‘A very special achievement’: Symphony Orchestra displays mastery of Mahler

Tonbridge School’s Symphony Orchestra performed Mahler’s Symphony No.4 in the Chapel of St Augustine on Friday evening (2 December: pictured right and below in rehearsal).

Nearly 60 boys, from across all year groups, performed the work in its entirety, in a concert conducted by Mark Forkgen, Director of Music.

Mr Forkgen said: “For a school orchestra to do justice to a Mahler symphony is a very special achievement, requiring mastery of the piece not just musically and technically, but also on an emotional and an intellectual level.

“To hear young musicians appreciating and interpreting music of great sophistication, and of such disparate elements, made it a very satisfying experience for me and, I hope, for the audience.”

The Fourth Symphony, composed in 1899 and 1900, is in four movements, with the music representing children’s songs, folk songs and the Viennese classical tradition; a Dance of Death; a movement depicting the eternity of God’s love; and, finally, a child’s vision of heaven, in which the musicians were joined by professional soprano, Bethany Partridge.

The School Symphony Orchestra performs each term: recent concerts have included Beethoven’s Symphony No.3, the Eroica, and Play on: Shakespeare in Symphony, consisting of pieces by Walton, Nyman, Mendelssohn and Prokofiev.

Mr Forkgen added: “At Tonbridge we play whole symphonies in their original form, to really stretch the boys beyond performing movements and arrangements, so that we bring out their full potential. We do four different programmes each year, which also teaches versatility.”

In March, Tonbridge is staging its Whole School Concert, The Argo, an original musical work inspired by the legendary voyage of Jason and the Argonauts. The concert, to be performed across two nights, will see a chorus of Tonbridge boys joined by the Symphony Orchestra as well as by soloists and choristers.