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Hungarian Radio Orchestra Trip

Last week, some of our musicians attended a concert by the Hungarian Radio Orchestra at Middlesbrough Town Hall. This professional orchestra is currently on tour performing two programmes of amazing repertoire and we were treated to such an inspirational evening of music.

A pre-concert talk was held in the Fire Station building, with the piano soloist, Jeneba Kennuh-Mason and conductor who shared insights into their understanding of the pieces we would hear, their respective musical journeys and of their favourite pieces to perform.  Students listened attentively and asked thoughtful questions.

We took our seats in the concert hall itself and an expectant hush fell as the lights dimmed.  We heard one of the most exciting sounds in the world – the orchestra tuning up.  You know you’re about to hear something wonderful when this happens!  First we heard a short piece just for orchestra by Zoltán Kodály, a Hungarian composer who invented his own method of teaching music using sol-fa which is still widely used and highly respected today.  

Next, came a piece which is for many, the highlight of the programme, Rachmaninov’s second piano concerto.  The Russian composer was said to have very big hands, which seems to be true when you look at his writing style for piano; handfuls of notes in both hands all played together in chunky chords certainly dominate much of the louder sections of this piece.  Fiercely difficult for the solo pianist, this lush, romantic work features soaring melodies, complex and chromatic harmonies and wonderfully rich orchestration.  Jeneba Kanneh-Mason was flawless.  We learned in the pre-concert talk that this is her favourite concerto to play, and that she has been playing it since her late teens.  Every note was perfectly timed and executed, leading to a well-deserved standing ovation.

Following the interval we heard the similarly iconic 7th symphony by Beethoven.  Widely recognised as one of Beethoven’s best works, indeed the composer himself said so, the four movements are filled with dance-like rhythmic interest and development, with occasional chromatic writing typical of his style and a rare but important dynamic marking of fff – very, very loud!

Our students were utterly transfixed by the music, following the conductor’s instructions to ‘listen with your eyes’ and spoke enthusiastically after the performance on how the music made them feel.  It ‘made my brain tingle’ and ‘gave me goosebumps.  The synchronised movement of the violin bows was mesmerising.  The music was so uplifting, you felt like it was picking you up out of your seat.’

As always, our students were impeccably behaved and were fantastic ambassadors for our school with members of the public commenting on how nice it was to see young people at such a high-brow concert.  We all thoroughly enjoyed the evening and are already looking forward to our next classical concert.

Mrs Shevels