Cambridge Sinfonia

It's not often that you see orchestra member at the end of a concert, congratulating each other. And so they should have for this was an astonishingly good concert. The Sinfonia under its youthful conductor (only 22) Graham Ross, kicked off 2008's season Saturday January 19 with an immensely challenging programme - for the audience and them.

This was no New Year confection but a gritty and in the end overpowering experience. First off was the wonderful overture to an opera that never was: Les Franc-Juges by Berlioz. The orchestra started where it finished the evening - completely together and sounding totally in command of difficult material. The Berlioz is a real whizz bang piece of theatrical fireworks packed with juddering cross rhythms, massive outbursts and a wonderful sense of melodrama. Right in the middle is that great theme known to us oldies as the signature tune of the BBC's Face to Face interviews of long ago. Ross took his band through some of the work so fast that you feared for the arm sockets of the players - especially the cellos who were in superb form all evening.

The breathless overture was followed by a much mellower Berlioz: his song cycle Les nuits d'ete. This ravishingly lovely set of French songs was performed by the equally stunning Olivia Ray. Beautifully accompanied by the Sinfonia, Ray's performance was a model of delicacy and control - nothing showy just a lilting devotion to the text (by Gautier) and a sweet a voice as you'll hear this side of Berkeley Square. She captivated the audience with her soft and sinewy phrasing adding little unnecessary decoration to Berlioz's sweet melodies often tinged with sad longing. 

The second half was dominated (and how!) by Shostakovitch's monumental 5th Symphony. Ross' conducting was far from pedestrian and he brought the very best from this fine orchestra. There were some astonishing shifts of pace in the long central movement and the opening of the big finale threatened to blow our socks off (not a pleasant thought on a rainy horrid night outside.) Working like demons, the orchestra brought this wonderful symphony to a towering climax which had its audience exhausted. So too were the members of the band who beamed at each other and knew they had pulled off something rather special.