MUSIC REVIEW: RNCM Symphony Orchestra with Anu Tali - The RNCM, Manchester.

The largest gathering of musicians since March 2019 were seated this evening at the RNCM's Concert Hall to play four pieces of orchestral works from the Romantic and 20th century periods. 

The concert was introduced by Adam Swayne, and in between the works he chatted to members of the orchestra and the soloists as well as gave us further information about the pieces. Or at least, I suspect that was what was happening. For this concert I was seated in the gallery, with a superb view over the whole orchestra from above, and the sound quality coming up from the stage was amazing. Sadly however, for whatever reason the mics used for these introductions were almost useless as the sound was muffled and indistinct, and therefore we were unable to understand the vast majority of these snippets.

I should also state that there were no physical programmes available for this concert which is a huge shame. Giving one the opportunity of accessing an online programme is absolutely no substitute. First, if you do have a mobile phone and scan in the QR code and access the programme during the concert then you are going against theatre etiqette by using a mobile device during the performance which is bad form, and going back home at the end to read about what you have just witnessed is not something that the vast majority of us would be particularly interested in doing I imagine. Admittedly the programme (excluding the names of the musicians in the orchestra and any programme notes on the soloists and works being performed) was shown on a screen above the orchestra. However, the two problems with this are that one, it is not there throughout the concert so we can refer to it at will, and two, the information we wanted wasn't displayed for long enough as it was continually interrupted by adverts for future events at the RNCM. I understand that during the pandemic this was done to minimise cross-contamination and infection. However, all the regulations have now been dropped, and so would certainly greatly appreciate the return to paper programmes.

But now, let's look at the pieces of music performed...

The concert started with 'Allegro Feroce' by Augusta Holmes. An unknown-to-me French composer of Irish decent, whose music, from hearing just this piece this evening, is very dramatic, forthright, and fully Romantic (as well as being romantic too). Her sweeping and grandiose musical statements were very lyrical, but sounded somehow derivative too [is that because we have heard so many pieces from this era from more famous composers and we try to pigeon-hole her works to fit?] I did think though whilst listening to this piece - something akin to a concert overture - that some of the work sounded as if it had come straight out of a Lehar operetta, whilst other parts reminded me of Tchaikovsky. It didn't seem typically French in any way, and maybe that was a good thing.

The second work of the concert was one of my favourite pieces of the between-world-wars era. Maurice Ravel wrote his piano concerto in or around 1930, and to my mind the second movement of this piece is one of the greatest pieces for piano and orchestra ever written. The piece is in three unequal movements, with the first movement sounding very much like what Gerschwin's Rhapsody In Blue would be like if listening to it on brain-distorting drugs! Ravel uses many techniques and ideas of jazz music with melody fragments appearing and reappearing in different guises throughout. And yet, within all of this chaos, the central section to this movement has a much slower and more lyrical and elegant piano solo; more classical and harmonic in the writing, but of course this doesn't stay around for long as the contemporary sounds take over starting with bass rumblings leading up to a very dramatic and indeed brilliant set of descending chords to cadence. One of the best endings to a concerto movement ever written.

The second movement is the most famous, and is often played as a stand-alone piece. It's a quasi-waltz for the piano which is eventually joined by the woodwinds and then the whole orchestra who then take over the melody whilst the piano adds to the hauntingly nostalgic soundscape with arpeggios. It's truly beautiful and inspired. The very short (just over three minutes) third movement brings us back to reality with a flourish and a jerk bringing the whole work back to the theatrical; as indeed it was Ravel's intent, not only with this work but with his compositions in general, not to be too profound in his writing, but to simply entertain. 

Playing the piano this evening was Yiyi Su, who brought passion and feeling to the piece with her exemplary skill.

After the interval, the concert continued with Erkki Sven-Tuur's 'Le Poids Des Vies Non Vecues'. A contemporary Estonian composer, and perhaps that country's foremost extant symphonic composer, this short piece was an interesting listen. With heavy use of percussion (very common among contemporary symphonic writing), this was a dark and brooding piece full of reverberating bass notes, starting low, quietly and sedately. The whole piece was a gradual crescendo of strident, nightmarish proportion as Sven-Tuur used both the highest and lowest of the instruments' registers with little or noting in between, making the growling of euphonium juxtapose with the screeching of flute, and seem like a giant killer spider slowly emerging from its layer to eagerly devour its prey in an "ff" frenzy, before returning full and satisfied as the volume descends and the mood relaxes, and the piece comes to its final cadence. 

The final piece, and the concert's showpiece this evening, was the magnificent 3rd symphony by Saint-Saens: his Organ Symphony. The symphony is in two movements, and is a work of pure genius. Starting "pp" there is a slow and steady build of a simple but lovely melody, giving it an almost cinematic feel. The whole work is lyrical, Romantic, and the first movement,( the few louder passsages notwithstanding,) soft and dreamy. With a low rumble from the organ the lush first movement is brought to a sedate and quiet close. The second movement is more pompous and ebullient, with a large ironic march in the middle. The melodic sound is sometimes reminiscent of Beethoven, but the development of the theme certainly isn't. We are given a wander through the glen with the fairies, a triumphant fugue, a battle scene, a romp through a meadow at sunset, before we finally hurtle headlong into the relentless gallop of the denouement. Pure, unadulterated, musical magic.

Playing the organ this evening was Anna Lapwood, who is absolutely no stranger to this piece, making her BBC Proms debut playing it with the Halle Orchestra. Amazing.

The concert this evening was conducted in the opening piece by Robin Wallington, whilst the subsequent three pieces were conducted by Estonian, Anu Tali. I enjoyed watching her as she controlled the orchetstra with precision, passion and intelligence, and her love for and understanding of the pieces she was conducting was palpable. 

As always, the RNCM students who formed the orchestra were receiving first-hand and unbeatable training by working alongside such renowned and brilliant soloists / conductors; and again, as always, they sounded superb, and were an abolsute joy to listen to. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Amy Gray's timpani technique of marking the beat with her sticks before playing. A methodical idea which I haven't seen employed before. And Jess Hughes's solo harp work was very impressive too.

If you like music, and you haven't yet visited the RNCM, then it certainly is time you did so. You will be watching the virtuosos and stars of tomorrow!

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 4.2.22