Cadogan Hall Saturday 15 August 2015

Apollo’s Fire were making their Proms debut this afternoon and invited us to join them in a Coffee House in Leipzig in around 1720. No problem with that except that the majority of the music offered was written well after this date and seemed to have little relevance to the concept. No matter in the long run for the music itself was pleasant throughout, opening with CPE Bach’s Symphony for Strings in B minor. The melancholy opening Allegretto gives way to a brief Larghetto and a final Presto which seemed closer to late Mozart than the baroque of the coffee house.

Vivaldi’s violin concerto RV234 brought Alina Ibragimova as soloist. The work is very brief and the ensemble almost took more time arranging themselves beforehand than they did actually playing. Thankfully the score was worth it.

The most pleasing section of the afternoon was a suite of pieces from Telemann’s Burlesque de Quixotte which involved some fine guitar playing from John Lenti.

The final two works, both by Bach, left something of a question in my mind. Alina Ibragimova returned as soloist for Bach’s Violin Concerto in E major BWV1042, and this was followed by the Fifth Brandenburg Concerto. While the notes were all there, there seemed to be a lack of communication with the audience. It was almost as if they were in a coffee house playing for themselves rather than for us. There was no doubting Jeannette Sorrell’s technical aplomb in tackling the harpsichord solos in the Brandenburg but both pieces lacked the impact which had come through in the Telemann. It may have sounded better on the radio, but then the listener has coffee to hand.

Sunday 2 August

Verdi’s Requiem has had a strong presence at the Proms over the last fifty years and I heard my first live performance under Carlo Maria Giulini in 1963 to electrifying effect.

If Donald Runnicles’ performance last night did not quite eclipse that memory there was certainly a great deal to enjoy in the handling of the large forces and, in particular, the sensitivity to the quieter passages. The opening was so soft it hardly reached the extremities of the Royal Albert Hall but when it erupted there was a violence in the momentum which seemed unstoppable. He was greatly helped by the impact of the Chorus of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Using somewhat smaller choral forces than is often the case, but a force which is entirely professional and used to singing from memory, made for an intensity of attack and boldness of line which easily road the orchestral forces. Dies ira  and Tuba mirum were thrilling in their impact, but as  noted above, it was the more reflective moments which particularly impressed. Angela Meade’s soprano floated effortlessly through the hall but it was the human warmth of Karen Cargill’s mezzo which seemed to be the key to Donald Runnicles’ approach.

Bass Raymond Aceto gave stalwart support even if occasionally it lacked passion. Tenor Yosep Kang has a strong top to the voice but he had considerable difficulty in the middle register and the voice was often out of focus and at times off pitch. A pity when so much around him was so good.

The concert will be repeated on BBC Radio 3 on Wednesday at 2.00pm.

Sunday 2 August 2015

Though this was advertised as a family prom there seemed to be very few children in the audience. Maybe the presence of two new works put off some parents. A pity, for both were easily accessible and made an excellent foil for the Mozart and Beethoven.

The Aurora Orchestra has made a virtue of playing from memory though the opening Pastoral Symphony by Brett Dean was securely from the score. Moving back to Australia, the composer was struck by the sounds of nature in the antipodes which are so different from those of the European world. The symphony reflects these differences and also the gradual loss of natural sounds to those of the city and industry. Electronic and recorded sounds are used sensitively throughout, blending in seamlessly with the orchestral instruments, which are themselves used to create breathy, voiceless sounds as well as conventional notation. If the score often sounds closer to Messiaen than to Beethoven this should not imply it is difficult on the ear, with its jazz overtones and pleasing sense of narrative line.

Mozart’s Coronation piano concerto K537 is far less familiar to us than the core concerti and therefore all the more welcome. Soloist Francesco Piemontesi had made his own version of the score as the original is incomplete and in places needs more than a simple reconstruction. The result was totally convincing, with a freshness and intimacy balancing the many touches where Mozart seems to be moving in an entirely new direction. It is a ghostly indication of what he might have achieved had he lived longer.

Anna Meredith’s Smatter Hauler opened the second half and here the Aurora Orchestra were joined by a group of highly enthusiastic, not to say skilled, members of the BBC Proms Youth Ensemble. The work is brash and invigorating, as intended, and for once the use of lighting was highly effective to point to the sections playing and the focus of a particular part of the score. There is more to music-making than thwacking a drum, but it can be infectious and certainly set the hall alight in its brief five minutes. I hope we not only hear the piece again but that it encourages others to commission works from Anna Meredith.

Last season the Nicholas Collon and his orchestra played Mozart Forty from memory, this year it was Beethoven’s Pastoral. In the event this was far more than a feat of memory. With virtually all the players standing there was a freedom to the playing which can’t happen when all are seated and concentrating on the scores before them. There was a frequent sense of dance movement across the orchestra and each musician became a soloist in their own right. Added to this, the need for constant eye contact meant there was a much tighter sense of ensemble. Tempi were fast and buoyant. The birdsong at the end of the slow movement brought us full circle to Brett Dean’s vision of Australian nature, and led us into a joyous relaxed final movement.

The concert is repeated on BBC Radio 3 this Friday at 2.00pm and the concert will be televised on BBC Four on Sunday at 7.00pm – and for 30 days on the BBC iPlayer.

Garsington Opera & the RSC

Garsington Opera, Wormsley, 17 July 2015

It is not often that two artists of unimpeachable genius can be brought together to create something that excels their individually created works, but such is the case with Mendelssohn’s music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the concert hall, while convincingly beautiful, it can seem remote from the play, particularly if one is aware of many recent productions. However, put together with the sensitivity that Douglas Boyd and Owen Horsley have brought to the current presentation at Wormsley, we begin to see that Mendelssohn’s score is far more than incidental music. While it does not go so far as to become a singspiel the impact of the score makes a profound effect upon the action and the characterisation. Most operatic versions of Shakespeare are so far removed from the original as to be works in their own right but here we are faced with a combination which regularly seems to exceed either. The final moments alone attest to this. Puck’s closing speech can seem a little flippant, a call for applause, but here, underpinned by Mendelssohn it has a far deeper spiritual impact. The only other time I can recall anything similar was in Peter Brook’s famous RSC production where give me your hands meant literally that and the cast went through the audience passing the peace. A magical moment, which was echoed at Wormsley. This should not imply that the whole was over serious. The comic moments, focused on more cleanly with the abridged text, were newly minted and genuinely funny. The regional accents for the mechanicals worked well, with Chris Nayak’s Wall particularly effective. Using David Rintoul and Marty Cruickshank as both Theseus/Hippolyta and Oberon/Titania may be encountered quite often today but was made to highlight the parallelisms in the text and across the couples. Their age also gave weight to their presence and authority. Oliver Johnstone’s Puck and David Collings Egeus/Philostrate were finely etched.

Placing the Garsington Orchestra on stage not only ensured we could hear all the detail of the score but helped focus the attention of the audience. All too often in the theatre, once the actors have disappeared the audience starts to shuffle or whisper. With Douglas Boyd centre stage there was no hint of sound, even during the long nocturne at the end of act one. I am not aware that this production is being recorded but it will be a great pity if it is not.

Moreover the venture is promised to be the first of a series and we can look forward to a danced interpretation of Haydn’s The Creation next year.

If you missed the sold out performances of The Dream at Wormsely you may be able to catch it at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 22, 23, 24 July and at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford upon Avon, on 26 July.

Garsington Opera at Wormsley, 8 July 2015

With the exception of the fine Figaro from John Cox, recent Mozart productions by Garsington Opera have, to say the least, been questionable, but this reimagining of Cosi from John Fulljames and Douglas Boyd is about as good as it gets.

Setting the whole evening within a wedding celebration could seem yet another director’s concept but in practice it works splendidly. At no point does the action seem strained and the unfamiliar circumstances, the endlessly free flowing alcohol and the loss of inhibitions all make the unlikely events seem all the more credible. Even the outlandish costumes – the younger women in eighteenth century dresses and vast wigs – are not too far-fetched. Anyone who has seen a few episodes of Don’t Tell The Bride will know that!

Within the unfolding events of the wedding the two couples are put through their paces by a cynic who has seen it all before and an organiser – Despina – who is used to playing games. What proves so convincing is the quality of the characterisation which unfolds. Where at the start there is little to choose between them, the moral character of each develops before us, until the conclusion – though startling – is in retrospect inevitable. Kathryn Rudge’s Dorabella is a fiery individual, out to enjoy herself, and Smanie implacabili is hurled across the stage with passion. It is no wonder that she is easily seduced by Ashley Riches’ louche Guglielmo. As he draws her on they start to undress and their off stage sex is clearly happening. In contrast Andreea Soare’s beautifully sung Fiordiligi remains moral and unmoved, her Come scoglio the heart of her character. Robin Tritschler’s Ferrando is equally uncomfortable with the games until he starts to realise that maybe Fiordiligi has more to offer than the flighty Dorabella. It comes as little surprise in the final moments to find Fiordiligi and Ferrando together, leaving a distraught Guglielmo and Dorabella to face up to what they have done and lost.

Through all of this Douglas Boyd keeps the score moving with a sense of attack and immediacy which focuses on the narrative rather than allowing singers to indulge themselves. This does not mean that it is ever rushed or over-hasty. Ferrando’s un’aura amorosa is lovingly phrased, and there are many moments of real intimacy even in the extrovert surroundings of the wedding breakfast. Above all, the work is taken seriously. This may be a drama giocoso but it is not a light comedy. Lives are broken here – and though the young people may be able to pick up and start again, they will never be the same afterwards. Though Neal Davies’ avuncular Don Alfonso may set the games in progress, it is the young couples themselves who see them through and there is never any sense that he is a puppet master. If things end unhappily then Don Alfonso has proved his point.

Is it simply the mishaps of an over-enthusiastic wedding? Possibly, but then life is full of events over which we think we have control, only to learn later that maybe we didn’t. Mozart’s genius is to show us the mistakes before we make them.

The Guildhall, Bath, 4 July 2015

Bath’s prestigious chamber choir chose to celebrate American Independence Day this Saturday with an all-American programme, and where more appropriate than the splendours of Bath’s Guildhall, built at precisely the same moment as our cousins across The Pond were fighting to cede from the English Crown. Sir Joshua Reynolds’s portrait of George III looked out across the Guildhall audience as Bath Camerata took to the stage. He would hardly have approved of such celebrations.

After 29 years under the leadership of former King’s Singer Nigel Perrin, Bath Camerata was also marking its own quiet revolution. This was the first outing under the direction of their gifted new conductor, Benjamin Goodson. And what a splendid debut it was, announcing a renewed focus and purpose from this much-loved choir.

At the heart of the concert stood a beautiful arrangement of the traditional American song Shenandoah, sung with quiet intensity. Tippett’s Spiritual arrangements, Barber’s famous Adagio arranged for voices, and Bernstein’s jazzy Warm Up demonstrated to the full the choir’s impressive expressive range, moving with ease between very different styles. When they sing softly, the music has a powerful concentration; when the 24 voices go off at full tilt, they blow you out of your seat.

Britten’s exceedingly English Flower Songs seemed a little out of place in this programme, and the choir too did not appear entirely convinced, but their strength is their trademark arrangements of popular songs. Regulars will have heard Billy Joel’s And So It Goes many times before, and they perform it brilliantly. Everyone was tapping their feet by the end, and the lengthy ovation was richly deserved.

An excellent start, then, for a new era with Bath Camerata. We look forward with excitement to their development over the coming years. They are truly the jewel in Bath’s choral crown.

Jonathan Cross