Category Archives: Orchestral

In concert – Leila Josefowicz, CBSO / Thomas Søndergård: Richard Strauss, Adès & Brahms

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Leila Josefowicz (violin, above), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Thomas Søndergård (below)

Richard Strauss Don Juan Op.20 (1888)
Adès Violin Concerto, Op.24 ‘Concentric Paths’ (2004)
Brahms Symphony no.2 in D major Op.73 (1877)

Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Thursday 10 October 2024

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse Pictures (c) Tom Zimberoff (Leila Josefowicz), Chris McDuffie (Thomas Søndergård)

He may be spending more time in the US than in the UK these days, but Thomas Søndergård tonight made a timely reappearance with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in a programme such as placed a highpoint among recent concertos between two established German classics.

Richard Strauss‘s Don Juan poses few technical issues for an orchestra these days – the only proviso about this performance being its almost too easy unfolding, the initial stages seeming suave rather than impetuous and emotional contrasts following on almost too seamlessly. Yet the central ‘love’ episode featured a melting contribution from oboist Lucie Sprague, with horns duly firing on all cylinders in a unison theme ultimately capped by a silence of tangible anticipation then a postlude of hushed resignation – heroic aspiration submerged in an aura of starkest fatalism.

If much of Thomas Adès’ music the past two decades has been of a conceptual brilliance that outweighs its intrinsic content, the Violin Concerto is destined to endure and rightly so given these Concentric Paths complement each other in a finely balanced totality. One, moreover, with which Leila Josefowicz identifies wholeheartedly: despatching its brief outer movements with an energy and a panache so that Rings conveyed a volatility channelled towards greater affirmation in Rounds; between them, the relatively expansive Paths proved a chaconne as methodical in evolution as it was affecting in its suffused intensity. Assured in her handling of the solo part, Josefowicz dovetailed it unerringly into orchestral writing as resourceful as any the composer has written. Those in the audience unfamiliar with it were most likely won over.

Many of those present were no doubt looking forward to Brahms’ Second Symphony after the interval, where Søndergård (above) and the CBSO did not disappoint. Outwardly its composer’s most equable such piece, this yields more than its share of ambiguities and equivocations that were rarely absent here. Not least in the opening movement, its unforced progress duly taking in an eventful development whose granitic culmination set its easeful themes at a notably uncertain remove, then with a coda whose restive horn solo was eloquently rendered by Elspeth Dutch. Søndergård was no less probing in the Adagio, flexibly paced so its autumnal main theme did not override the more whimsical and anxious elements which inform its longer-term progress. Certainly, the closing reflection on that theme cast a potent shadow on what had gone before.

The other two movements are usually thought to present few if any interpretative problems, so credit to Søndergård for finding no mean pathos in those reiterations of the Intermezzo’s main theme – not least when it returns as a winsome coda. Nor was the final Allegro lacking in incident, such as that spellbinding transition into the reprise whose epiphanic aspect was not lost on Mahler. Given its head without sounding at all rushed, the coda then emerged as the ebullient though never grandstanding peroration which Brahms himself surely intended.

A resounding close to an impressive performance, and there should be more music-making on this level next week when the CBSO is joined for the first time in many years by former chief guest conductor Mark Elder for an enticing programme of Brahms, Janáček and Shostakovich.

For details on the 2024-25 season A Season of Joy, head to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra website. Click on the names to read more about violinist Leila Josefowicz, conductor Thomas Søndergård and composer Thomas Adès.

Published post no.2,331 – Monday 14 October 2024

In concert – BBC Symphony Orchestra / Sakari Oramo: Mahler Symphony no.6

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BBC Symphony Orchestra / Sakari Oramo (above)

Mahler Symphony no.6 in A minor (1903-04)

Barbican Hall, London
Thursday 26 September 2024

Having just extended his contract with the BBC Symphony Orchestra until 2030, which at 17 years will make him its longest serving chief conductor after Sir Adrian Boult, Sakari Oramo began the new season with this frequently impressive account of Mahler’s Sixth Symphony.

Impressive but equally unpredictable – not least in an opening movement whose tensility and even terseness was emphasized by mostly swift tempos and the nowadays rare omission of its exposition repeat, which predicated martial aggressiveness over any more yielding expression. There was no lack of deftness in the central interlude, for all that the off-stage cowbells were distinctly unevocative in their tinkling, yet the developmental passages either side exuded an unwavering purposefulness so that the arrival of the reprise more than usually made its mark. Stealthily launched, the coda duly emerged rather than burst forth though this was audibly in accord with the ambivalence of its affirmation as Oramo perceived it. Those closing bars had no lack of finality, for all that there was more of ruthlessness than joyousness in their arrival.

Speaking recently, Oramo stated his conviction in the revised order of the central movements with the Scherzo placed second. He might profitably have headed into this without pause, as to underline the consistency of rhythmic profile with what went before, but there was no hint of inflexibility here or in the trio sections which effortlessly elided between the winsome and sardonic. Equally in evidence was that fatalistic sense pervading the music as it unfolds, and so made possible a coda whose evanescent poise could not conceal more ominous portents.

From this vantage, the Andante provided if not balm to the soul, then a measure of unforced pathos. Enticingly rendered with some notably felicitous playing by the BBCSO woodwind, it was shaped by Oramo with unerring rightness through to a climax whose emotional force was the greater for its being held in check. Surprising that this movement has never attained the popularity of the Adagietto from the Fifth Symphony: then again, its salient qualities are conveyed even more completely when experienced within the context of the work as a whole.

By a similar token, it arguably matters less in what order the middle movements are played if the finale proves a culmination in all respects. That it certainly was here – Oramo imbuing its lengthy introduction with acute expectancy balanced by the visceral impact of what followed. Nor did tension fall off in those quiet but eventful interludes, strategically placed between the larger formal sections, and in which cowbells are overlaid by tubular bells for what became a haze of resonance as affecting as any more demonstrative expression elsewhere. Oramo also restored that third hammer-blow which does not so much alter the course of this movement, as confirm its resignation before fate in even more graphic terms. Nothing could have sounded more matter of fact than the baleful rumination of brass prior to that explosive closing gesture. While not the most inclusive performance, this was undoubtedly one to renew admiration in the audacity of Mahler’s conception or his conviction in bringing it off. It also gave notice of continued rapport between Oramo and the BBCSO as they begin their 12th season together.

For more on their 2024/25 season head to the BBC Symphony Orchestra website – and click here to read more on their chief conductor Sakari Oramo

Published post no.2,315 – Saturday 28 September 2024

Arcana at the Proms – Prom 62: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra / Sir Simon Rattle – Mahler: Symphony no.6

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Mahler Symphony no.6 in A minor (1903-04)

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra / Sir Simon Rattle

Royal Albert Hall, London
Friday 6 September 2024

reviewed by Ben Hogwood Photos (c) Chris Christodoulou (taken from the previous night’s Prom)

This was Sir Simon Rattle‘s fifteenth encounter with the music of Gustav Mahler at the BBC Proms – and a third outing under his baton for the Sixth Symphony, which he first conducted in charge of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain 40 years ago.

This time he was visiting, having returned to Germany to take charge of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, a feeling for the concertgoers akin to welcoming a distant relative and hearing about their latest job. The Munich ensemble have formidable Mahler credentials, no doubt introduced by Eugen Jochum from their founding in 1949 but notably honed by Rafael Kubelík, with whom they recorded all the symphonies for Deutsche Grammophon. This account of the Sixth proved them to be the ideal foil for Rattle, the Liverpudlian welcomed with great cheers around the hall.

Sir Simon knows his Mahler better than arguably any other living conductor, and the breadth and depth he brought to his interpretation was breathtaking. So too was the sheer audible spectrum, for which we have to thank Mahler, for this is one of those works that has simply everything, from the tiniest murmur from bass strings to the thunderous hammer strokes of the finale. Some way between that lies the tender theme he wrote for his wife Alma, a glowing light in the first movement under the tender caress of its beautiful wind choir. Around this and in the last movement were fleeting glimmers of sunshine from the cowbells, an unusual addition to the percussion section that charmed from their offstage position, evoking the open meadows but with shivers of cold wind from the rest of the orchestra, outlines icily drawn by strings and brass.

These moments were welcome respite from the tumult of Mahler’s marching music, obsessively hammered home in the fast movements, the orchestra turning this way and that at quick speed. The marching music, so virulent in the first movement, quickly develops a sour taste, and Rattle was alive to that in the scherzo – placed third. This is a time-honoured practice for him, in accordance with Mahler’s order of performance when conducting but not his initial order of composition. The controversy continues to follow the work around, and although many (this author included) prefer the scherzo placed second – ratcheting up the tension – Rattle’s shaping of the piece overall made his own choice a convincing one.

The orchestra were simply stunning. The strings – rarely given due credit in big symphonic performances such as this – were united beyond criticism, the violins in remarkable unison – and particularly beautiful in the serene opening to a magical slow movement. Brass were also as one in their clarion calls, but turned vulgar when they needed to. The wind section was beautifully shaped and coloured, with an appropriately plaintive oboe solo in the trio section of the scherzo. Underpinning the performance were the rolling timpani, the thunder to the lightning strikes of the percussion, whose power was simply brutal at times, The hammer blows, struck twice in the finale, were terrifying strokes of fate and delivered with appropriately cold theatre.

This was a performance that will stick in the memory for years, one from which my ears are still ringing. Mahler’s ghastly premonitions of later existence were brought to life in shocking technicolour, though Rattle revelled at the same time in its beautiful evocations of nature. These were ultimately swept aside, with red-blooded highs and cold-blooded lows, all blended into the same intoxicating musical cocktail. For sheer emotional power, this symphony – and this performance – had it all.

You can listen to the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle in their recent live recording of the Sixth symphony below:

Published post no.2,294 – Saturday 7 September 2024

Arcana at the Proms – Prom 57 – Ultra Lounge: Henry Mancini and Beyond

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For full repertoire list, see the bottom of this article

Monica Mancini, Rachel John, Oliver Tompsett (vocals), Freddie Benedict, Kevin Fox, Johanna Marshall, Liz Swain (backing vocals), BBC Concert Orchestra / Edwin Outwater

Royal Albert Hall, London
Monday 2 September 2024

reviewed by Richard Whitehouse Photo (c) Andy Paradise

Among a plethora of centenary commemorations for composers classical or otherwise, it was good to see that of Henry Mancini marked with a Prom that featured a decent selection of his music next to that of relative contemporaries in this programme of unalloyed ‘easy listening’. The period 1955-75 was an era when such music not only flourished but was taken seriously by moguls in the music industry, witnessed by the sheer number of in-house orchestras with ‘their’ conductors who secured reputations comparable to those of their pop contemporaries.

The BBC Concert Orchestra has long flown the flag for this music, as has its principal guest conductor Edwin Outwater. They launched this evening in fine style with the main title from Mancini’s Charade, its ominous allure complemented by the panache of the theme from Peter Gunn then the slinky humour of Baby Elephant Walk; a mellifluous Days of Wine and Roses bringing the first appearance from tonight’s quartet of backing vocalists. The evergreen Moon River had an elegant cameo by the composer’s daughter Monica Mancini (above), its pathos set in relief by the enigmatic theme from The Pink Panther then irresistible sleaziness of Harold Arlen’s Blues in the Night. More Mancini followed with the driven percussive of Rain Drops in Rio then sultry Lujon with its eponymous percussion instrument. Quincy Jones hit an early high with his ricocheting Soul Bossa Nova, as also Juan García Esquivel with his catchy Mucha Muchacha and Les Baxter in his stealthy Quiet Village. Burt Bacharach’s bittersweet Alfie was graced with an eloquent vocal by Rachel John, then Nicholas Roubanis’ Misirlou evocatively brought up the interval.

The late Laurie Johnson created TV gold with the suave tones of The Shake, theme from The Avengers, as did Morton Stevens with his high-octane Hawaii Five-O. Rachel John sounded a shade coy in Bacharach’s The Look of Love (memorably covered by Scott Walker), his genial Casino Royale hitting the spot as did Julius Wechter’s breezy Spanish Flea. The vocal quartet added ambivalence to Bobby Scott / Ric Marlow co-write A Taste of Honey then ethereality to Michel Legrand’s The Windmills of Your Mind or a neat line in scat to Mancini’s Party Poop. If Oliver Tompsett undersold the sassiness of Sid Ramin’s Music to Watch Girls By, there was no mistaking the faux-chinoiserie of Mancini’s Hong Kong Fireworks and suavity of Baxter’s Shooting Star. Rachel John made Bacharach’s This Guy’s in Love With You a candidate for the most perfect pop-song, with Baxter’s Saturday Night on Saturn more inane in context. Not so Esquivel’s Whatchamacallit with its quirky Ondioline (more stylophone then theremin), then Oliver Tompsett pointed the double-entendre of Bacharach’s What’s New Pussycat? before a gyrating take on Les Reed’s / Gordon Mills’ It’s Not Unusual, indelibly linked with Tom Jones.

It would have been perfectly feasible to assemble a evening devoted to Mancini by taking in his edgier film-scores to such 1950s classics as The Creature of the Black Lagoon and Touch of Evil, but making this a nostalgia-fest doubtless commended itself to a near-capacity house – not that you had to be over a certain age to enjoy what was on offer or to have seen the TV series Animal Magic whose theme-tune, Johnson’s Las Vegas, made an effervescent encore.

List of repertoire performed:

Mancini (arr. Stanley Black): Charade – Main Title (1963)
Mancini: Peter Gunn – Theme (1958)
Mancini (arr. Black): Baby Elephant Walk (1961)
Mancini: Days of Wine and Roses (1962)*d
Mancini: Moon River (1961)a
Mancini (arr. Gavin Sutherland): The Pink Panther – Theme (1963)*
Arlen (arr. Fiona Brice): Blues in the Night (1941)*
Mancini (arr. George Moore): Rain Drops in Rio (1961)
Mancini: Lujon (1961)
Jones (arr. Alasdair Malloy): Soul Bossa Nova (1962)*
Esquivel (arr. Sam Gale): Mucha Muchacha (1962)d
Baxter (arr. Moore): Quiet Village (1951)
Bacharach (arr. Les Reed): Alfie (1966)b
Roubanis (arr. Callum Au): Misirlou (1941)

Johnson (arr. Mike Townend): The Shake (1965)
Stevens (arr. Malloy): Hawaii Five-O (1968)
Bacharach (arr. Richard Balcombe): The Look of Love (1967)b
Bacharach (arr. Balcome): Casino Royale (1967)
Wechter (arr. Malloy): Spanish Flea (1965)
Scott/Marlow (arr. Brice): A Taste of Honey (1960)d
Legrand (arr. Balcombe): The Windmills of Your Mind (1968)d
Ramin (arr. Balcombe): Music to Watch Girls By (1967)c
Mancini (arr. Moore): Party Poop (1968)d
Mancini (arr. Black): Hong Kong Fireworks (1978)
Baxter (arr. Moore): Shooting Star (1968)
Bacharach (arr. Balcombe): This Guy’s in Love With You (1968)b
Baxter (arr. Moore): Saturday Night on Saturn (1957)
Esquivel (arr. Gale): Whatchamacallit (1959)
Bacharach (arr. Balcombe): What’s New Pussycat (1965)c
Reed/Mills (arr. Balcombe): It’s Not Unusual (1965)c

(All titles Proms premieres except *)

aMonica Mancini, bRachel John, cOliver Tompsett (vocals), dFreddie Benedict, Kevin Fox, Johanna Marshall, Liz Swain (backing vocals), BBC Concert Orchestra / Edwin Outwater

You can get details about this year’s season at the BBC Proms website – and you can click on the names to read more about the BBC Concert Orchestra and conductor Edwin Outwater

Published post no.2,292 – Thursday 5 September 2024

Arcana at the Proms – Prom 55: Vikingur Ólafsson, Berliner Philharmoniker / Kirill Petrenko – Schumann & Smetana

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Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor Op.54 (1841-5)
Smetana Má vlast (1874-9)

Vikingur Ólafsson (piano), Berliner Philharmoniker / Kirill Petrenko

Royal Albert Hall, London
Saturday 31 August 2024

reviewed by Richard Whitehouse Photos (c) Chris Christodoulou

This first concert in its latest Proms visit by the Berliner Philharmoniker and chief conductor Kirill Petrenko featured a complete performance of Smetana’s Má vlast as the second half of a programme that, at barely the length of an average Mahler symphony, need not be unusual.

Few would, in any case, object to Vikingur Ólafsson tackle Schumann’s Piano Concerto in an account as dextrously articulated as it was unerringly proportioned. Not least an initial Allegro such as avoided any tendency to mid-tempo ‘drift’, those subtly contrasted themes building a cumulative impetus carried into the combative cadenza then a coda whose tensile energy was judged to a nicety by Petrenko. Some might have felt the Intermezzo too interventionist in its alternation of capriciousness and pathos, but absence of the cutesiness and cloying was more than its own justification and not least when that transition into the final Allegro had such an expectancy. Rhythmically supple with unwavering focus on its overall continuity, this set the seal on a reading whose technical finesse and interpretative insight ensured a riveting listen.

Ólafsson caused some stir at these concerts three years ago with Bach and Mozart concertos, and it was the former composer who provided the encore: the Adagio from the Fourth Organ Sonata (BWV528), transcribed here by August Stradel and rendered with understated poise.

More Czech music so soon after the Czech Philharmonic’s brace of Proms might have been too much of a good thing, but Petrenko’s Má vlast was very different from Jakub Hrůša’s in its lithe expression and streamlined textures. Nor was there was any lack of emotional depth – hence those earlier stages of Vyšehrad as it emerged eloquently on harps towards a fervent climax, its dramatic central section of a razor-sharp precision before subsiding into the main theme’s moving return. Vltava was scenically evocative and formally cohesive as it took in folk-dance, nocturnal landscape and treacherous rapids prior to its resplendent emergence in Prague, then Šárka unfolded its narrative of a matriarchal icon and her heroic demise with an impulsiveness that went into overdrive – without being overdriven – at its dramatic close.

It may be more generalized as to content, but the initial half of From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields is spellbinding as it conjures a pantheist ecstasy (in the process, anticipating Janáček and Minimalism) to which the BPO players were audibly attuned – Petrenko mindful not to overstate the relative blatancy of what follows. Most impressive, even so, were the final two stages whose gaunt rhetoric and granitic sound-world most often make for uneasy listening. Not here, however, as Petrenko gauged the motivic eddying of Tábor so that its underlying momentum held good through to the inevitable segue into Blaník. Emotional tension here was unremitting, the intensive interplay of Vyšehrad-theme with Hussite-chorale building to an apotheosis of Beethovenian power before letting loose for a coda of visceral exhilaration.

Its composite nature makes Má vlast difficult to sustain in performance, but there could be no doubt Petrenko managed this through his and the BPO’s acute yet never wanton control over every facet of the greater concept. A memorable performance and an impressive achievement.

You can get details about this year’s season at the BBC Proms website – and you can click on the names to read more about the Berliner Philharmoniker, their chief conductor Kirill Petrenko and piano soloist Vikingur Ólafsson

Published post no.2,289 – Monday 2 September 2024