Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, at Poole Lighthouse Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by Lisa
We had an amazing time this week attending Poole Lighthouse to watch the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra start their 2023/24 season, in a concert which included the famous Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. The BSO are based at the Lighthouse, but serve the south and south west of England, as well as playing nationally and internationally. The orchestra was conducted by their Chief Conductor Kirill Karabits who clearly has a strong relationship with the orchestra. I was therefore sad to find out that this will be his last season with the BSO after 15 years in the post.
The concert started with ‘The Scarlet Flower Suite’ by Thomas de Hartmann, who was from present day Ukraine and was a contemporary of Rachmaninov. I had never heard of either this piece or the composer before, but it was a delight to listen to. The ballet (from which this suite was created) was based on a Russian folk story and the music certainly evoked a feeling of fairy tales and fairgrounds.
We then came to Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, featuring the talented Alexander Malofeev at the piano. As a pianist myself, Rachmaninov is one of my favourite composers, and their performance of this piece was breath taking. The piece is a set of 24 variations of a simple tune from Caprice No. 24 written by the early nineteenth-century violinist, Niccolò Paganini. The variations allow the pianist to show off so many virtuosic abilities throughout – each variation was incredible, but the famous No.18 (Andante cantabile) was our favourite. Alexander is already a prestigious talent at just 22, demonstrating his abilities by seemingly breezing through this technically challenging piece. He also treated us to an encore (unfortunately not announced) which sounded wonderful, and we were astonished to see that he played it with just his left hand!
After the interval, Dougie Scarfe (CEO of the BSO) came onto the stage to announce that this was the final performance for their bass trombone player, after 30 years in the orchestra, presenting him with a gift. I was really impressed by this public gesture of gratitude, which demonstrates what a wonderful community the orchestra is. For the second half of the concert we enjoyed hearing Brahms’ Symphony No.4 in E minor. The 4 movements of the symphony are full of different tempos and moods and I particularly loved quality of the sound that the BSO brought out in some of the luscious lyrical sections.
The concert ran for 2 hours, plus a 15 minute interval, where we made the most of the facilities including a bar area, where you can purchase drinks and take them in to the concert hall with you. If you arrive early enough there is also a restaurant to eat in beforehand. Poole Lighthouse is easily accessible with the bus station over the road, a multi-storey car park next door, and Poole train station a 10 minute walk away. The concert hall was fresh and clean and it was really encouraging to see that it was a full house for this season opening concert which led to a wonderful atmosphere within the hall. I would definitely recommend coming here for a concert, especially one played by Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. If for any reason you can’t attend in person, there also is often a digital live streaming option, as there was with this performance, only costing £10 to do so.
Rating: 5/5
Tickets cost from £16-£48.
BSO perform at the Lighthouse regularly. For more information or to book tickets please visit Home – Lighthouse (lighthousepoole.co.uk) or www.bsolive.com
Address: Lighthouse. Poole’s Centre for the Arts, 21 Kingland Road, Poole. BH15 1UG.