I left the Sheldonian elated, enthused and somewhat exhausted after Oxford Philomusica’s performance. The concert had delivered a heady mix of drama, pomp, revelry, melancholy, passion and serenity in varying degrees, in a roller coaster of a ride, through two very different styles of music.
In the Mozart Piano Concerto of the first half, the stage was populated by a pared back orchestra, with the fully opened grand piano nestled snugly at the centre. Papadopoulos was literally at the heart of the group of musicians and able to simultaneously conduct and play. It was a masterful demonstration of his skill as a leader and his impressive talent as a performer. So many notes, at such velocity, played with just one hand, don’t seem possible, yet the left hand was so often clearly visible, sweeping to and fro, drawing the strings and wind section along with the central melody.
The star of the piece was, of course, the pianist – and Marios the Maestro gave a glorious performance. He plays from memory, and you sense that, without the constraints of following a score, he takes delight in extending out the trills and playing a few extra notes as he sees fit. The effect is captivating!
Upon our return to our seats for the second half of the evening, it was clear that what was to come was on a much larger scale. The orchestra had more than doubled in size, and the arrival of a four man Wagner Tuba section and timpani suggested the sheer volume and fullness of sound that awaited us.
I defy anyone to tell me that the composer of the Star Wars score hadn’t listened to a fair amount of Bruckner. At times I fully expected the Imperial army of the Sith Empire to march into the auditorium, led by Darth Vader himself. Every movement was punctuated by intervals of soaring crescendo and swelling volume, where the full impact of a twenty-strong brass section belting a fanfare caused the audience to sit up in their seats – and, at one point, for me to jump right out of mine with surprise!
As always, Papadopoulos provided a further level of great visual drama to the night. He draws each section of the orchestra through their respective parts with a combination of grand gestures, swoops and sweeps of his baton, and the subtlest of twitches and flicks of the hand. Even his face, often in an expression of seeming sublime happiness, informs and directs the musicians. His pride in the performance and his passion for the music are tangible.
The orchestra performed with gusto and admirable fortitude, and the looks exchanged between the musicians as they took their bows, showed their contentment with a job very well done. They had taken the audience on a rollercoaster ride of high drama, tense expectancy and huge enjoyment, which fully deserved the rapturous applause of appreciation they received for their highly skilled and passionate performance.