Saturday 15 November 2025: Cornerstone, Hythe
Music & Masquerades: Tracing romantic and impressionist soundscapes through Europe
Amazing! Outstanding! Such was the audience’s reaction to the Solent Concert Orchestra’s musical director Simon Wilkins’ performance of the Lalo Cello Concerto accompanied by the orchestra last Saturday.
The programme started with Faure’s ‘Masques et bergamasques’, a suite comprising four contrasting pieces, the first appropriately named ‘Overture’ followed by ‘Menuet’ and a lively ‘Gavotte’, finishing with a somewhat reflective ‘Pastorale’. The second work was Simon Wilkins’ arrangement of Debussy’s famous ‘Clair de lune’, a romantic musical depiction of nature’s changing moods in the moonlight.
The orchestra then played the serene second movement followed by the stately minuet and trio of the third movement of what is perhaps Mendelssohn’s best known symphony, namely, No.4 the ‘Italien’.
The first half of the concert concluded in a flourish with Coleridge-Taylor’s ‘Ballade’ with its fierce and dramatic opening followed by a passionate love song and finishing with a vigorous climax featuring the full orchestra.
Isabella Stocchetti took over the baton for the second half which commenced, not inappropriately in these times, with Andrew Wooler’s arrangement of the traditional Ukrainian folk song ‘Plyve Kacha’, a lament about a young soldier going off to war.
Then followed what was undoubtedly the highlight of the evening, namely Simon Wilkin’s faultless rendition of Lalo’s Cello Concerto in D Minor which he played with much passion and expression. It was a truly virtuoso performance justifiably resulting in an encore by the near capacity appreciative audience.
Donations were made in aid of the New Forest Basics Bank endorsed by the Orchestra’s patron Sir Julian Lewis.
The Solent Concert Orchestra’s next concert is at the Hanger Farm Arts Centre, Totton, on Saturday 14th March 2026, featuring Beethoven’s famous Symphony No.5. Find out more at www.solentconcertorchestra.org.uk/future-concerts.
Howard Moore, November 2025