Halle Orchestra: Rachmaninov’s Romantic Lyricism

Halle Orchestra: Rachmaninov’s Romantic Lyricism

The Bridgewater Hall, 16 January 2020

A concert of contrasting moods.

The conductor was Kazuki Yamada and the Halle played:

• John Adams – Saxophone Concerto
• Rachmaninov – Symphony No.2

First off we heard John Adams’s Saxophone Concerto, Jess Gillam’s bright and breezy performance making it sound freshly minted. The subdued jazz tones had something of the twinkle of distant stars. It was upbeat, had swing but was pretty laid back. It didn’t set out to impress, because it didn’t need to.

Then, after an interval where I fought off the temptation to down a tub of ginger ice-cream (I had had a caramel sponge cake just before the concert, so it would have been a bit too much), there came Rachmaninov’s second symphony. Now, surely, it did mean to impress – and it succeeded.  It was immense, rearing its towering torso like a colossus that had just stepped in front of the sun. Like it had been around for a thousand years and would outlive you too: not so much classical as immortal. A beast of raw lyricism, an irresistible force.

Somehow the music swept all before it. You looked not just into the mirror of one man’s mind, but out of a window that showed the landscape of the human soul. A power ballad of a symphony, it radiated force and fury.

And it sent me.

Details of future Halle concerts can be found here.

Francesca Dego and the Halle Orchestra

Francesca Dego and the Halle Orchestra

The Bridgewater Hall, 17 January 2019

Manchester loves its orchestras: the Camerata, the BBC Philharmonic and, most venerable of all, the Halle.

It is astounding to realise that the Halle are now in their 161st season, and this year’s Abraham Moss Memorial Concert – a younger tradition, but well nurtured – was an all-Russian affair. This evening we heard performances of these great works:

• Glinka’s Overture to Ruslan and Ludmilla
• Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major
• Rachmaninov’s Symphony No.3 in A Minor

Each work built upon the other. With Glinka’s Overture to Ruslan and Ludmilla we heard and felt the influence of Russian folk song. It was like a thrilling ride in a speeding carriage, the Russian countryside coming continually into view. A day of brilliant, fiery sunshine ending with, at eventide, a dark sky pregnant with storm.

Glinka was Tchaikovsky’s second favourite composer (after Mozart, naturally) and the Violin Concerto in D Major showed his influence. A mountain range of high emotion here, as always with Tchaikovsky; profound abysses too. Francesca Dego played wonderfully on violin here.

We then had the interval and Rachmaninov’s Symphony No.3 in A Minor in the second half, the Halle and the conductor Daniele Rustioni doing full justice to this lush masterpiece. Rustioni was energetic and animated right from the off, looking at moments like a waltzing sculptor. He jumped and danced as well as making shapes with his hands.  Throughout, and at the end, he looked for all the world like an exuberant child who, on this particular birthday, had got everything he ever wanted.

And so had we, the audience.

Details of future Halle concerts can be found here.

Echoes of a Mountain Song

Echoes of a Mountain Song

The Halle Orchestra

The Bridgewater Hall, 27 February 2016

Vienna woods near Hermannskogel. Photo by P.P.O. Kane

The Germans have a word for it, though during the Nazi era it temporarily acquired a sinister connotation: aufgehoben.

On my understanding, the word means to lift yourself up, to attain a state of transcendence over one’s normal, everyday life, to lose yourself in a greater whole. You felt something like this as you listened to Delius’s A Song of the High Hills, the centrepiece of this superb concert, and it was even possible to pinpoint the exact moment when the feeling kicked in. It was when the human voices – a wordless chorus sang a song without speech, the music alone carrying meaning – faded slowly until they became completely silent.

For Delius, the mountains of Norway were his hinterland, whereas for me this sublime song evoked memories of walking in Lower Austria, on the Raxalpe and on Schneeberg. And memories of days spent in the Vienna woods, particularly one time reaching Hermannskogel, Vienna’s highest peak.

Before A Song of the High Hills, we heard Stravinsky’s Four Norwegian Moods, naturally enough also inspired by Norway. There were works by two other Russian composers after the interval as well. Rachmaninov’s Three Russian Songs were wonderful, full of Russian soul and feeling, and you could well understand how the pull of one’s homeland can be as great as any mountain. Tchaikovsky’s Francesca da Rimini, perhaps his bravest and most personal statement but a masterpiece anyway, closed the concert. An explosive tribute (you could hardly call it a harmless celebration) to forbidden love, no matter what it costs. No matter how deep the scars and the humiliation and the shame. One noticed here a thematic affinity with Don Giovanni: like Mozart and his hero, Tchaikovsky (along with his heroine) would embrace damnation for his (her) desires. Aufgehoben at any price.

Details of future Halle concerts can be found here.

 

 

 

Kathryn Stott and Martin Roscoe

Kathryn Stott and Martin Roscoe

Manchester Chamber Concerts Society

RNCM Theatre, 29 September 2014

An intriguing start to the MCCS season, in that the concert featured just the two pianos.

It is certainly not unknown for just two pianists to play together – Imogen Cooper and Paul Lewis have done several performances along these lines in recent years – but it is a fairly rare occurrence.  What makes it intriguing for the listener is the way the pianos are used to complement, engage in dialogue and seemingly respond to each other, rather than being played as one.  And the works chosen here, in particular I’d say the Sonata in D major by Mozart and Rachmaninov’s Suite No 2, showed this diversity in identity to devastating effect.

The concert had an added significance.  Kathryn Stott is bringing her distinguished reign as Artistic Director of the MCCS to a close, with Martin Roscoe duly taking over the reins.  This was a fine occasion to mark the handover.

There is much to look forward to in the coming season, including Balkan folk music in February 2015.  Full details of forthcoming MCCS concerts can be found here.

Moscow Rachmaninov Trio

Moscow Rachmaninov Trio

Carole Nash Recital Room, RNCM

12 October 2014

The first of three concerts by this distinguished trio, and it was all subdued brilliance.

One of those occasions where you hoped you had earned the right to be there, but weren’t quite so sure.

Three works, music by Glinka, Arensky and Tchaikovsky.  Tchaikovsky again, following speedily on the toes of Swan Lake.  Of these, Arensky’s Piano Trio No 2 in F minor required most attention, while Glinka’s Trio Pathétique in D minor, the shortest of the three, was easiest to enjoy.  As for Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio in A minor, it had everything: energy, passion, melody in abundance.  A restless dynamism, endlessly inventive.  You hoped – it seemed a fair expectation at the time – the music would never end.

The next concert, tonight, features Rachmaninov and on Thursday the trio are joined by Yair Kless for an evening of music by Shostakovich.  Further details can be found here and here.

Mikhail Nemtsov

Mikhail Nemtsov

Carole Nash Recital Room, RNCM

7 February 2014

A wonderful concert from Mikhail Nemtsov and his sister Elena, on cello and piano respectively.

We were blessed to hear it, Mikhail’s playing (I’ll make him the focus of my review) being quite phenomenal.  He’s a rare talent, as exceptional as the chosen works – by Cassadó, Britten, Glazunov and Rachmaninov – were difficult.  Britten’s Sonata in C major, in particular, makes absurd, almost impossible demands on the cellist.  Mikhail was more than equal to it.

There were no less than two encores at the end, pieces by Chopin and Shostakovich: a telling measure of how well Mikhail and Elena were received, how reluctant the audience were to let them go.  And of their generosity too.

Two talents abundant with promise.