A very young Jack Sheen, the orchestra's conductor, spoke a little at the beginning of the concert about his choice of programming and how the pieces in his mind all fitted in with the RNCM's current 'Sounds Original' initiative as well as all being about a journey (musical and /or metaphorical). A natural and hugely engaging conductor who is obviously both very knowledgeable and passionate about the music he conducts and showed great control and maturity in his leadeship this evening.
The first piece on the programme was by Hector Berlioz., who, according to Sheen was 'the most bombastic of all French composers. Part genius, part madman, and wrote some crazy boundary-pushing music'. It's a fair analysis, and indeed if the scoring for this evening's piece is anything to go by - three sets of kettle drums - then it is also accurate. The music in question was 'Royal Hunt And Storm' from his music for 'Les Troyens'. It was a lovely piece of music; quite lyrical and harmonic, but with a few surprising twists, including the use of a horn player at the back of the auditorium. Lush and heavy scoring throughout could have made this piece quite dense, but Sheen kept if light and flowing and it was a superb opener and truly enjoyable.
Following this was Shostakovich's first violin concerto. I run hot and cold with Shostakovich's music; I guess it depends on my own mood really how I will take and appreciate his undeniable genius. Today must have been a good day, for normally such a brooding and melancholic dirge of a piece would have had me chewing at the bit. However,once again Sheen made sure the piece never descended into the bowels of hell, and the solo violinist, Lu Liu was simply stunning. Her control and mastery of the instrument as well as her understanding of the nuances of the piece were beyond reproach and she even made me quite like the music she was playing - a real achievement.
After the interval and we assembled to hear two more pieces only this time played through with only the smallest of pauses between to indicate the change. First came contemporary Canadian composer Cassandra Miller's 'Round' which really was nothing more than a dirge. Sadly even Sheen's energy and enthusiasm for this piece was not enough to lift it from the page to my soul. Utilising several solo brass instruments throughout the auditorium in polyphony, the repeated single note from each in turn simply grated and the piece was slow, mono-melodic, and uninspiring. This led straight into Sibelius's 7th Symphony. Written in 1924 it is a single movement symphony, which is in itself most unusual, and so it sounded much more like a Tone Poem, particularly from a composer who has written several renowned Tone Poems. His 5th symphony is utter brilliance and one of my all time favourite pieces. I think by the time he reached composing his 7th, he may well have already peaked. That being said however, it was played beautifully this evening, a long, slow, symphonic journey to its inevitable conclusion.
What a magnificent sound the orchestra made this evening, and I look forward to seeing more of Sheen both as a conductor and also a composer.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 1/2/19
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