Macclesfield Symphony Orchestra

Our 67th season began with the Orchestra very upbeat and positive, excitedly looking forward to the new musical challenges ahead.

We had Henry Rankin in place as Leader for his first full year in post, having endeared himself already to everyone during his work with us in the previous Spring. We were delighted to welcome Lindsey Pulley and Izzy Dronsfield Violins, Paphanin Sukemoto Cello and Peter Marshall Double Bass. Much work to develop musical links and musical connections with local High Schools began to bear fruit and we were delighted to also welcome Erin Vincent Violin and Marek Werner Cello to play in the strings and George Green, Ellie Mason and Ben Coldwell in the percussion section, all of whom have fitted in brilliantly and contributed hugely to the music making and have gained much from the experience. Sadly we were to lose 2nd Bassoonist Gerald Coope in January, and after 35 dedicated years in the Orchestra as 2nd Clarinet and pro-active Committee member Sue Hudson, this was to be her last season, we wish her well in her new home in Gloucester.

The first concert of the season in November, was a mix of British and American music. The orchestral first half featured Samuel Barber’s Symphony in One Movement, which, unfamiliar to most was a big learning curve but its vibrant musical soul was eventually found and was performed with winning conviction. Two rare Holst orchestral gems bookended the Symphony delightfully. After the interval the Singers with guest Choir The Oriel Singers along with Solo Soprano Sofia Lotto joined us in Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, the headline work of the programme, and Gerald Finzi’s beautiful Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice brought an evening’s music of contrast from British folksong and understatement to American uninhibited passion and angst to a subdued, thought-provoking and moving conclusion.

The Orchestra and Singers popular Christmas concert followed its usual pattern with individual sets from Choir and Orchestra and concerted items interspersed with Audience Carols, in which our packed audience enjoyed a good sing along with the enthusiastic backing of singers and players – a yearly treat for our supporters, allowing them to raise their voices and be part of the music making themselves.

MSO presented my own adaptation for orchestra of some of the movements from Tchaikovsky’s The Seasons for piano that I have called a Christmas Suite; and in our second set Bill Connor’s wonderful, jazzy and witty reworking of well-known Christmas tunes and carols he calls Christmas Revisited, using all the bells and whistles in the large modern orchestral palette – it was played with briliance and pizzazz and enjoyed by all!

The New Year began with intensive rehearsals on our Italia! programme, in particular with learning two rarely heard works that were new to most of the players. The mammoth Richard Strauss tone poem Aus Italien, a symphonic scale piece in four movements, and on a contrasting chamber orchestra scale Hugo Wolf’s delightful Italian Serenade with a special obligato solo viola part that gave Anna Hazel, principal viola of MSO, her first solo opportunity. Alongside these were two familiar stalwarts of the repertoire, Verdi’s Force of Destiny Overture and Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony: a lot on our plate… For this Spring concert, for several recent years, we had been nurturing and developing an audience following in Congleton (Macclesfield’s neighbough, 10 miles to the South). The Town Hall there is a beautiful concert venue, warm and welcoming with a lovely acoustic, which is much enjoyed by the players. In the past we have taken a full weekend, playing our programme on the Saturday evening in St Michael’s, Macc and repeating it in Congleton on Sunday afternoon. A once a year hardworking commitment for the players.

However this year, because of the extra strain on KEMS resources the double concert had to be shelved, even if temporarily, and a hard decision made as to which venue to use. The desire to keep the Congleton connection alive and to enjoy the space and pleasure of performing in that lovely hall against the loyalty to our home base was very controversial, but in the end Congleton was the choice and we were rewarded with our biggest audience there yet, which gave us a great reception and allowed us to play an encore, the sparky La Danza by Rossini. It was particularly loved by a one lady in the audience, a native of Italy, who was overwhelmed with nostalgia for her home country by this familiar tune.

Straight after this with only three short weeks to prepare, the Choral Concert on 23rd March, a much reduced orchestra had to adjust immediately to the very different style of Bruckner and Fauré. They tackled the task with great focus and determination, Henry’s Leadership skills were certainly needed here, his calmness and command gave great confidence and feeling of security to everyone and I think Mark was very happy with MSO’s support of the Singers and the Orchestra’s contribution to the success of the performance.

Our final event of the season was a journey into the unknown and an act of faith and unstinting effort by many people, not just the players. MSO at the Movies was an attempt to stem the tide of smaller sized audiences at our classical orchestral symphony concerts and the escalation of costs that are threatening the survival and freedom of our music making. To give our rehearsing point, we need to be able to work towards public performances, and to keep the subscriptions at an affordable rate these concerts need at least to pay for themselves (cover the costs) and hopefully even provide some income – hence the urgent need to attract larger audience numbers.

The ambitious plan was to devise a programme of film music that would be enjoyed by both a wider public and be relished by the players too. With a good deal of trial, error and creative head-scratching a programme list was devised within a tight budget that had the right amount of familiarity, universal appeal, novelty and musical cohesion. It was also to be our final event dedicated to Ellis and I wanted it to be not only a fun and celebratory tribute to him but also a great celebration of the music, which stands on its own without the pictures, that has been used and inspired by the big screen and in arrangements and editions that were great to play, showed off the amazing sound of a live full orchestra and gave us all wonderfully satisfying parts to enjoy. One of the central visions in the plan was the commissioning of Henry’s piece – and didn’t he come up trumps for us! As solo violinist too he had a huge starring role, apart from the responsibility of leading and giving confidence to the strings and us all, through every piece. What a man! What a musician!

I also wanted to involve Julian Davis on piano, to make him really feel part of the orchestra and he too gave added value, not only starring in his “piano Concerto” but providing the magical celesta effects and much more…and then there were the three percussionists, so busy that there sometimes seemed like twice as many of them…but it is invidious to single out individuals when everyone in the orchestra produced superb performances and great sounds all evening – I couldn’t have been more delighted – you were putty in my hands and I felt we turned all the phrases as one and pulled out all the drama and action there was to be found in those scores, which came more alive in your hands than I could have believed; what an incredible way to round off a great season – thank-you! Our near capacity audience were blown away and we have made many new fans and I am sure they will be back for more of our orchestral magic in the autumn and beyond to swell our future audiences.

…but, all this musical success and satisfaction and the happy outcome of our courageous experiment was, as I said, because of the hard work, belief and engagement of many people and it is Anne Thomson who backed the idea from the outset with such generosity and who was most instrumental in making it happen, having great creative input into developing and enhancing the shape of the evening and the programme. It was she who coordinated and oversaw all the elements that needed to come together. It was Anne who embraced the concept of the commission and enabled it to be financed by establishing the Friends of KEMS, as well as keeping tabs on overall spending. Huge thanks Anne.

Next I must pick out for special thanks Moira and Elaine and the publicity team for their outstanding contribution, producing the posters, programmes and masterminding the amazing publicity that gave us that record breaking audience. Then of course many thanks to Andrew and Julie for Librarian duties, especially arduous and involved with so many pieces from so many sources. Also for being event Concert Manager and co-ordinator and organiser of the percussion instruments, Eric Culbert. Thank you all, and the many, many others too numerous to name here, who contributed so generously to the back stage effort to make this, make or break event, the storming success it turned out to be.

Now that the euphoria from the 18th May is waning, and we can’t bask in such past glories for ever, we must plan and look forward with the added courage, confidence and ambition gained to creating future ones.

One big role that urgently needs filling, to allow us to enhance and fulfil our orchestral ambitions, is that of Chairperson for MSO and its committee. If you enjoy and value what the Orchestra gives you and could offer even a small or occasional amount of time or expertise, please consider taking on some job to help the smooth running. We have lost Sue from the fixing and personnel management role, so that needs a volunteer or two. The Committee is the main management hub, making essential decisions needed to keep the cogs swirling and has been peopled by the same few players for too long and needs new blood/ideas/energy; the Chair role in that committee has been caretaken by Anne for the last year, as an emergency duty kindly taken on over and above her position as Chair of KEMS, and cannot continue, and anyway it needs to be one of the orchestra’s members.

You are all valued as players but the Orchestra needs you in other ways too – join the committee to have some say, volunteer in some practical role and become a vital cog that will allow us all to enjoy the music even better – MSO needs YOU!

So, another great year for the Orchestra and we look forward to making the next season even more exciting, creative and musically fulfilling for us…and our growing audience and supporters.

Have a restful summer all, and see you in September – Thanks for the Music!