“This ticket includes temporary membership of Mecca Bingo,” said the entrance pass issued by Somerset’s new professional orchestra, Orchestra West — certainly an arresting, if unusual, way of grabbing the attention even before one had entered the gaudy majesty of Taunton’s Art Deco Gaumont Theatre.
Alas, as the ticket suggested, the building’s main function isn’t classical music, and nor is it ever likely to be. For the past 20 years the Gaumont has belonged to the monotholic Mecca Inc; the new orchestra isn’t hoping to make this temple to the art of bingo a permanent concert hall. Initially the new ensemble, largely drawn from what was the Taunton Philharmonic, has rather more modest ambitions: a single gala each year at the Gaumont, followed by touring through smaller venues in a part of Britain that the country’s main orchestras rarely penetrate.
It’s a more than worthy ambition, and judging by the large and enthusiastic crowd that turned out for this launch there’s plenty of support for the orchestra’s first season in its new incarnation.
Whether it is quite ready for a venue of this size may be a moot point, given its modest ambitions. That said, if Orchestra West intend to tackle big romantic warhorses such as the Elgar Cello Concerto and Tchaikovsky’s splashy, searing Fifth Symphony, John Cole, the conductor, needs to work on building the instrumentalists into a more cogent ensemble. Entrances weren’t always spot-on, and the string sound was raw and unfocused. The overture to Die Meistersinger, that fiendish tangle of bewitching counterpoint and soaring harmony, only just about stayed on track.
But there are certainly signs that Orchestra West will get there in the end. The cellist Joely Koos gave a sensitive if understated performance in the Elgar, and inspired some tighter playing from the rest. Cole drew plenty of vim and vigour from the Tchaikovsky, particularly from a fearless brass section. It proved to be a punchy, effective end to a promising evening; eyes down for the next instalment.