South Wales Argus REVIEW for Monday Jan 26 January 27 2009

by Nigel Jarrett

Sinfonia Cymru

The Riverfront, Newport

Degree of difficulty seems no longer to be an issue when young professional musicians are tackling contemporary work.

'Contemporary' among reluctant or obstinate listeners tends to mean anything challenging written after 1900, which therefore includes Stravinsky's Danses Concertantes of 1942.

These balletic miniatures in the hands of Sinfonia Cymru and its founder-conductor Gareth Jones illustrated the point exactly, the almost throwaway interpretation evidently concealing thorough preparation.

The playing of an astringent yet chirpy score was transparent throughout and its bookend marches, Stravinsky's way of getting ‘dancers’ on and off stage even though the work was only later choreographed, were suitably theatrical.

Youth stepped forward, too, in the shape of prize-winning trumpet soloist Huw Morgan for Haydn's popular Trumpet Concerto in E flat, his clarion calls an invitation to savour a score in which orchestra and soloist are blended conversationally against the odds.

It was interesting to speculate how much Haydn, with no modern instrument like this at his disposal in the late 18th century, would have welcomed the bright tone and smooth legato Morgan produced and the fabulous technique that enriched the cadenza.

The chamber size of the orchestra was enhanced for Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony. It’s a work that betrays the composer’s love of stringed instruments, a department in which Sinfonia Cymru has developed a smooth-edged and disciplined sound.

It revelled in the familiar episodes, including the divine woodwind chorus that begins the work and the lively second movement. Pervasive strings aside, every section of the orchestra took plaudits at the end.