Poster, Cabeza, Aurora Orchestra, Collon, Kings Place review – shock of the new
Musical quests through city and country for the roots of the modern
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For the Gershwin [Rhapsody in Blue], clarinettist Timothy Orpen sat in front for his – deliciously played – star turn at the outset, while the 20-odd instrumentalists more or less reproduced the size of the original Paul Whiteman Band at the 1924 New York premiere.
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Stratford Herald, Peter Buckroyd
[..the Sacconi Quartet] were joined by Timothy Orpen for a lovely work premiered in 2014, Ian Venables’s Canzonetta for Clarinet and String Quartet Op 44. This beautifully shaped piece, characterised throughout by typically English falling phrases, featured Orpen’s gorgeous rich clarinet sound. Listening to this piece it was easy to understand why the Times described Orpen as a ‘blazing talent’.
Schubert’s Octet, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Sage Gateshead
Chicago Classical Review, Lawrence A. Johnson
“Much of the instrumental writing [Strauss Till Eulenspiegel—einmal anders, arr. Hasenöhrl] is just as tortuous as in the original version, yet held no fears for the Academy musicians who served up a bravura and characterful reading. Clarinetist Timothy Orpen delivered a sassy and raucous portrait of the German trickster, with equally colorful playing by hornist Stephen Stirling and violinist Keller.”
The Plain Dealer, Zachary Lewis
“The Academy of St. Martin the Fields lived up to every definition of its name here Tuesday.
Like any good group or institution of higher learning, the ensemble drawn from the legendary London-based orchestra showed a Plymouth Church full of Cleveland Chamber Music Society patrons exactly how it’s done.
Octagon Music Society, Tony Bramley-Harker
Of all the individual instruments of the orchestra, it’s probably the clarinet which exhibits the widest range of musical expression – played fortissimo, it can pierce through any surrounding textures, played pianissimo, it can vanish into the faintest whisper: at the top of it’s range, it can be bright, sunny, almost hysterical, yet in the lowest register, the sound can be haunting, threatening, or ineffably sad. So a concert of clarinet and piano music can cover not only the whole sound spectrum but also the widest range of emotional intensity.
“Lars Vogt, Royal Northern Sinfonia’s incoming music director, talked, played and conducted his way into the hearts of his new North East audience in a concert designed to showcase both his world-class skill as a pianist and the more recent expansion of his talents into conducting.
The Arts Desk, Geoff Brown
“Luckily, Orpen’s next appearance gave him room to show off skills other than simple agility. In Bartók’s Contrasts for clarinet, violin, and piano, he was the hottest dude on the block, hips wiggling, colours constantly morphing in a part originally written for jazz master Benny Goodman.”
Westmorland Gazette, Brian Paynes
“The temperature was considerably raised by a performance of Copland’s Clarinet Concerto. Timothy Orpen, in full command of the soloist’s widely-ranging technical and emotional demands, was partnered in exhilarating fashion by a conductor-less sinfonia, dispatching the jazz-inspired textures with great aplomb.”
The Northern Echo, Gavin Engelbrecht
Royal Northern Sinfonia’s latest concert at Sage Gateshead was directed by violinist Kyra Humphreys, who opened proceedings with a magnificently moulded rendition of Barber’s Adagio for Strings …….
When not playing his clarinet, Timothy Orpen enjoys mountain climbing, having scaled peaks of 6000m in the Himalayas and Bolivian Andes. His latest onstage challenge saw him taking on one of the pinnacles for his instrument in the shape of Copland’s Clarinet Concerto.
Fans of American composers Samuel Barber and Aaron Copland must be in clover, with their music featuring in two concerts here within five days.
This time it was the turn of Barber’s famous Adagio for Strings and Copland’s less well-known Clarinet Concerto
The Northern Echo, Gavin Engelbrecht
ROYAL Northern Sinfonia’s latest chamber concert at Sage Gateshead placed the spotlight on music by composers from the British isles written in the early 20th century.