Royal Festival Hall, 13 February 2014

There was a time, not very long ago, when Gerontius was considered short enough to form the second part of a programme. While this is rarely the case today, there are occasions when this can make some sense and coupling it with Strauss’ Tod und Verklarung is probably one of the most obvious.

Strauss’ tone poem makes the same journey as Gerontius through death to eternity and the comparison is fascinating in performance. More than anything else, Strauss moves us into a world of archetypes and universal spiritual journeys, whereas Elgar and Newman are deeply personal. The Strauss also gave Chetham’s Symphony Orchestra a chance to show off their strengths without the competition of choir and soloists. The combined sound of the orchestra impresses, with the strings particularly strong. Much of the solo wind was positive though some entries were hesitant. This was particularly obvious in quieter or more exposed passages. Trumpets and oboes were very finely focussed and Elizaveta Tyun was a strong leader as well as providing effective and moving solo passages.

The Bach choir were joined by Chetham’s Chamber Choir to make an unusually strong impact in the Elgar. Praise to the Holiest and Go forth were highlights of much very finely controlled choral singing, though the text was often lost even in quieter passages. The soloists were all outstanding. Andrew Staples is surely the finest Gerontius we have at present. The voice is strong, focussed and heroic, yet entirely English in quality and wonderfully sensitive to the text. The gentle fading towards I can no more and the visionary Take me away – so much more than a simple request for removal! – were illuminating. He was joined by the more familiar but ever reliable Roderick Williams, who turned the Parsifal-like phrases of the second part with heartrending emotion. Jennifer Johnston  was new to me but recalled Janet Baker at her finest in the warmth and sensitivity of her singing. David Hill kept his forces well under control and was briskly efficient throughout.

The Dome, Brighton, 11 February 2014

Theatre organ performances are even rarer today than pipe organ events, so it is good that The Dome mounts occasional matinees and even better that they are well supported. The console may not rise up out of the pit but the atmospheric lighting, together with the constant movement of the up-lit shutters of the fully enclosed pipework, keeps the eyes involved as well as the ears.

Michael Wooldridge plays from memory and most of his selections are popular favourites. Individual items, including birthday requests, are carefully slotted between longer selections. In the first half we heard music from West Side Story and a Disney medley as well as numbers by Duke Ellington.

Light classical music gets a look-in, and on this occasion we heard Suppe’s Overture Light Cavalry.

Michael Wooldridge is happy to chat between items and brought us details of a forthcoming Young Theatre Organists event in Solihull in July, with which he is heavily involved.

From a purists point of view the musical approach is something of a law under itself. Closer to improvisation than focussed on the written score, the sound produced is often more impressive than the melodic line. While this is fine for most of the scores, the Suppe suffered from some lack of accuracy and finesse in registration. The reeds are certainly fiery but could be balanced with a little more subtlety.

The organ itself is still in good voice and a cypher was quickly dealt with. The large range of percussion stops were very impressive and effective, and the woolly tremulo much in evidence. It would be good to hear the more serious side of the instrument by itself on some occasions, or maybe focus on a different range of music. However, it is always better to have something and want more, than to have nothing at all. BH

The Dome, Brighton, 9 February 2014

The Brighton Philharmonic has a strong tradition of encouraging young musicians, and so it was good to encounter William Dutton from the Yehudi Menuhin School as soloist in Mendelssohn’s violin concerto. After a surprisingly veiled opening movement the rapid pacing of the Andante, with a dance-like lift rather than romantic introspection, led into the furious intensity of the final movement which seemed to better suite his temperament. He gave a technically impressive performance even if there were times when it lacked refinement. This will come with greater experience and for a first outing was stimulating and exciting. Confidence was never lacking and his enthusiasm for the phrasing of the final movement was impressive. If you look William up on line do not be surprised by the references to him as a chorister – yes it is the same, many talented, young man, who has now replaced the violin for the treble voice.

The afternoon opened with Prokofiev’s classical symphony which, as time passes, seems less and less classical and ever more the voice of the composer. The small forces were well balanced and fleet in delivery.

After the interval we heard one of the finest, and in many ways, most easily overlooked masterpieces of the late 18^th century. Haydn’s symphony no 104, the London, constantly challenges the listener without ever upsetting the ear. Page after page of development oozes Beethoven in its shifting patterns and clashes of rhythm and harmony. It is a masterpiece and performed here with clarity of line and a real love of the score from all concerned. More Haydn please!

The English Consort, Harry Bicket

Birmingham Town Hall, 6 February 2014

Cast from some of the finest Handelians available and given the vigour of Harry Bicket’s conducting, this presentation could not fail; and so it proved.

Rosemary Joshua was as limpid a heroine as one could wish, and her Didymus, Tim Mead, a florid counter-tenor who brought genuine emotion to his singing. Sarah Connolly has some of Handel’s most moving music for Irene’s passionate support and consolation, and matched the more rugged approach of Kurt Streit’s Septimus.

Jonathan Best was a late replacement as Valens and seemed a little uncomfortable at first, but soon settled. The choir of Trinity Wall Street were new to me in terms of live performance and brought bounce and enthusiasm in addition to splendid articulation.

The English Consort, for all its limited size, has some splendid soloists, with Lisa Beznosiuk a moving dove for Theodora with her baroque flute.

The important organ continuo part was somewhat lost even in the capable hands of Stephen Farr, and Harry Bicket provided the harpsichord part himself.

Theodora has never had the following it deserves and it struck me on this occasion that part of the problem may be the incomprehensibility of the text. Morell writes in Latin rather than in English, with the verbs at the end of a sentence. Consequently, as a listener, we have little understanding of what is being sung until the end of the first full phrase. To take one example, Didymus sings Deeds of kindness to display and it is not until much later we get to the verb disobey. In English, the text should read Who can disobey the call to display deed of kindness, sue for pity or woo for mercy? Perhaps we need Neil Jenkins to do for Handel what he so admirably did for Haydn! BH

Maidstone Symphony Orchestra, Brian Wright

Mote Hall, Maidstone, 1 February 2014

There was, unexpectedly, a close romantic link between the four works we heard at the Mote Hall last night. Not a sentimental, St Valentine’s, romanticism but the emotional intensity which came from the Romantic Movement and lasted well into the 20^th century.

It is there in every bar of Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture. We can almost close our eyes and sniff up the ozone as we indulge in the rapidly changing moods of the sea. Yet this is a beneficent ocean, exciting but never threatening even as it hurls us into the waves. The composer’s experience is closer to the cruise passenger than the surfboarder. All of this was well caught in the ebb and flow of the dynamics, with hazy strings giving way to bright edged wind.

The open-air thrill of the ocean gave way to the melancholy of Sibelius’ Valse triste. Here the strings remain deep within a dark memory, with only the flute and clarinet solos lifting us out of the presence of death. It was moving and uncomfortable at the same time.

Emma Johnson made a welcome return, and even more so with her captivating reading of Finzi’s Clarinet Concerto. Though written in 1949 the first two movements breathe late Elgar both in the introspection of the writing and the air of melancholy. The wistful second movement, with its limpid, rising melody gradually gives way to hope as the clarinet urges the strings into more open and optimistic realms. The relationship between soloist and strings was splendidly captured throughout, leading to the final Rondo whose folk-like melody suddenly moves us into the later twentieth century. Such fine playing deserved an encore and we were delighted with Paul Harvey’s Etude on a theme of Gershwin which evolves as a cheeky set of variations on It ain’t necessarily so.

The second half took us from the melancholy of Sibelius and Finzi back to the heroism inherent in Mendelssohn. Beethoven’s Eroica symphony revisits familiar material in the final movement which the composer had long associated with Napoleon, and while he might have distanced himself once Napoleon crowned himself Emperor, there is no doubting the heroic nature of the symphony. Brian Wright brought out the dance-like quality of the score in many passages, lightening the textures and allowing the solo lines to shine through. David Montague’s oboe was particularly effective in the second movement, but there were no problems with the woodwind throughout. The horns distinguished themselves with the variety of tone produced, ranging from the wild hunting calls of the Scherzo to the softer introspection of the funeral march.

A fine evening – or should I say, another fine evening.

Join us again on 22 March for Schumann, Beethoven and Sibelius. BH