Review: Ryedale Festival, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Hovingham Hall, Hovingham, July 13

THE first day of this year’s Ryedale Festival saw a visit from the Royal Northern Sinfonia, directed from the violin by the bubbly Bradley Creswick.

Last Friday's concert began with Lady Radnor’s Suite for strings by Hubert Parry, who died 100 years ago. From the energetic Prelude and genial Allemande, through the spirited, unsentimental Sarabande, danceable Bourrée and muted Slow Minuet, to the busy and rousing Gigue, this was ideal music for a hot, lazy summer’s afternoon: mock Baroque, very English, and beautifully crafted.

Tamsin Waley-Cohen was the soloist in Bruch’s well-known Violin Concerto No. 1. There was no experimentation, no ‘new angle’ on the piece: the performers simply revelled in it and let this marvellous music speak for itself. Interaction between the soloist and the orchestra was engaging, Waley-Cohen’s authoritative manner reassuring, her tone full and vibrant, her extrovert flourishes exciting. The audience ovation demanded an encore: Fritz Kreisler’s Recitative and Scherzo Caprice was showy and generous.

Mendelssohn’s First Symphony, an amazingly accomplished and distinctive piece for a 15-year-old to produce, was incisive and fiery—perhaps even more so in the first movement than the last, which is the one actually marked con fuoco. Felicities of phrasing and woodwind articulation elevated the Andante out of the ordinary.

The acoustics of Hovingham Hall’s Riding School added to the immediacy and impact of the sound. Royal Northern Sinfonia seem to have fun during their trips here, and the performers’ obvious enjoyment gives such outstanding performances even more appeal.

Robert Gammon