Music from the Movies, Westmorland Youth Orchestra, Theatre by the Lake, Keswick
THE low rumble of basses, the slowly rising trumpet fanfare, sudden crashing chords from the full orchestra and pounding kettle drums - Music from the Movies was emphatically launched by the Richard Strauss theme used in the film 2001 A Space Odyssey.
Soloist Keir McGregor, 1st cellist in the Westmorland Youth Orchestra, gave a memorable performance of Elgar’s cello concerto (1st movement) used in the film about the inspirational cellist, Jacqueline du Pre (Hilary and Jackie). Like her, Keir too conveyed the music’s autumnal sadness and its nobility.
Later, solo clarinettist, Jack Horrocks, a former member of WYO, now studying at the Royal College of Music, gave a smoothly sensitive performance of the Romance from The Gadfly by Shostakovich. Jack then showed his versatility with a cheeky rendition of Gershwin’s Walking the Dog from Shall we Dance.
Other highlights included brass and percussion sections in Thunderbirds; flute and trumpet solos in Dances with Wolves; frenzied strings, flutes and piccolos and splendid brass in Ride of the Valkyries; and everyone having a great time in Mission Impossible, where conductor Roland Fudge was momentarily airborne.
Ian France
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