RSNO, 28/04/2018
Bernstein : Chichester Psalms (Andrew Watt, treble)
Gershwin : Rhapsody in Blue (George Li, piano)
Bernstein : Syphonic Dances from West Side Story
Barber : Symphony No. 1
RSNO Chorus
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Cristian Macelaru
I will admit that I'm not a huge fan of Bernstein the composer. I find that a lot of his "concert-hall" music (as opposed to his Broadway music) has not aged well, particularly Mass, which I've heard several times over the last few weeks, and which is... well, I could be rude about it, so let's just say you'd have to work very, very hard to persuade me it has any merit. However, the Chichester Psalms have always been an exception, I find they have a charm which has not worn off, and despite the obvious debt to Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms, the work is both original, and readily identifiable as Bernstein. Tonight's performance was excellent, the chorus really seeming to enjoy the way the musical phrases bounce around the vocal parts, crisp and lively. Treble Andrew Watt doesn't (yet?) have the technique of some of the cathedral schools' best pupils - he's no Aled Jones - but the voice was sweet enough that I wished he had been entrusted with the brief soprano solo line in the final Psalm, because the contribution that came from the chorus was a little faint. Nevertheless, the interpretation as a whole was engaging and suitably moving in the final pages.
Even before the soloist gets going in Rhapsody in Blue, you're waiting for the clarinettist, and that famous opening slide. The orchestra "borrowed" Fraser Langton from the BBC Phil for the occasion, and he delivered a suitably bluesy wail, before young George Li entered the field. There was some splendid "wa-wa-ing" from another guest principal, trumpeter Robert Farley, and the blues fairly oozed from every bar of the piece. Li had a big sound, to go with the big orchestra accompanying, and took a fairly relaxed approach to the piece as a whole, though with plenty of flash when needed, and it was a good, and good-humoured performance in the main. However, I have to say I tend to prefer a leaner version, with a smaller band, and Li made an even stronger impression in his encore. I haven't heard this kind of bravura playing in an encore since the last time I saw Evgeny Kissin play, it doesn't seem to be quite so fashionable these days, but Li chose Horowitz's extravagant arrangement of Bizet's "Danse bohémienne" from Carmen as his final bouquet of fireworks, to dazzling effect.
It was my impression that there's a piano in the standard version of Bernstein's "Symphonic Dances". I know he would allow variations to orchestrations of at least some of his pieces in order to allow them to be performed, but it was odd here, where the orchestra certainly has a company pianist, and the hall has a piano, to find it replaced by a harp. It rather softened the sound at slightly unexpected times, though it also made some of it more romantic. Macelaru drove the Mambo with a taut, almost vicious edge to it, which was a nice touch, while the dips and spikes of dynamic in "Cool" were very well demarcated.
The concert ended with a much more Romantic idiom, in Barber's 1st Symphony, of 1937. No jazz influence here, but Barber's full-blown lyricism, and perhaps a touch of the kind of neo-Classicism prevalent in European music at the time, in the final Passacaglia of the symphony. The plangent oboe solo of the third movement was beautifully played by Adrian Wilson. Macelaru delivered a rich and expressive interpretation to round off an entertaining and vivid evening of American music.
[Next : 29th April]
Gershwin : Rhapsody in Blue (George Li, piano)
Bernstein : Syphonic Dances from West Side Story
Barber : Symphony No. 1
RSNO Chorus
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Cristian Macelaru
I will admit that I'm not a huge fan of Bernstein the composer. I find that a lot of his "concert-hall" music (as opposed to his Broadway music) has not aged well, particularly Mass, which I've heard several times over the last few weeks, and which is... well, I could be rude about it, so let's just say you'd have to work very, very hard to persuade me it has any merit. However, the Chichester Psalms have always been an exception, I find they have a charm which has not worn off, and despite the obvious debt to Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms, the work is both original, and readily identifiable as Bernstein. Tonight's performance was excellent, the chorus really seeming to enjoy the way the musical phrases bounce around the vocal parts, crisp and lively. Treble Andrew Watt doesn't (yet?) have the technique of some of the cathedral schools' best pupils - he's no Aled Jones - but the voice was sweet enough that I wished he had been entrusted with the brief soprano solo line in the final Psalm, because the contribution that came from the chorus was a little faint. Nevertheless, the interpretation as a whole was engaging and suitably moving in the final pages.
Even before the soloist gets going in Rhapsody in Blue, you're waiting for the clarinettist, and that famous opening slide. The orchestra "borrowed" Fraser Langton from the BBC Phil for the occasion, and he delivered a suitably bluesy wail, before young George Li entered the field. There was some splendid "wa-wa-ing" from another guest principal, trumpeter Robert Farley, and the blues fairly oozed from every bar of the piece. Li had a big sound, to go with the big orchestra accompanying, and took a fairly relaxed approach to the piece as a whole, though with plenty of flash when needed, and it was a good, and good-humoured performance in the main. However, I have to say I tend to prefer a leaner version, with a smaller band, and Li made an even stronger impression in his encore. I haven't heard this kind of bravura playing in an encore since the last time I saw Evgeny Kissin play, it doesn't seem to be quite so fashionable these days, but Li chose Horowitz's extravagant arrangement of Bizet's "Danse bohémienne" from Carmen as his final bouquet of fireworks, to dazzling effect.
It was my impression that there's a piano in the standard version of Bernstein's "Symphonic Dances". I know he would allow variations to orchestrations of at least some of his pieces in order to allow them to be performed, but it was odd here, where the orchestra certainly has a company pianist, and the hall has a piano, to find it replaced by a harp. It rather softened the sound at slightly unexpected times, though it also made some of it more romantic. Macelaru drove the Mambo with a taut, almost vicious edge to it, which was a nice touch, while the dips and spikes of dynamic in "Cool" were very well demarcated.
The concert ended with a much more Romantic idiom, in Barber's 1st Symphony, of 1937. No jazz influence here, but Barber's full-blown lyricism, and perhaps a touch of the kind of neo-Classicism prevalent in European music at the time, in the final Passacaglia of the symphony. The plangent oboe solo of the third movement was beautifully played by Adrian Wilson. Macelaru delivered a rich and expressive interpretation to round off an entertaining and vivid evening of American music.
[Next : 29th April]