Review: Sinfonia

Mar 6 2007
Alison Stokes, South Wales Echo

The Gate, Roath, Cardiff

IF you revel in innovative programming you can do no better than follow the fortunes of this young orchestra.

A cornucopia of huge talent, it surely represents one of the most outstanding youth ensembles in Europe.

For this concert there were four rarely heard works.

To open came Mozart's early A Major Symphony. The opening movement had just the right sense of intimacy and the Andante flowed along to perfection with a Minuet of real bite before a finale of daring attack.

The high spot was probably Shostakovich's Concerto for Piano Trumpet and Strings. This is a bittersweet piece, the ideal vehicle for the huge talent of pianist Llyr Williams.

Rarely will you hear a last section as compelling as this with Williams and trumpeter Jamie Prophet combining like the true professionals they are.

Conductor Gareth Jones has honed the strings of this orchestra into something rather special. In Mozart's Adagio and Fugue in C Minor, based on a piece by Bach, and in Strauss' Metamorphosen, a lethally, fearfully difficult piece, the concentration was intense.

In such a venue as this, textures were cruelly exposed but each section came through with flying colours in a performance of deep emotion and outstanding musicality.

Tony Sicluna