Duncan Riddell Archives - The Real Chrisparkle

A packed house of all ages was buzzing for the Royal Philharmonic’s return to the Royal and Derngate for one of their Film Music Gala concerts, a uniquely entertaining offering, guaranteed to please young and old – in fact, it is a perfect way of getting young people into the habit of seeing how different it is to hear music performed by a live orchestra rather than just listening through your headphones!

The whole orchestra (as it seemed to me) were there in force, under the baton of conductor Stephen Bell, an avuncular and enthusiastic host who gives us individual introductions to many of the pieces of music performed. The last time we saw Mr Bell conducting the RPO was for their Last Night of the Proms concert back in 2011 – please don’t leave it so long until your next visit! Stephen Bell is one of those very inclusive conductors who makes sure that every element of the orchestra has their moment in the spotlight, reaching out with his baton at an awkward angle, maybe hopping on one leg to do so. His sheer enjoyment of his job is infectious and helps to make the evening go with a swing.

The programme started with a brilliant highlight – the Flying Theme and Finale to ET by John Williams; it’s such a rich and positive melody, sumptuously arranged, and a total joy to hear. Themes to Gladiator, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Jurassic Park followed, and then we had leader of the orchestra Duncan Riddell playing as a violin soloist for Williams’ moving Schinder’s List theme. Everyone automatically froze at the opening double bass notes of the instantly recognisable Jaws theme; then the main themes to Out of Africa and Robin Hood Prince of Thieves followed, and then the very different style of Ron Goodwin’s 633 Squadron drew the first half to a conclusion.

After the interval, we heard Vangelis’ Chariots of Fire theme; a piece of music I normally expect to hear played primarily by keyboard or synthesiser – it comes across very differently – much more substantial – when played by a full orchestra. Next was a blend of excitement and melancholy with the themes to Apollo 13, the Hymn to the Fallen from Saving Private Ryan and the familiar March from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Mancini’s lilting and romantic Moon River from Breakfast at Tiffany’s followed, and then Sir Arthur Bliss’ rousing March from the 1936 film Things to Come. The evening wrapped up with three different pieces from Star Wars – Princess Leia’s Theme, the Imperial March and the Main Theme.

A Film Music Gala works superbly well as an entertainment because each piece is relatively short and is designed to stand alone. It’s very different from an evening of classical excerpts where you often wish you could hear more from the work from which the extract is taken. But a film theme can last as little as a couple of minutes and is complete in itself. The audience at the Royal and Derngate on Friday had a whale of a time and didn’t want to let the orchestra go home! It’s not often you see a standing ovation at an orchestral concert – which only shows how superb the whole evening was.

Five Alive, Let Music Thrive!

It’s heart-warming to welcome the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra – or at least the string section – back to the Royal and Derngate for their first concert here in over 16 months; yes, who would have known that Dvorak’s New World Symphony on 9th February last year would have marked the last of the RPO’s classical treats for us all this time until it’s just about safe enough to put our (fully-masked) heads above the parapet?

In these uncertain times, it’s impractical (and potentially dangerous) for too many musicians to rehearse and perform together, let alone have a full audience in to enjoy their show. So this programme of three pieces of string music, performed by a group of 25 musicians, is the perfect way to try to reintroduce classical performance to our wounded live entertainment industry.

For this socially-distanced performance we couldn’t take our usual seats in row H of the stalls but decided to plonk ourselves right down at the front – in any event, an interesting experiment to gauge the difference of sound (if any). Verdict: it’s not quite as rich a sound that you get further back but you do feel like one of the orchestra! Duncan Riddell, the RPO’s regular Leader, was in charge of letting the strings swing in a 75 minute, no interval, programme of music from all over Europe.

In the absence of a proper programme – presumably a Covid Cutback – it fell to Duncan to introduce the first piece. He started to welcome us, but not using the microphone stand on the middle of the stage. “Can’t hear you – use the mic” said someone from behind. So he did, but reluctantly as he said that now that he has used the mic no one else can – one of those Covid rules – and he had intended someone else to use it later. The performing arts are just full of Covid problems!

Our first piece was Edvard Grieg’s Holberg Suite, written in 1884 to celebrate the 200^th anniversary of the famous Danish-Norwegian playwright Ludvig Holberg (err…who??) Originally composed for piano, Grieg adapted it for strings the following year. I confess it was new to me, but it’s a delightful composition in five movements. For the Rigaudon final section, I was expecting something akin to the Norwegian Dance No 2 – or as I know it, Freddy and his Fiddle from the Song of Norway. But no, it was much more like the hornpipe in Pomp and Circumstance. Beautifully done though, with Duncan turning forwards into full performance mode for his virtuoso bits.

Next up was Mendelssohn’s String Symphony No 10, introduced by Principal Second Violin Andrew Storey; a short, lively piece written in B minor, and all in one movement. Felix Mendelssohn was a bright kid and wrote this String Symphony in the 1820s when he was aged just 14. I thought the guys on the double bass added significantly to this performance, great stuff sirs!

Our last piece – the Headline Act if you like – was Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, introduced by (I think) Jonathan Ayling, Co-Principal Cello. It’s a wonderful 1880 composition, in four movements. It starts with a Sonatina style piece in homage to Mozart; then a well-known waltz is the second movement, an Elegie follows, and finally an ending that borrows from some Russian folk tunes. Allegedly Tchaikovsky liked this to be played by as large a group of string musicians as possible, but I’m sure he would have been thrilled to have these 25 players giving it their all as they did. It was absorbing, luscious and exquisite.

As a thank you for coming, they generously gave us an encore – the slow movement from Elgar’s Serenade for Strings. Hugely entertaining and a great return, the audience were thrilled to have the orchestra back, and the orchestra seemed to be thrilled to have the audience back. Win, win! It felt safe, comfortable, friendly and intimate – the personal chats from the individual musicians were a really nice touch that more than made up for the lack of programme! Above all, it was a great privilege to witness the return of the Royal Philharmonic to the Royal and Derngate. They are back again next Wednesday with The Music of Bond. We can’t be there, sadly, but that shouldn’t stop you!