On a sunny Sunday we were given the double treat of Alex Highley at the piano and Sidholme’s own recorder orchestra under the sparkling light of the newly-cleaned and repaired chandelier.
Alex, 20, played a short programme of Chopin and Rachmaninov. He started with the fiendish first Chopin Etude, a forest of arpeggios, and then played the first Scherzo with panache and feeling.
His Rachmaninov Preludes also displayed a lovely technique, and some beautifully resonant sounds, showing off Sidholme’s gorgeous new grand piano to its best advantage. We were then lucky enough to hear the sound of the Recorder Orchestra playing in the style of Schubert. This was the world premiere of the Third Symphony for recorder orchestra by the composer Stephen Watkins, who conducted with skill and flair an orchestra who had played the music together for the first time only that morning.
Thank you to Sidholme for giving us such an enjoyable and unusual concert.
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