SURREY ADVERTISER JUNE 2014 – Guildford Festival – Carnival 2 Southern Pro Musica (***** five stars) Peter White- Conductor, Jan Newman and Maureen Galea – Pianists, Tom Martin – Double Bass
Southern Pro Musica’s programme at Holy Trinity last Friday was nothing if not engaging; it began with Saint-Saens scintillating score Carnival of the Animals and ended with an attractive modern counterpart written by Peter White.. In hhis zoological treat, White was careful to avoid most of the animals Saint-Saens depicted, so we heard under his direction, brilliant depictions of rushing commuters, buzzing flies, eerily floating jelly fish, a description of whales worthy of Rachmaninov, some superb honking pigs, and a poignant description of the last surviving Pinta Island Tortoise which died in 2012. There was a terrific parody of serialism and oe of its features, crab inversion. The two pianists, Maureen Galea and Jan Newman performed with consummate skill throughout….