CBSO at Symphony Hall  April 12 2012                                       Edward Gardner    

This post-Easter presentation of Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, repeated at the Barbican two days later, was always going to be special, and so it turned out, if not for the reasons previously envisaged.

It was to have been Andris Nelsons’ first-ever ‘Gerontius’, and his entry into the gallery of CBSO principal conductors who have directed the work before him. But family priorities, with the sickness of his infant daughter, quite rightly took sway, and he reluctantly decided to withdraw.

As the luck of scheduling diaries would have it, principal guest
conductor Edward Gardner was free to step into the breach, and what a
memorable job he made of it, this only his own second ‘Gerontius’.

Gardner’s other hat as music director of English National Opera stood
him in good stead here, bringing an instinctive sense of drama and
pacing. On Good Friday the Mariinsky Theatre’s Parsifal had brought
Gerontius to mind; here it was the other way round.

Gardner’s tempi, flowing effortlessly between sections, were bravely
broad, not sanctimoniously so as in the case of ancient interpreters,
but clearly envisioned, aware of their goals. Within these lavish
paragraphs he was able to summon so much detail, whether from the
perennially remarkable CBSO Chorus (and how fresh and youthful they
sounded where necessary!) or from the responsive and supple orchestra
itself.

There were two incidents I’d never noticed before in five decades of
loving the work, but Gardner’s acuity brought them out: the suspenseful
timpani roll over a prolonged organ pedal at the end of Praise to the
Holiest, and the shriek from piccolos and other woodwind as the Soul
of Gerontius glimpses the searing perfection of God for the minutest
instant before gladly consigning himself to Purgatory.

Two of the three soloists were disappointing: tenor Robert Murray, a
late replacement for the indisposed Toby Spence, delivered beautiful
vocal tone and intelligence of diction, but little of the anguished
message of Cardinal Newman’s text; Sarah Connolly’s Angel, somewhat
harsh of timbre, began with a quiet radiance but later failed to
console; but James Rutherford was in his customary commanding,
authoritative form as the Priest despatching Gerontius into the
afterworld, and as the awesome Angel of the Agony interceding for him
as judgement approaches.

The night belonged to the CBSO, its Chorus and Gardner, and an amazing
minute-plus of silence followed the performance. That must have sent
the live BBC broadcasters into their own personal little purgatory,
until the applause at last erupted.

CM

Birmingham Symphony Hall, 6 April 2012

During the Prelude to Act 1 I found myself wondering whether Wagner would ever have covered in the pit at Bayreuth if he had experienced his scores with the immaculate clarity which comes from the Birmingham acoustic. The piercing intensity of the first trumpet line, so beautifully mirrored in the closing bars, some five and a half hours later, was, by this time mellowed and refined – a sensitivity which, from my experience, Bayreuth cannot match.

With an opening as good as this we were obviously in for something special and Valery Gergiev did not disappoint – though after the Cardiff Ring I have to admit to some hesitancy about his approach. The orchestra was the key to this interpretation, with extended paragraphs of the score opening seamlessly before us, never drowning out the singers, yet able to extend the dynamic range from the point of near inaudibility to shattering climaxes. There is nothing sentimental about the reading either. The second act opened with a furious intensity which arched over to the point where Kundry cursed Parsifal to wander forever. By contrast the Flower Maidens waltz seemed almost Straussian, an unexpected thought which linked in with the Good Friday music, where Gergiev also brought out the dancelike quality.

If the work can too often seem a piece for older singers, this was not the case with the Mariinsky soloists. Yury Vorobiev and Yevgeny Nikitin, as Gurnemanz and Amfortas respectively, brought fresh virile projection and a more youthful characterisation to both parts. Their genuine bass voices easily carried across the orchestra and their diction was exemplary. Larisa Gogolevskaya made an impassioned Kundry, again with weight at the bottom of the voice but still able to match the high tessitura for Act Two. Only August Amonov, as Parsifal, failed to reach this level of quality. Though the voice was certainly up the part there was little sense of intelligent involvement with the character and the quality of diction often left something to be desired.

The chorus produced an authority and precision which belied their small number, and Ex Cathedra proved to be an unexpected bonus for the off-stage chorus. It is unusual to be able to pick out the solo flower maidens but here their position as soloists on stage drew attention not only to the quality of voices but the individuality of the writing, which is too often lost in production. I also can’t recall ever hearing the harp as clearly during the Flower Maidens chorus!

If it is always a difficult choice between Wagner and Bach at Easter, Wagner certainly won this year – and we still have Die Walkure to come. BH

Wilton’s Music Hall, 2 February 2012

There were times when the intensity of this evening given by Lontano at Wilton’s was almost too close for comfort but there is something about the intimacy of the building which encourages an unusually intense rapport between artist and performer.

The placement of the opening Trio by Libby Larsen was disconcerting. The flute, harp and violin sat under the balcony on the right hand side and were thus invisible to most of the audience on the unraised floor. The four movements develop with a post-Debussyan impressionistic wash which is often melancholic but charms the ear throughout. In the final movement the harpist is required to thrash her instrument to the point where I was wondering how it remained in tune.

Annea Lockwood’s Monkey Trips was simply confusing, and not even pleasantly so. Part improvised by six instrumentalists, it claimed to be based on the Tibetan Buddhist metaphor of the six states of being. I regret I could not follow this. I was only aware of highly professional instrumentalists wandering around the stage making fools of themselves. When they went of laughing loudly I wondered if it was us they were laughing at for sitting through it in silence.

The main work of the evening was the first performance of Nicola LeFanu’s chamber opera Dream Hunter. The piece suited the venue with its intimate relationships slowly unfolding before us. Catarina is a Dream Hunter, slowly realising she has her mother’s powers to see into the future. In this case she sees the death of her sister’s feckless fiancé.

The character’s are rapidly sketched for us without resorting to stereotypes, and John Fuller’s libretto is clear and clean, allowing us to follow not only the action but the nuances of character development. This is particularly important for Charmian Bedford’s Catarina who grows up before us without any uncomfortable changes of mannerisms. Her sister Angela is far more practical in Caryl Hughes rendition, being the only one actually involved in work during the evening.

Brian Smith Walters’ Sampiero is well sung and creates for us a nasty, self-centred individual for whom we have little sympathy. His death, inevitable given the line of the narrative, comes with no emotional impact. It is little more than the earlier death of the wild boar. This is remarkably well handled both in the music and text.

Jeremy Huw Williams’ as the girls’ father seems to come from another place altogether with his bluff acquisitiveness and heavy drinking.

Odaline de la Martinez has worked with Nicola LeFanu many times before and it showed in the careful control she brought to the balance between instrumentalists and singers, and to the easy flow of the musical line throughout.

If the production under Carmen Jakobi did little to create a sense of the 19^th century Corsican setting, it did use the space well and provided just enough naturalism to convince us of the reality of both the characters and events.

The score of Dream Hunter is available from Edition Peters.

BH

Birmingham Symphony Hall, 3 March 2012

Not only was this Tristan part of the 21^st birthday celebrations for the Symphony Hall but is marked the start of a substantial international tour for the CBSO which includes concerts in Vienna and a repeat of this remarkable Tristan in Paris.

A straight-forward concert performance, rather than the semi-staged Wagner which we are becoming increasingly used to, this was music making of the highest quality. Stephen Gould is that rarity today, a helden-tenor who can not only sing the part with sensitivity and lyricism but who has the stamina to maintain a line as convincingly at the end of Act 3 as he did at the opening of Act 1. It is exceptional to hear Tristan’s death so positively structured by a voice that has no difficulty carrying across the weight of Wagner’s orchestration.

If Lioba Braun’s Isolde took a little time to warm up it was as if the love potion released an inner strength which carried her through the whole of Act 2. Christianne Stotijn’s warmly sung Brangane proved a very human foil to the steelier tones of Braun’s Isolde, and she impressed not only with the lyricism of her singing but the clarity she brought to the narrative.

If there are times when King Mark can seem long-winded this was certainly not one of those, with Matthew Best bringing nobility and authority to his characterisation, and a sense of pathos at the end which was very moving.

The men of the CBSO chorus added fire to the end of Act 1, stirred on by the passionate drive from Andris Nelsons. His approach seems to be based on a more visceral, if not violent, reading of the emotional tensions which are only finally released in the closing moments. Solo voices in the orchestra were all finely balanced, and the cellos and basses at the opening of Act 3 were magnificent. Off-stage forced were well placed without seeming to be over-clever in their acoustic.

This was the second Wagner performance of the season, and we still have Parsifal and Die Walkure to come!

BH

Redhill URC, 11 February, 2012

David Pipe is Assistant Director of Music at York Minster but returns regularly to his home town to play. An exceptionally full church provided evidence, were it needed, not only of his popularity but the continuing quality of his well planned concerts.

He opened with Widor’s Marche pontificale from the 1^st symphony, which sounded at times rather heavy, if only because the instrument itself is now somewhat slow to respond. Any concern was, however, quickly dealt with and the following Sonata by Schnizer showed that the organ responds well to a lighter touch and gentler registration.

Two Brahms’ choral preludes, which followed, were ideally suited to the voicing of this organ with a warmth and clarity evident throughout.

Bach’s F major Toccata, BWV540, was given without its fugue but coupled to Arvo Part’s Pari intervallo. While looking somewhat uncomfortable on paper this made an impressive combination, the fire of the Bach reflecting the cool response of the Part.

For Liszt’s Consolation No4 David could have used a registrant, given the large number of changes needed, but he handled the piece with style and no loss of musicality.

He has regularly ended with Lefebure-Wely and this time was no exception, even if it was the other Sortie – the one in B flat!

All of this was enthusiastically received as was Bach’s air on a g string as an encore. Redhill are lucky to have David Pipe as a regular visitor and obviously value his visits.

BH

ENO 10 February 2012

Richard Jones has provided us with so many superb and provocative productions over recent years that it is difficult to know quite what went wrong with this new presentation of the Tales of Hoffmann. Giles Cadle’s design adapted intelligently for the range of venues required and provided an apt metaphor for the constant references to mirrors and illusion. Costumes and lighting were effective throughout and singing was of a very high standard. Part of the problem was the conducting which for much of the evening lacked bite and authority. Anthony Walker has done better than this and it was only really the end of the Antonia scene that came to life with any impact.

The chorus responded with panache to the director but there were times when they seemed to be going through all too familiar motions rather than living the experience.

Barry Banks was heroic as Hoffmann, Georgia Jarman found remarkable differences of approach to the four heroines, Christine Rice made more of Nicklausse than one might have thought possible and Clive Bailey was suitably villainous. But it never quite took off with the impact that, for example, the WNO Meistersinger, Hansel or Wozzek did.

If Hoffmann is Offenbach’s finest work – which in itself is arguable – this production did not go far enough to prove the point. BH

ENO 25 February 2012

It has taken over twenty years for John Adam’s The Death of Klinghoffer to reach the English stage and it is still bound up with controversy. That Tom Morris’ highly sympathetic new production for ENO was warmly received was a tribute not only to the company for mounting the work but to an ensemble cast where there are no star performances and no histrionics. If anything it was the coolness of the approach which was so impressive and, in the end, emotionally effective.

The opening set the tone for the whole evening when the chorus of exiled Palestinians morphs seamlessly into the chorus of exiled Jews. They are one and the same, suffering because of external pressures over which they have no control. The chorus remain a vital part of the work, closer to a baroque or Greek chorus than a verismo crowd, with their ability to change attitudes and comment as the work progresses.

The same is true of the solo singers. Plot is kept to an absolute minimum while individuals are allowed extensive solo arias to confront us with their individuality. There is little sense of making a political case for either side, more of letting us understand the thoughts and paradoxes of the individuals. In this the air-head dancer – a wonderful comic turn by Kate Miller-Heidke – is important in balancing the weight of politics which hangs in the air but is never fully explored.

Amidst all of this Klinghoffer himself is a somewhat elusive figure. He says very little, and what he does say sends contradictory messages. His death is shocking but as he sings to us after he has died the longer term effect is subtly contextualised. The work appears to be hinting at the Christian parallel, that it is better one man die for the people than that all the people suffer. When the Captain covers up the death, he effectively saves the rest of the passengers and crew, who applaud the hijackers as they leave the boat on the assumption that there has been a peaceful outcome, which of course for the majority there has been.

The large cast assembled by ENO bring immense clarity to their roles and most of the important text carries easily. The orchestra, with additions and amplification as required by John Adam’s score, was crisply directed by Baldur Bronnimann.

But, overall, it was the visual impact which made the evening so successful. Tom Pye’s set, apparently based on the wall which sadly divides Palestine and Israeli, was an apt metaphor for the context of the work and a splendidly manipulable space. Onto this was projected a combination of video and lighting effects which were constantly apt to the text and action but never upstaged the singers. This balance was maintained throughout to great effect. It was only in reflection that I realised that the movement of the boat was being projected and that it was changing its rhythm all the time. 

Works like this are not emotionally easy as they challenge our preconceptions and convictions. All the more reason they should be staged and discussed.

BH

Barbican Hall 11 May 2011

While the main focus of this programme was clearly Brahms’ German Requiem, it was the first half that contained the more interesting and challenging items. Phil Glass’ A Gentleman’s Honor seemed on paper an unlikely piece, ripped as it appears to be from a much longer work and rescored here by Jeremy Marchant. In the event it proved an exhilarating opening to procedures, with a splendid inter-play of textures and sonorities from the Hertfordshire Chorus. Though sung in English it could as easily have been in Sanskrit as the text was all but inaudible and seemed to bear little relationship to the score.

The concert also included the first performance of Will Todd’s setting of Keats’ Ode to a Nightingale. Considering how intimate and introspective much of the text is, it was surprising to find the composer’s romantic idiom working so successfully. Frequently lush in its orchestration and oriental in feeling – presumably a reflection of the underlying drug culture – it draws on Walton and Vaughan Williams without ever being derivative. I had enjoyed Will Todd’s The Blackened Man at Buxton some years ago and it was good to find that the freshness of writing is still very much in evidence.

The text rises clearly through the orchestral textures and one is aware of the psychological focus of the narrative as it proceeds. The chorus obviously enjoyed singing it and I am glad to note that the work will be repeated at The Sage, Gateshead, on 5 May 2012.

Barbican Hall 10 October 2011

There is a distinct advantage in hearing Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius in the concert hall rather than a large cathedral. The clarity of sound allows both for a wider range of dynamics and also far greater impact for the text.

The first entry of the chorus was exemplary in its refined diction and simple dignity. If the demons’ chorus did not have quite that textual finesse this is more a problem with the density of the writing than the quality of the singers. However Go forth was as fine as I have ever heard it. Here it was Ashley Riches’ heroic priest that led a majestic ensemble to a thrilling spiritual climax.

David Temple’s approach allowed the orchestration to erupt, often violently, where necessary, but was able to take it down to a hushed, motionless whisper in the second part.

Susan Bickley was a last minute replacement as the Angel but was at ease throughout, finding the joy in Softly and gently which comfortably rose above the combined orchestral and choral forces.

Robert Murray was more at ease in the Barbican Hall than he had been earlier in the summer during the Proms and brought intelligence and musicality to his reading of Gerontius.

The chorus characterised the various spiritual groups with subtlety and were well supported by the Finchley Children’s Music Group and the angelicals.

The only slightly sour note – quite literally – was from the organ which seemed unbalanced at times and produced some unexpected sounds. This may be one of the continuing problems with the hall not having a pipe organ of its own – though one accepts it is unlikely ever to get one.

BH

There is so much on offer each autumn during the Oxford Lieder Festival that it is difficult to know just what to attend, given that one is not likely to be able to afford the time to go to everything.

I seem to have been very fortunate this year with the younger singers I heard and the range of lieder on offer, and all events I attended were in the splendid environment of the Holywell Music Room.

The lunchtime recital on Thursday 27 October was given jointly by soprano Alison Rose and baritone Ross Ramgobin. While Ross Ramgobin opened slightly tentatively, getting the feel of the room, Alison Rose’s generous tones flooded it from the start. The programme commenced with alternative setting of poems by Goethe which allowed the singers to demonstrate the differing sensitivities which Loewe, Schumann and Liszt brought to the poems.

I particularly enjoyed Alison Rose’s rendition of Liszt’s Die Loreley and Brahms’ In stiller Nacht.The duets worked well, though at this stage there was little sense of frisson between the singers. Gregory Drott accompanied with aplomb and particular sensitivity to the varying levels needed within the duets.

The following lunchtime Portuguese soprano Sonia Grane brought us songs by Faure, Richard Strauss as well as Portuguese and Spanish items. This was probably the finest singing I heard over the two days and a wonderful sense of promise for her future career. Already winner of the Oxford Lieder Young Artist Platform, she brings a relaxed rapport with her audience, together with exemplary ability to communicate the narrative of a song. The wide range of emotions needed for Rodrigo’s Cuatro madrigals amatorios were all crisply encapsulated and she found a wistful melancholia in Carrapataso’s Eu… . She showed real flair for romantic settings and it will be a pleasure to watch her career develop. Throughout, Edwige Herchenroder accompanied with an equally romantic approach, creating swathes of luscious support and tiny moments of wonder in the introductions to many of the songs.

Evenings tend to be given over to established performers and the first brought Roderick Williams, escaping from the rigours of Rameau’s Castor and Pollux. He was, as usual, remarkably relaxed and created an easy, warm rapport with the audience. The gentle melancholy of Faure’s Mirages settings was offset by the overt sentimentality of Ireland’s Santa Chiara.

Charlotte Bray had been commissioned to provide a new cycle for the festival and we heard the world premiere of her setting of sonnets and songs by the Portuguese poet Pessoa. Her approach is declamatory rather than lyrical, allowing the text to come through with great clarity and leaving the emotional impact to dwell in the accompaniment rather than in the voice. There are hints of Finzi in the opening and the whole cycle is reserved in tone and range. The unaccompanied opening of Far Blue Skies is particularly effective.

The evening ended with Elgar’s Sea Pictures. This was unusual for two reasons – it is normally sung with full orchestra and is usually sung by a contralto. The contrasts were immediate with the text being to the fore to the point where the narrative became a clearer point of focus that the emotional turmoil of the setting. Andrew West’s accompaniment was superb here, finding the dramatic heart of the music without ever overpowering the singer. A wonderful evening.

The next evening Dame Felicity Lott sang to the guitar accompaniment of Christoph Denoth. Though there was much to enjoy in a very varied programme the musical impact was far less than on any of the events over the previous two days.  Dame Felicity has no problem with the range of the works she chose but there was little sense of subtlety in the delivery and Mozart’s Batti, batti was surely a mistake as it no longer suits her. The other Mozart items pleased as did the Schubert in the second half but the Dowland items suite an early music specialist rather than an operatic voice. We have heard so many wonderful performances from Dame Felicity over the years that this was a somewhat sad occasion. BH