From the Dundee Courier 24 September 2007
Some 330 people gathered in the Reid Hall, Forfar for the
recital given by the Tayside Symphony Orchestra on Saturday 22nd September. It
was rightly called "A September Salute to Youth", as the two principal soloists
were the 18 year old violinist Sophie Sneddon and the 15 year old tuba player
Ross Knight. Both were quite excellent, and their performances were warmly
welcomed by an enthusiastic audience.
The first main work was Mendelssohn's well-known Violin Concerto in E Minor; the
orchestra and Sophie rose to the occasion admirably, every bit as good as many
professional performances I have heard. It was a joy to listen to.
I confess I had never heard the tuba concerto, written by Edward Gregson, who
was born in 1945, but again the soloist and the orchestra did excellently, with
Ross demonstrating the full range of the tuba. Together the two concerti
provided a wonderful backbone to the recital.
There were three shorter works for orchestra only - the "Dolly Suite" by Gabriel
Fauré, Jean Sibelius's "Finlandia" and the "Pomp and Circumstance" March no.4 by
Edward Elgar. There is no doubt that the orchestra were well trained for all the
very varied music played, their ensemble was praiseworthy, and clearly they all
relished their work. They have worked hard under Ron Walker's expert direction,
and produced a praiseworthy recital. Overall it was an excellent programme.
Hilary Foxworthy