United Kingdom Coleridge-Taylor, Beethoven, Wallen, Dawson: Tai Murray (violin), Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello), Isata Kanneh-Mason (piano), Chineke! Orchestra / Roderick Cox (conductor). Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, 24.9.2025. (CP)
Coleridge-Taylor – Ballade in A minor, Op.33
Beethoven – Triple Concerto for violin, cello & piano, Op.56
Errollyn Wallen – FLOURISH
William Dawson – Negro Folk Symphony
Fresh from their BBC Prom concert earlier this month, Chineke! Orchestra turned out in strength at Warwick Arts Centre, supported by three high profile soloists – a ‘dream team’ as conductor Roderick Cox describes them! Their Warwick visit, now an annual event, proved to be a very successful test run for the concert in Paris this week which kickstarts their tenth anniversary European tour with London, Dublin, Munich, Berlin and Dortmund amongst the venues. With such a celebrated line-up, Chineke! must be hoping for full houses as many have the chance to experience the ‘electric atmosphere’ of a performance by Europe’s first minority Black and ethnically diverse orchestra. Chineke! at the 1300-seat Butterworth Hall on the campus at Warwick University would be major attraction during term time. This test for their tour had to take place this week before the 30,000 students and postgraduates from 150 countries return to campus and surrounding towns, so an audience of only 500 was possible; however, the 30 students from Stoke Park School, Coventry – an Academy School – were enthusiastically committed to the event. That was good to see!
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor is a Chineke! favourite composer, chosen for many of their Prom programmes including 2025, opening with a performance of the 1910 composition, The Bamboula. At Warwick, Chineke! chose an earlier work from 1898, his Ballade in A minor, Op.33, a precocious work full of explosive moments composed soon after he left the Royal College of Music. This was one of the very early works Chineke! played in their opening concerts in 2015. American conductor, Roderick Cox clearly enjoyed the energy and enthusiasm of the trombone team who excelled throughout, together with their tuba colleague. Those fiery early bars were fully exploited by both brass and wind sections. Showing considerable energy, too, was timpanist, Daniel Ellis, a product of the Purcell School and the Royal Academy, whose busy evening culminated with a stirring exhibition during William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony, the blending of Negro and folk themes.
Sheku Kanneh-Mason played at that first concert in 2015, so, too, did Tai Murray and Isata Kanneh-Mason was in the audience! All three combined very well in the performance of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano in C major, Op.56, No.2. Strong chamber elements feature in the work, often viewed as one of Beethoven’s more lightweight works. Delicate opening strings prelude the cello and violin contributions – frequent discrete glissando from Murray standing out. Cellist Sheku indulged in lengthy dialogue with the viola section before leading the plaintive introduction to the second movement. Throughout the work the horn section was fully employed, at times, not quite at their best. A dance form of busy rondo captured the imagination of the Butterworth Hall audience who fully appreciated the efforts of the three making up the ‘dream team’ with all expected to complete the anniversary tour across Europe.
Errolyn Wallen CBE was appointed Master of the King’s Music in 2024, the first woman from a Black Caribbean background to serve in the position. Her composition Flourish will receive its London premiere at the Royal Festival Hall. Warwick Arts Centre gave the work its UK premiere! Wind sections took flight, percussion players were stretched, the trombone team evident once again encouraging the several double bass players to drive the rhythms of this five-minute work.
William Dawson worked in Chicago in the 1920s drawing inspiration from Dvořák’s success at using African American folk themes in his Symphony No.9 From the New World. Dawson selected spirituals he cherished from his childhood creatively integrating them into the symphonic form. Immediate reaction to the first four performances was extremely enthusiastic. Following a tour to West Africa in 1952 he made some major revisions to the work; this is the version now usually heard. Early plaintive horns were soon joined by the trombones with crisp entries. Members of the enlarged percussion section took to sharing instruments to ensure the output required by conductor Cox. He achieved huge success in stimulating the vast string sections as their efforts moved from deliberate pizzicato playing to creating march-like rhythms frequently associated with civil resistance. Folk tunes abound, some depicted by solo violin, cello and viola, others by the joyful percussion playing of bells, a harp and the extraordinary exploits of Daniel Ellis on the timpani. Quite an exhibition! Dawson’s work has enjoyed something of a revival since the Black Lives Matter Movement of recent years, so too, the works of his colleague composers, Florence Price and Margaret Bonds.
Chineke!’s grand sound created by rich and warm strings, strong percussion and excellent wind section contributions deserved a bigger audience. They will be back next year. Hopefully, the academic timetable will permit the many diverse students to enjoy what is quite a sensational ten-year achievement of the orchestra. With the Warwick test completed, Roderick Cox is in charge for all performances of the tour, the orchestra was given a very warm send off by the Butterworth audience, including those committed Stoke Park School students seated in a prime position in front rows!!
Clive Peacock