CLASSICAL MUSIC REVIEW: Wild Swans - The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester.

A Sunday afternoon concert performed by The Halle Orchestra, under the direction of Stephen Bell, with their main piece of the concert being a modern cantata which was sung by the 87 members of The Halle Children's Choir? Yes please.

The first half of this afternoon's concert was orchestral music; all with a similar thread. That being that these pieces were all musical narratives. Music that tells a story. Music which has been taken from literature which has been made into a film, and then the film has required music to ameliorate that story. 

The six pieces were 'Disney Classics Overture' (arr by Bruce Healey), in which we heard 11 tunes from Disney films from classic favourites to more modern melodies; 'How To Train Your Dragon: This Is Berk' (John Powell), which started dark and dramatically, with a low-scored menacing march, which then mutated into a lyrical passage for solo violin becoming a Celtic-inspired string melody, beautiful and lyrical to finish. Following this was 'Tom's Midnight Garden: Main Theme' (Debbie Wiseman), a piano-led lyrical moderto passage with a pleasing melody line; 'The Chronicles Of Narnia: Suite' (Harry Gregson-Williams), a short selection of some of the themes from the Narnia films; 'Harry Potter: Hedwig's Theme' (John Williams), which started on the solo celeste, with violins creating a wind effect, before the theme is taken up by the woodwind section; this was instantly recognisable, and is a fantastic piece of scoring. The final piece in this half of the concert was a medley of music celebrating the late, great Judy Garland. Titled 'Wizard Of Oz Medley', this was much more than that, as it in fact was only two tunes form that film musical, whilst the central section of the piece played three further tunes from films that starred Judy Garland and she is famous for singing.  

It really doesn't matter what style of orchestra or playing is called for: in this instance this afternoon we needed Swing Band, Big Band, symphony orchestra, and goodness knows what else; but whatever they get thrown at them, they are ready and able to create or recreate the correct sound superbly. You really do need to go a very long way to find an orchestra so accomplished. And under Stephen Bell's enigmatic, energetic, and precise conducting, every single player comes alive, and the music shines and resonates. 

After the interval it was the turn of The Halle Children's Choir to shine. The stage had been completely reconfigured with a much reduced orchestra in front of a raised platform for the youngsters to line up in formation. Not only this but Lin Marsh's cantata, 'Wild Swans' required 3 actors / performers too. These three were all this year's graduates from The Manchester School Of Theatre, and were Catherine Attwood, Mark Emmons, and Maia Perry. 

'Wild Swans' is a musical retelling of a Hans Christian Andersen fairytale. Marsh's music is tuneful, lyrical, tonal, melodic, and the jolly rhythms make it ideal for a children's choir to sing and enjoy. But that doesn't mean to say the music isn't also dramatic and emotive, because it is also these things too. The Children's Choir coped amazingly with this work, each chorus gaining them applause from the audience. Their diction clear, and especially the part singing, clever and interesting. Sarah Day-Smith also needs congratulating, as her movement direction with the choir was excellent. It has become something of a Halle Children's Choir trademark over the years for the children to do certain movements during their performances, and some have worked much better than others. Here Day-Smith's was the best I have seen the choir do. It was imaginative, clear, and aided the storytelling. The choir were dressed in black trousers with either a green, blue or white t-shirt. This effect I am assuming was create the idea of a natural landscape from which the swans appear and disappear. Quite effective. 

The three actors / actresses were used to tell the story. Part narrator, part character, these three came in front of the orchestra and gave a semi-performed rendition of the text. For me, this was the weakest link in an otherwise extremely strong chain. First, the three performers were mic'd and therefore much louder than necessary; whilst I was, at times, struggling to hear the children above the noise of the orchestra. Therefore the sound balancing was not equal at all. Moreover, they played more than one role each, and so it was perhaps a little difficult to understand the story. It would have made things more easily and readily understandable if they had had a semblance of costume for each character, or had more performers to take each role as required. It worked well when single members of The Children's Choir came forward to sing a short solo (these were lovely), and when the 11 white swan brothers were used effectively too; but on their own, it needed further clarification, and less amplification. 

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 26.6.22