Daily Archives: 14 April, 2019

Philharmonia Orchestra

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Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, 13 April 2019

You’d expect mature, measured work from octogenarian Herbert Blomstedt and that, in this enjoyably focused concert is what we got. Mr Blomstedt now moves stiffly when he reaches and exits the platform but his unshowy, baton-less conducting is free and fluid, mostly from the wrist, with little or no reference to the score in front of him and rarely anything as humdrum as beating time. He reminded me, in different ways, of both Boult and Klemperer – both of whom I caught live towards the end of their careers. And the Philharmonia clearly responds well to his understated style.

Rather unnecessarily entitled Musical Heroes, this two work concert brought together Mozart’s powerful 40th symphony with all its stirring G minor and Beethoven’s Eroica – larger forces on stage –  which unfailingly manages to sound ground-breaking over 200 years after it was written.

Blomstedt gave us plenty of understated elegance in Mozart’s opening molto allegro followed by an exquisite andante. I really liked the way he allowed the woodwind interjections to glide through the texture – which also speaks volumes for the pleasing acoustic in the Marlowe which, unusually, works just as well as a concert hall as it does as a theatre. There followed an incisive third movement and a fourth characterised by mercurial tempi and precision.

And so to a memorable Beethoven performance. Blomstedt had the Philharmonia configured with first and second violins facing each other with timps angled off to his right and basses to his left. This meant that the principal cello struggled for eye contact with the leader and, owing to the conductor’s forward position, the leader couldn’t see his face most of the time. It looked awkward but didn’t seem to affect the sound.

Blomstedt doesn’t do everything at “authentic” Beethoven prestissimo as Norrington or Eliot Gardener routinely do which means we were treated to a lot of detail – with every rhythmic and melodic nuance coaxed and shaped by his expressive hands. I especially liked the management of the tension preceding the convention-breaking horn discords in the first movement and its contrast with the lyrically evocative passages. The second movement was, frankly, eccentric with too many exaggerated dynamic and tempo changes but the nicely judged fugal section and the rich string sound in the scherzo made up for it. So did the grandiloquence of the finale in which friskier moments highlighted the strength of the legato, fortissimo sections.

Susan Elkin

 

 

Opera South East: La Traviata

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White Rock Theatre, Saturday 13 April 2019

Fraser Grant’s sensitive and intelligent approach to La Traviata moves the action to the cusp of WWI giving it an added layer of frisson with the inevitability of death and destruction. The narrative plays out as if experienced in the final seconds of Violetta’s life, a point well made at the very end where she ‘dies’ to those around her bed, but engages with us in her final ecstatic outpouring. It is moving and highly effective.

The focus throughout is Kristy Swift’s Violetta. She is not afraid to sing directly to the audience when appropriate – all the more so in Sempre libera when Alfredo was not off stage but at the front of the balcony. She allows her inherent illness to creep up on us, hinted at in Act 1 but devastating in Act 3 where she can barely crawl around the stage. Throughout the voice is fully focussed and thrilling, with carefully attention to diction even when the words themselves are not in a comfortable translation.

Fraser Grant makes Harry Kersley’s Alfredo a less than sympathetic figure. Gauche and often narcissistic, the tension and tightness at the top of the voice reflects his inability to empathise with those around him and it is not until the final act, when it is too late, that he begins to show any sign of maturity. By contrast Arthur Coomber’s Germont Pere quickly comes to realise the deep humanity of Violetta and takes her part against the rest of the world, though never at the expense of his own family. It was an interesting idea to have his daughter on stage in Act 2, and particularly effective when she embraces Violetta. However, having her on stage in Act 3 raised more problems than it solved. Did she marry? Is she already a widow? We don’t really need to be thinking about this as the work ends.

There are many opportunities for smaller parts to make their mark, and David Woloszko’s Doctor Grenville brought warmth and authority to his few lines, and Jack Naismith impressed again as Giuseppe. The chorus have fun cross-dressing and the somewhat decadent Act 3 party with its belly-dancers is highly entertaining.

The orchestral balance was excellent under Kenneth Roberts and the essential string writing came across with smooth ease, not always the case with smaller orchestras. Fraser Grant had done his own lighting design which was atmospherically effective throughout and demonstrates that you don’t need a west-end rig to create rapidly changing scenes.

Opera South East return in September for a G&S Extravaganza and in late November for a Kenneth Roberts premiere – Ananse and the Golden Box of Stories- coupled with Amahl and the Night Visitors.