| Kenneth Woods, conductor |
From Surrey Advertiser, April 7, 2006
Mozart Players’ grand finale to spring festival
07/04/2006
Guildford Spring Music Festival ended last Saturday evening with a glorious concert
given by the Surrey Mozart Players.
Under their new conductor Kenneth Woods, they opened the programme with a
lively performance of Dvorak’s Czech Suite. Here the dance rhythms received an
authentic Czech flavour, enhanced by some delightful woodwind playing.
Woodwind playing of the first order pervaded the second work in the programme,
the bassoon concerto written by Mozart when he was a mere 18 years old.
It makes many technical demands on an instrument which, according to performer
Meyrick Alexander, is far more than the mere clown of the orchestra.
Brilliant passagework and incomparable singing melodies were all performed with
the utmost exuberance and enjoyment.
So much so that Mr Alexander was persuaded to return for a solo encore, the
scintillating Exquisse by the Russian Alexander Tcherepnin.
Beethoven’s seventh symphony was described by conductor Kenneth Woods as a
depiction of the strong will of the composer.
Its imposing introduction, followed by a hard driven tarantella, and finishing with a
tour de force of virtuosity, make it worthy of Wager’s famous description of it as ‘the
apotheosis of the dance’.
Dance rhythms predominated in the Surrey Mozart Players’ performance, full of
vitality and energy, but with enough pathos reserved to make the ‘slow’ movement
utterly convincing.
Mozart Players’ grand finale to spring festival
07/04/2006
Guildford Spring Music Festival ended last Saturday evening with a glorious concert
given by the Surrey Mozart Players.
Under their new conductor Kenneth Woods, they opened the programme with a
lively performance of Dvorak’s Czech Suite. Here the dance rhythms received an
authentic Czech flavour, enhanced by some delightful woodwind playing.
Woodwind playing of the first order pervaded the second work in the programme,
the bassoon concerto written by Mozart when he was a mere 18 years old.
It makes many technical demands on an instrument which, according to performer
Meyrick Alexander, is far more than the mere clown of the orchestra.
Brilliant passagework and incomparable singing melodies were all performed with
the utmost exuberance and enjoyment.
So much so that Mr Alexander was persuaded to return for a solo encore, the
scintillating Exquisse by the Russian Alexander Tcherepnin.
Beethoven’s seventh symphony was described by conductor Kenneth Woods as a
depiction of the strong will of the composer.
Its imposing introduction, followed by a hard driven tarantella, and finishing with a
tour de force of virtuosity, make it worthy of Wager’s famous description of it as ‘the
apotheosis of the dance’.
Dance rhythms predominated in the Surrey Mozart Players’ performance, full of
vitality and energy, but with enough pathos reserved to make the ‘slow’ movement
utterly convincing.
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