Royal Albert Hall, 25 July 2019

The evening began with a crisp but warm account of Till Eulenspiegel. There’s something about the acoustic of the Royal Albert Hall and the raked positioning of the orchestra which helps to bring out the detail and colour both melodically and dynamically. The trumpet solo and a couple of contrabassoon entries added noticeably to the spiky drama here, for example.

Stenz is a baton-less conductor with unusually expressive wrists and fingers which he uses balletically to coax what he wants from his players. In the familiar pieces which opened and closed this concert he used no score and rarely did anything as prosaic as beating time.

It was different, though in the trumpet concerto by Swedish composer Tobias Brostrom – played here in the UK for the first time. Stenz used a score and conducted more conventionally as you’d expect in music which is new to every orchestral player. There was a different sort of concentration and tension.  The piece is structured in two halves but three broad sections with the middle “movement” equating approximately to a traditional concerto adagio. The other-worldly percussion in the first section was impressive as the two solo trumpets (Jeroen Berwaerts and Hakan Hardenberger), mostly in thirds or echoing canon, played their haunting rather than melodic parts. It wasn’t a piece which I warmed to particularly although this orchestra played it well and both soloists did a fine job.

And so to the safety of Brahms’s first symphony which Stenz delivered with cohesion and colour especially in the andante which brought some really beautiful work from guest principal oboist, Chris Cowie and from Philippe Schartz on trumpet. The pizzicato passages were as vibrant and pointed as I’ve ever heard them and the finale (Stenz by now in whole arm, windmill mode) was both grandiloquent and moving.

Well done, BBC National Orchestra of Wales. It was a pleasant concert and what a sensible decision on the second hottest London day on record to play in shirtsleeves and tie-less.

Susan Elkin

Garsington Opera at Wormsley, 25 July 2019

Strange to be at Wormsley on the hottest night of the year with virtually no one in evening dress. This was because the performance had been preceded by a cricket match and most people seemed to have stayed on from the afternoon into the evening’s glorious outpouring of Monteverdi at his most spectacular.

This was a tactfully staged rendition, just enough movement to keep the eye interested without ever encroaching on the impact of the score. For once Joe Strathers projection of the text was fully included into the setting, with the English and Latin projected at large onto the timber back wall. Our eyes could take it in easily without constantly moving from text to singers.

Soloists included members of Garsington’s fine chorus across the evening and throughout the building. Monteverdi’s echo effects worked to superbly with voices coming from all parts of the house, an effect also used in the Sonata with its six female soloists.

The solo work is scored for high voices with sopranos Mary and Sophie Bevan, and tenors Benjamin Hulett, Robert Murray and James Way carrying the weight of the solo sections. Duo seraphim for the three tenors was particularly beautiful with its undulating rhythms and quasi-ornamental conclusion.

The English Consort was joined by The English Cornett and Sackbutt Ensemble to give us an electrifying account of the score, frequently changing instrumentation to give subtle differences of texture and weight. Within the ensemble were two chamber organs, the smaller being paired with the harpsichord which was played by conductor Laurence Cummings. He stood throughout and seemed to dance his way through the various movements even as he used one or other of the keyboards. The sense of dance was an essential element of PJ Harris’ staging as the singers flowed gracefully throughout the building always at one with the music.

This brought the Garsington Opera season to a close. Its 30^th anniversary and a splendid indication that the next thirty years are not in doubt.