A wonderful evening of Mozart and Bruckner”

Review by Charlotte Ellis-Hale

November 2nd 2024

St Mary's Church, Horsham

Conductor: Steve Dummer
Leader: Rachel Ellis
Soloists: Steve Dummer

Mozart: Clarinet Concerto

Bruckner: Symphony No.4

St Mary’s Horsham, a beautiful, historic church in the centre of the town, would be a challenging venue for any event to fill, with its capacity of many hundreds. The Horsham Symphony Orchestra concert on the evening of Saturday 2nd November did an impressive job. Though not every seat was taken, it certainly felt full, with a buzzing, multi-generational audience filing in well before the start time, suggesting a real eagerness to hear the orchestra’s ambitious programme. The vibrant atmosphere was echoed in the interval, where musicians mingled with the audience, providing a warm, community feel to the evening.

The first half of the programme offered the much-loved Clarinet Concerto by Mozart with the orchestra’s conductor of nearly twenty years, Steve Dummer, featuring as soloist. This posed challenge number one of the evening. For Dummer, playing this beautiful and famous solo whilst continuing to lead and guide the accompanying players. For the orchestra – accompanying the solo with less direction than would normally be expected. Dummer’s solo was often spell-binding with a notably slow and poignant second movement. The orchestra accompanied with impressive sensitivity and style adding to the beautiful overall effect.

After the interval came perhaps an even greater challenge: Anton Buckner’s Fourth Symphony. In an introduction to the piece, Dummer described Bruckner as ‘slow, powerful and long (very long)’. The most overtly complimentary of these descriptors was certainly true of this performance. The best moments could not be described better than as ‘powerful’ and often featured a large brass section in full force. However, speaking less literally, the strings and woodwind also provided moments of immense power, delivering the shimmering build up to the brass climaxes as well as beautiful lyrical melodies. Overall, one was left feeling incredibly impressed by the ability of an amateur orchestra to convey the beauty and power of such a mammoth piece.