REVIEW Spanish Galicia Symphony Orchestra delights at Anvil

Anton will teach the waltz, Giovanni the quickstep, while Aljaž will prattle on about himself and perhaps teach some Cha-Cha-Cha! Of course, all these great pros could teach any dance, but each is wise enough to play to their strengths. Having no terpsichorean strengths myself, I will try, and fail, at ‘em all!

Anyway, I was reminded of this wisdom of self-awareness when we saw the Galicia Symphony Orchestra at The Anvil last Sunday, playing a programme of Spanish-themed music that seemed right up their street.

They began with Groba’s “Danzas meigas no.1”, followed by de Falla’s “Three Dances from The Three-Cornered Hat”. Driven along by conductor Roberto González-Monjas, cavorting and jigging with gusto on the rostrum, they leant into the music with all the bounce and zest of a puppy let off the lead. Great theatre, and uplifting in an “in your face” kind of way, but lacking nuance or, indeed, any suggestion of the music’s Spanish roots, it was, as Mrs Reviewer put it, rather chaotic.

But having let off steam with those two pieces, things settled into something a little more controlled. Guitarist Thibaut Garcia joined the orchestra for a delicate interpretation of Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez”. At last, we’d arrived, musically speaking, in Spain, and the audience rewarded his superb effort with multiple calls for an encore, which he provided by means of a solo rendition of Edith Piaf’s “Hymne à l’Amour” - a strange choice, but a delightful interlude, nonetheless.

Ravel’s “Mother Goose Suite” followed, something of an outlier in the programme, played with precision and directness, but without any sense of it really being the orchestra’s “thing”, a sort of placeholder before the main event.

And that main event came in two courses. First, Turina’s “Sinfonia Sevillana”, laced with imagery of festivals, bullfighting, and Paso Doble, which the orchestra embraced like a long-lost friend, playing with swagger and verve. And then the finale, Ravel’s “Bolero”, a long crescendo of power, purpose, and chutzpah. Usually presented as a gentle, lilting melody, this bold interpretation was unlike any I had heard before, and will linger long in the memory.

And there you have it. As with the Strictly dancers, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia were competent in all departments. But when given music that played to their strengths – authority, pomp, attack, – they were Fab-U-Lous.

By Chris Parkinson-Brown