Orchestral Masterclass
On Friday 28th September, Wellington was honoured by the presence of three great names in British Music. Celia Nicklin, principal oboe with the London Mozart Players; Clio Gould, leader of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; and Dylan Brewer, player with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, came to college to help run the first full Orchestral masterclass that Wellington has seen for some years.
The pieces on which we were working were Glinka's Ruslan and Ludmila, the first movement of Beethoven's eighth symphony, and the Peer Gynt Suite no. 1, which includes the famous melodies of 'Morning' and 'Hall of the mountain king'. After an hour's full orchestral rehearsal, during which Hilary Davan Wetton (Wellington's guest conductor) took us through the Beethoven, the orchestra broke up, and three of the four sections (woodwind, brass, and strings) went off to separate rehearsals with their coaches.
All three experts concentrated on the vitally important skills of communication within the section, and playing as a whole, rather than with an 'each man for himself' attitude, which it would not be unfair to say, has been favoured in the past by some of us musicians. Celia Niklin was absolutely fantastic in the wind section rehearsal, giving us invaluable advice on our playing and our coordination. She also took part in the rehearsal itself, playing the part of second oboe, and it was extremely enjoyable to play alongside such an accomplished professional.
Another area on which the coaching concentrated was sound, and how to coordinate and combine what can be very different timbres (particularly within the woodwind section) in order to create a pleasant and well balanced final sound for the audience to hear. Their coaching, and specific expertise was invaluable for all of us, and resulted in radical improvement even within the short space of time we had to rehearse.
Clare Sledd, leader of the Wellington, said: "Clio Gould, who worked with the strings, was wonderful - she's obviously extremely talented, and was so friendly and helpful. She gave us some really good tips on bowing, and even played in the back of the second violins for the concert! It was a great afternoon, and even though we didn't think we'd be ready for a concert (we'd only sight-read one of the pieces that day) I think we pulled it together and it turned out surprisingly well."
Tom Lowe, Captain, had this say: "An unreserved success. Tonight we saw the Wellington College Symphony Orchestra at its best to date; talent spewing out from all sides of our well-oiled musical machine."
After a solid two hours playing, supper was a welcome break, but the sections reconvened at 7:30 for last minute run-throughs, and touch ups to the extracts that we would be performing as individual sections.
The masterclass concert began at eight o'clock, with quite a large audience consisting of pupils, parents, and other loyal supporters of Wellington's musical events. The orchestra played through the pieces, with interjections and explanations from both Hilary Davan Wetton, and the visiting experts. The woodwind and brass sections both played extracts that we had prepared previously, to demonstrate the difficulties and strangths involved in playing the respective instruments, with running commentaries from our experts.
With their training and advice, the orchestra was able to give a credible (after only three weeks work), if not always entirely conventional performance of the pieces, which the Audience, to judge from their applause, enjoyed very much. It was an exciting and fulfilling evening for all of the musicians in the orchestra, and we all enjoyed the chance to work with some of the most accomplished players in the country.
Oliver Marjot (L6S)
