Symphony Orchestra

Today has been very wet and windy, so not really hiking weather for lightweights like me. My Mum had a spare ticket to the first concert of the Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra's new season, so I joined her. It was the first of their concerts that I had attended, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The orchestra has a sizeable string section, a reasonably sized brass section and enough woodwind and percussion to make a difference. There were three compositions on the programme tonight:

• Overture: Portsmouth Point (Walton)
• Violin Concerto No. 1 (Bruch)
• Symphony No.1 (Mahler)

The overture was jolly, with a nice introduction by the conductor, Jonathan Butcher, who explained the difference between rhythm and metre to the audience. The orchestra then demonstrated exceedingly clearly during the performance. A good start!

The violin concerto was magnificent; the soloist was Alexander Sitkovetsky, who came in all in black, shirt untucked, with wild hair, and gave a spellbinding performance ably accompanied by the orchestra. My occasional feeble scratchings on my fiddle were put very much to shame. Superb.

After the interval (Minghella ice cream was consumed, of course), we were treated to the Mahler symphony. This had four movements, all of which were well performed. I was entranced by the oboists, who kept pointing their oboes up in the air during the more exciting parts.

All in all, a lovely way to spend a miserable November evening, and I shall certainly go to more of their concerts in future.