Presteigne Festival review
ANTHONY BRADBURY ENJOYS TWO PRESTEIGNE FESTIVAL CONCERTS AT LEOMINSTER PRIORY
PRESTEIGNE FESTIVAL 2021
FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA and CHOIR OF ROYAL HOLLOWAY
Leominster Priory ****
The life of a festival organiser is still far from straightforward as live music emerges from its enforced hibernation, so credit to Artistic Director George Vass and his team for pulling off this year's Presteigne Festival.
Sunday afternoon's concert, given by the Festival Orchestra, started with young American composer Jessie Montgomery's 'Starburst', grabbing you from the off with its chugging chords, bouncy lower pizzicato strings, syncopated rhythms, and kaleidoscope of string colours that popped and fizzed; the players clearly relished it.
Malcom Arnold is rightly receiving greater recognition in his centenary year, and his Concerto for Two Violins was given an authoritative performance by soloists Fenella Humphreys and Francesca Barritt, communicating as one with their of