Monumental end to Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra season

A shade fanciful? Well, yes a little, but the big finish provided by Respighi's The Pines of Rome could hardly have been more rousing, and it perfectly conjured the composer's desired effect of depicting a consular army bursting forth towards the Sacred Way, mounting in triumph to the Capitol.

Not only did the music fit the bill but the required orchestra also measured up. Nearly 100 musicians (a maniple in Roman times - a contingent of 60 to 120 soldiers), playing a wide variety of weird and wonderful instruments, were required to put on this big work and they were led from the front by BPO music director Barry Wordsworth.

He and BPO general manager Ivan Rockey had masterminded the inspired this 'Orchestral Images' season and it was only a pity the choice for the final concert was not as universally approved as they would have liked.

The season included three sell-outs but quite a few empty seats on Sunday meant this was not one of them.

The choice in the season's programme has brought the best out of the BPO and 'General' Wordsworth deserves special credit for his efforts, which started with a difficult piece by Hove resident and the BPO's Composer in Focus Martin Butler.

The eight-minute Fixed Doubles, written in 1989, would have tested many an orchestra but Wordsworth worked like a trojan to keep them together wonderfully well.

Butler is writing a piece that the BPO will premiere in January.

Maintaining the local theme on Sunday was world class pianist Artur Pizarro, born in Portugal but now resident in Brighton.

He was busy in his second appearance with the BPO, playing Saint-Saens' Egyptian Concerto and Da Falla's Nights in the Gardens of Spain with an effortless expertise that was clearly appreciated as much by the musicians as the BPO faithful.

Pizarro's lightness of touch will stick in the mind.

But it was the big finish provided by The Pines of Rome (four sites in all, named by the composer as 'of the Villa Borghese', 'near a Catacomb', 'of the Janiculum' and 'of the Appian Way') that will probably linger longest in the memory and encourage plenty in the audience back for the next season, which starts on September 30 when the programme will include Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnole and Stravinsky's Firebird.