Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury
I’ve come to the conclusion that 20th and 21st century British composers had/have a special affinity with the viola. Ralph Vaughan Williams, after all, is one of the few composers to have written a concerto for it and rarely have I been at a concert which featured violas (led by Yukiko Ogura who also played several lovely solos) as this all British Elgar/MacCunn/MacMillan programme. And they rose to the occasion with warm aplomb.
Two Elgar works sandwiched two contrasting Scottish works beginning with a crisp, incisive account of Introduction and Allegro. Martyn Brabbins is, on the whole, an old school conductor who beats time and spares us the histrionics, and if he milked the ralls and pauses in this piece slightly too much for my taste then I’ll forgive him because he coaxes a splendid sound from his players.
It’s a great pleasure to see a percussion concerto staged – and “staged” is the operative word here – since Colin Currie (who premiered this work in Utrecht in 2014) has to traverse the front of the stage at speed for marimba, glockenspiel, pitched bell, steel pan entries – and a lot more beside with a whole range of different sticks. James MacMillan’s Percussion Concerto No 2 is a strange, evocative work (complete with viola solo) which I was hearing for the first time. I was struck, not only by Currie’s slick talent but also by the attractive quirkiness of the orchestral writing which includes, for example, lots of col legno (to support the percussive tone) and some otherworldly glissando work.
And so to Hamish MacCunn’s “signature” work The Land of the Mountain and Flood which is a jolly piece and none the worse for being a bit of a Light Programme (back in the day) pot boiler. Brabbins ensured that it was played with marked precision as well as warmth with some well balanced wind interjections and delightful cello solo from Karen Stephenson.
Rebecca Chan, leader of the Philharmonia on this occasion, is a very charismatic player – sitting on the edge of her chair and energetically using her body to communicate with the whole ensemble. And that really worked well in an uplifting performance of Enigma Variations. It’s a colourful piece anyway and in this performance Brabbins and Chan took it deftly through all its contrasts from the mercurial to the majestic. The central, adagio Nimrod (variation 9) was well controlled – always a challenge – and the feathery elegance of Variation 9 was neatly delivered.
Susan Elkin