This all-English programme was a high octane concert at the end of which orchestra members must have been very tired although they sustained the stamina until the very last bar.<\/p>\n
We began with a new work, a BBC co-commission, by Mark-Anthony Turnage. Time Flies<\/em> comprises three movements each representing the cities and time zones of the work\u2019s commissioners. Thus we get \u201cLondon Time\u201d (hint of \u201cPop Goes the Weasel\u201d), an initially bell-like \u201cHamburg Time\u201d which finally dies away on an evocative flute motif, followed by \u201cTokyo Time\u201d in which off beat jazzy rhythms showcase excellent work by the brass section. The whole work \u2013 which uses seven percussionists \u2013 would make a good teaching exercise if you were trying to teach children about instruments of the orchestra. It features, among other novelties a celesta, soprano saxophone and marimba.<\/p>\n Sakari Oramo is a businesslike, unshowy conductor who maestro-managed all this (and the works which followed) with a strong down beat and encouraging smiles. And of course Turnage was there to take well deserved applause in the end \u2013 looking insouciantly arty in a Sinatra-style trilby hat,<\/p>\n Now I just love a bit of tuba. Continuous exposure to Tubby<\/em> when I was a child has a lot to answer for. So it was a real thrill to see and hear Vaughan Williams\u2019s delightful 1954 concerto<\/em> live and beautifully played by Constantin Hartwig. He brought lots of wit and rubato to the first movement cadenza with especially in those lower registers which always seem so unlikely. Then Hartwig played the second movement with great tenderness and lyricism \u2013 milking the melodies for the maximum levels of RVW-esque pastoral beauty. Why doesn\u2019t this concerto get more outings? It really should.<\/p>\n The encore misfired somewhat, however. Hartwig told the audience that he wasn\u2019t going to tell us what it was because we\u2019d all recognise it after the first six notes. I don\u2019t think many people did. Paul McCartney\u2019s Blackbird<\/em> seemed almost to have disappeared in Lars Holmgaard\u2019s arguably over complex arrangement. Perhaps we were distracted by the sudden, welcome sound of rain drumming loudly on the roof of the Albert Hall \u2013 the first in London for many weeks.<\/p>\n And so to Elgar\u2019s First Symphony<\/em>. There is a famous film of Elgar conducting Pomp and Circumstance March Number One<\/em> and telling the orchestra briskly: \u201cPlease play this as if you\u2019ve never heard it before\u201d before setting off at a smart, unsentimental pace. I was reminded of that at the opening of this performance of the first symphony. It may be marked with Elgar\u2019s characterisitic noblimente but Oramo allowed the big melody at the beginning to sing out on its own terms without any saccharine wallowing. And the split rhythms later in the movement were delivered with contrasting incisive crispness. Getting that mood shift right is probably the key to delivering Elgar successfully.<\/p>\n Oramo is very good indeed at dramatic dynamics and I particularly liked his warm and spirited transition into the adagio, played with an unusual secretive magicality and some splendid string playing. If you play them as softly as this, the pianissimo passages in all movements require terrific control and we certainly got it in this emotionally charged \u2013 but never cloying \u2013 rendering.<\/p>\n Susan Elkin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This all-English programme was a high octane concert at the end of which orchestra members must have been very tired although they sustained the stamina until the very last bar. We began with a new work, a BBC co-commission, by … Continue reading