The excellent Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse (voted French Orchestra of the Year in 2022) under conductor Roberto Fores Veses performed a varied and extremely entertaining programme at La Prade Cultural Hall, Pradines, in the Lot department, as part of the Festival ClassiCahors.

Roberto Fores Veses

The evening beagn with Gabriel Fauré’s ‘Masques et Bergamasques’, commissioned in 1918 by Prince Albert I of Monaco. Fauré reworked and expanded his 1902 ‘Fête Galante’ by linking together previously composed instrumental and choral pieces and it has become his most frequently performed stage work. Containing a charming Menuet and a lively Gavotte, it was an entertaining concert opener.

The first half continued with Camille Saint-Saëns’ ‘Cello Concerto no.1’, composed in 1872. Although the concerto has three sections it is played as one continuous movement. It was wonderfully performed by soloist Sarah Iancu. Iancu trained at the National Conservatory of Music in Paris and was named Principal Cellist of the Toulouse Orchestra in 2002. She played the Concerto with elegance and great feeling, especially the demanding third section. An appreciative audience brought her back for an encore.

Sarah Iancu

The second half saw a wonderfully rousing performance of Kurt Weill’s ‘Symphony no. 2’, known as ‘Fantaisie symphonique’. Composed in 1933 – 34, it was commissioned by Princesse de Polignac, heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune. It is a modernist, well-crafted work in three movements. The first begins quite slowly before adopting a lively allegro molto with distinctive rhythmic motif, whilst the second takes the form of a slow march, although towards the end it builds to a climax before finally fading out. The finale, allegro vivace, goes back to the pace of the opening movement, several times building to a theatrical intensity before a joyful ending. The orchestra performed superbly and, as in the first half, a well-deserved encore was the result.

Gabriel Fauré: Masks and Bergamasques, Suite op. 112; Camille Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto no. 1 in A Minor, Op. 33; Kurt Weill: Symphony no. 2