Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert
12 December 2018Regular readers will remember my disappointment twelve months ago when that traditional harbinger of the festive season, the Northampton Symphony Orchestra’s Christmas Cracker concert, was cancelled because of snow. Thankfully last Sunday normality was restored and we gathered at the Spinney Theatre in Northampton, in front of a large, enthusiastic audience of all ages, for an afternoon of Christmas music. To mark the NSO’s 125th anniversary season, this year’s Christmas concert had a Victorian theme, featuring Humperdinck’s ‘Overture to Hansel and Gretel’, ‘Selections from Oliver!’ by Lionel Bart and ‘Dances from The Nutcracker’ by Tchaikovsky – the last narrated by our excellent compere, Alan Bell, and featuring beautiful solos from Alexander Thomas on harp and William Thallon on celeste. Alan also performed the role of narrator (and almost all the characters) in Bryan Kelly’s ‘Scrooge’, with words taken directly from Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’, ably assisted by our conductor John Gibbons who made a very sinister ghost of Jacob Marley. Given its ubiquity in NSO Christmas Cracker concerts, it seems hard to believe that the Northampton Symphony Orchestra hasn’t been playing Leroy Anderson’s ‘Sleigh Ride’ every year since 1893, but as it wasn’t written until 1946 that seems unlikely. After last year’s cancellation it was wonderful to see the return of the orchestra’s silly hats, mulled wine and mince pies. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
posted by Robin Simpson @ 12:05 pm
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