It has been far too long since my last visit to this hallowed establishment in the heart of university-land, Manchester. Sadly, ill health has kept me away for almost 12 months, but I was certainly very excited and happy to be back. A mix of styles was on this evening's programme, and the concert started with the world premiere of a new work by 3rd year undergraduate Patrick Gorry, titled, "Weight, Pressure, Position". I have to admit that of all the classical music genres, I find the contemporary compositions the hardest to get to grips with. Certainly this was true of Gorry's work. In the programme notes he states that he injected elements of techno and acid house rhythms and styles into the piece, as he envisaged this work to be as a dancer warming up before a presentation and the actual dance itself. In all honesty, this was not an image that came easily to my mind. Conducted by Benjamin Huth, there was much emphasis given to dynamics rather than 'tune' or 'lyricism', and as with many modern pieces of music, I felt cheated and unsatisfied , as I felt I was listening to technique and invention over expressionism and tunefulness.
The second piece on this evening's programme however left me in no doubt as to why I was there. I was back on terra firma, and not just that, this was one of my dad's favourite pieces and was constantly on the CD player when I was growing up. The piece in question being Beethoven's Piano Concerto no 5 (op73), commonly referred to as 'The Emperor Concerto'. With a reduced orchestra and prize-winning pianist Siyi Dai II was hearing and watching live the notes which had been implanted into my brain somewhat subliminally from my dad's constant playing and whistling around the house! It is a masterful and indeed wonderful piece of music, and truly lovely to be able to enjoy it live.
After the interval, and again, another slight shift in timescale and genre, but perhaps one could argue that this, Prokofiev's music for 'Romeo And Juliet' provided the bridge between the first half's two pieces. Written in 1935, Prokofiev's writing in strident and bold, but easily captures the emotions which we can all readily relate to from Shakespeare's tragic romance story. We hear influences in the music of Prokofiev's love of his native Ukraine with the inclusion of that country's folk music, as well as Russian military music, and even a little hark forward to his plagiarising one of his themes here to 'star' in his 1936 composition 'Peter And The Wolf'!
Both of the more substantial works this evening were conducted with passion and obvious joy by Andrew Manze, and his control over the orchestra and his natural enthusiastic style, helped to bring out the best from every player.
One word on dress code. In previous concerts the RNCM have always worn professional blacks (or black and white) uniformly, however this evening's concert took me somewhat by surprise to see the orchestra dressed in different colours and styles. It looked aesthetically more like a rehearsal than a concert.
Nevertheless, a great-to-be-back experience, and look forward to hearing more from these talented students who come from all over the world to study within these walls.
Reviewer - Alastair Zyggu
Reviewed - 6.3.25
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