News and Reviews

Review: Yes, it was Gershwin Galore... and more!
Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham - 31 Dec 2006

Gershwin Galore was a catchy title for sinfonia ViVA's New Year's Eve concert but it told only part of the story. Yes, Gershwin was a major ingredient: full of good tunes, sometimes cheeky and always full of pizzazz. But he was joined by two of his musical compatriots.

Aaron Copland opened proceedings with his Fanfare for the Common Man - probably the quickest way yet invented of making an audience sit up and take notice. And Bernstein featured too. His dances from On the Town formed a highly concentrated, evocative portrait of New York.

In between the US numbers came music by the Strauss family and here the elegance of Johann's Blue Danube and Roses from the South was offset by the knockabout comedy of Josef's Anvil Polka in which the two anvil players plied their trade with all the comic timing of Laurel and Hardy.

But the concert's most substantial pieces belonged to Gershwin and it was a delight to hear him played by an orchestra famed for its scrupulous attention to detail. Its grasp of local colour was evident in An American in Paris and rhythmic subtlety was much in evidence in Rhapsody in Blue in which pianist Philip Moore captured both the symphonic and the jazzy nature of the piece.

Nicholas Kok conducted with his usual energy and insight whilst bringing warmth and good humour to his role as compere.

Review by William Ruff for the Nottingham Post