Saturday evening in Manchester around Hallowe'en..... let's seek cover from the madness that this time of year wreaks within the familiar and cosy surrounds of the Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall within Manchester University's Martin Harris Centre.
This concert featured four pieces. There was no thread or tangible connection between them, and all were vastly different (despite two being written by the same composer!), but that is what made this concert so interesting, an eclectic mix of music with something for everyone in there.
The first piece on the schedule was not for me. I am open to most genres of music but do struggle with contemporary composition at the best of times - unless it is film music or deliberately written in a more conventional fashion. However, this evening's first piece was composed by Alex Apostopoulos and was titled, 'Predatory Pricing'. It is a hugely experimental piece based on an economic hypothesis known as Selten's Chain Store Game. The composer therefore utilises 5 soloists to portray the independent shopkeepers, whilst the orchestra represents the big corporation who owns the 'chain stores', and an argument or dialogue ensues between the little man and the Tescos of this world. This long and monotonous piece was conducted by Ben Nicoll, yet I feel sure that the orchestra and he must have done the piece full justice, since the composer was present this evening and seemed delighted by the recital.
So to the second piece and we are on terra firma! Ralph Vaughan-Williams, one of my favourite composers. We heard his 'Fantasia For Piano And Orchestra'. This is a relatively new 'discovery' despite being written at the turn of the 20th century, and have heard a recording of it on the radio, but never heard it live in a concert hall before. Perhaps one of the reasons it lay hidden and never published was that it isn't instantly recognisable as Vaughan-Williams's style in the same way that his symphonies, his Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis, his Lark Ascending, or indeed any of his songs are; but there are several 'clues' within the piece that it is his composition if you know what to listen out for. This piano fantasia is bold, lush, lyrical, harmonic, and grandiose... in a word, perfect. And hearing it immediately after Apostolopoulos's work it was manna from heaven indeed! Conducted by Robert Guy and with the piano solo played this evening by Ben Attfield, it was extremely enjoyable. Attfield is obviously a talented young musician who understood the music intellectually, although I would have liked, and this is purely subjective, a little less use of the sustain pedal.
After the interval, and we came back to listen to Berlioz, and an unintentional song cycle - basically just a collection of songs that were not intended to be performed together, but were just published together for convenience under the title 'Les Nuits D'été'. The cycle is of 6 songs, but here we heard just five of them, and they were sung this evening by soprano Kathy McCaulay. Her interpretation of the songs and performance of them was irreproachable, and she also had a very mellow and sweet clear sound to her voice too. As a French speaker though, I felt that some of the pronunciation could benefit from a little more attention. The orchestra was at its best with this work too this evening. Jamie March's conducting was subtle but extremely precise and clear, and the orchestra responded to her perfectly. Berlioz's music is bright, ebullient and a little bombastic, but he is a composer who always wore his heart on his sleeve, and so neither MacCaulay nor March really needed to push the emotional drive in these songs, it was already there, they simply allowed it to blossom, and blossom it certainly did.
And finally back to Vaughan-Williams for the only piece in this concert that I have heard live before, his short concert piece, 'The Wasps'. Written as the overture to incidental music to accompany a theatre production of Aristophanes's 'The Wasps', Vaughan-Williams starts the music with just that, the incessant droning of a swarm of wasps. This gives way to a high-spirited march-like theme which forms the leit-motif of the work. Here we are truly in recognisable Vaughan-Williams territory, and this piece is just a joy. Perhaps conductor Gina Hazell could have found a little more contrast in the dynamics of the piece, but it was nevertheless a lovely way to end this evening's concert of music both familiar and completely new.
The symphony orchestra was sounding in fine form this evening. It's always a little odd when the membership of such an ensemble is forever changing as students leave and new students come, and this is the first time of listening to this orchestra in its present membership. There is obviously a huge amount of talent in the throng, and their cummulative sound was both impressive and co-ordinated. I am looking forward greatly to hearing more from them over the next couple of years or so.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 29.10.22
on - 29.10.22
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