RSNO, 13/10/2018
Grieg : Peer Gynt - Suites 1 & 2
Ravel : Shéhérazade (Catriona Morison, mezzo-soprano)
Rachmaninoff : Symphony No. 1
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård
Thomas Søndergård had his inaugural concerts, as the new Principal Conductor of the RSNO, last week (to much acclaim, so I've heard), but the programme of tonight's concert was considerably more appealing to me. His is a very welcome appointment. I think I've made it plain over the last few years when commenting on his concerts as Principal Guest Conductor that I considered him very highly. It's not been a perfect score every time, but the pluses have far outweighed the minuses, and tonight promised to, and did, definitely fall into the plus category.
It's been a while since I've heard this much of the Peer Gynt incidental music in concert. "Morning", or "The Death of Åse", played as an encore, certainly, but both of the main suites have been a little thin on the ground, and it was good to hear them given this quality of performance, fresh with the transparency and subtle tints of watercolour, humour when called for, and never weighted down with sentimentality. In introducing the concert, Søndergård spoke of Ibsen's Peer Gynt, rather than of Grieg's, as many would do, and I think this showed that he had the play as a whole very much in mind, which cast a clearer light on the numbers overall. He also amused himself by mixing and matching the numbers, rather than just playing through Suite 1 and then Suite 2, just to offer us a little variation from the norm.
Catriona Morison came on to my radar back in 2013, in her last year or so at the RCS, and I was aware that she had gone off to Germany (like any sensible and ambitious young singer) for further development. She got on to everybody's radar last summer by winning the Cardiff Singer of the World competition, and is now on the BBC's New Generation young artists programme, which means we should be hearing a good deal of her over the next couple of years. Ravel wrote his Shéhérazade for mezzo-soprano and orchestra, but I have to say, with one exception, I've only ever heard sopranos sing this cycle. The exception is Susan Graham's recording, which leaves me a little indifferent.
However, any concerns I had about a mezzo voice being too dark for this music were rapidly dispelled by the clarity of Morison's singing, and it was mostly in the last song, the enigmatic "L'indifférent" that the deeper tones of the voice added an interesting tint to the interpretation. Her French is good, her diction reasonably clear, and the quality of the voice is undeniable. Her interpretation was fairly restrained, she let the orchestra carry the surges of emotion for the most part, and there were no histrionic gestures, vocally or physically, not even for the climax of "Asie". Something a touch more relaxed, particularly in the central song, would have been welcome, but overall, this was a persuasive performance, with lush support from the orchestra, and Katherine Bryan's flute gently seductive in that same middle song.
It was very interesting to hear Rachmaninoff's 1st Symphony in such close proximity to Borodin's 2nd (heard last Thursday). The Rachmaninoff work does indeed sound quite different to most of what was being written around the same time (1895), notably Tchaikovsky, but there are some distinct similarities to the Borodin, the peremptory mood of the first movement, the martial debut of the last, and various other points along the way. However, you also get a very tightly woven cyclical structure, all based around the opening thematic cell of the piece, which returns again and again in every movement, and Rachmaninoff's fascination, not to say obsession, with the "Dies Irae" chant, something that was a life-long element of his composition, at least in his orchestral scores.
The piece is densely scored, sometimes a little too much so, and there are some longueurs, notably in the slow movement, not completely overcome tonight. I have, only once to date, heard a performance that concluded in a dark blaze of splendour which sent the audience home almost reeling - from the opening fanfares of the last movement, it was as if you were being crushed into your seat by its fierce intensity. Søndergård and the RSNO didn't give us that overwhelming impression, but there was much to admire nevertheless, with the brass well and truly earning their keep, and plenty of luscious sweep from the strings, cellos notably, as well as expressive solos from guest clarinettist Maura Mannucci, and Principal Oboe Adrian Wilson.
[Next : 15th October]
Ravel : Shéhérazade (Catriona Morison, mezzo-soprano)
Rachmaninoff : Symphony No. 1
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård
Thomas Søndergård had his inaugural concerts, as the new Principal Conductor of the RSNO, last week (to much acclaim, so I've heard), but the programme of tonight's concert was considerably more appealing to me. His is a very welcome appointment. I think I've made it plain over the last few years when commenting on his concerts as Principal Guest Conductor that I considered him very highly. It's not been a perfect score every time, but the pluses have far outweighed the minuses, and tonight promised to, and did, definitely fall into the plus category.
It's been a while since I've heard this much of the Peer Gynt incidental music in concert. "Morning", or "The Death of Åse", played as an encore, certainly, but both of the main suites have been a little thin on the ground, and it was good to hear them given this quality of performance, fresh with the transparency and subtle tints of watercolour, humour when called for, and never weighted down with sentimentality. In introducing the concert, Søndergård spoke of Ibsen's Peer Gynt, rather than of Grieg's, as many would do, and I think this showed that he had the play as a whole very much in mind, which cast a clearer light on the numbers overall. He also amused himself by mixing and matching the numbers, rather than just playing through Suite 1 and then Suite 2, just to offer us a little variation from the norm.
Catriona Morison came on to my radar back in 2013, in her last year or so at the RCS, and I was aware that she had gone off to Germany (like any sensible and ambitious young singer) for further development. She got on to everybody's radar last summer by winning the Cardiff Singer of the World competition, and is now on the BBC's New Generation young artists programme, which means we should be hearing a good deal of her over the next couple of years. Ravel wrote his Shéhérazade for mezzo-soprano and orchestra, but I have to say, with one exception, I've only ever heard sopranos sing this cycle. The exception is Susan Graham's recording, which leaves me a little indifferent.
However, any concerns I had about a mezzo voice being too dark for this music were rapidly dispelled by the clarity of Morison's singing, and it was mostly in the last song, the enigmatic "L'indifférent" that the deeper tones of the voice added an interesting tint to the interpretation. Her French is good, her diction reasonably clear, and the quality of the voice is undeniable. Her interpretation was fairly restrained, she let the orchestra carry the surges of emotion for the most part, and there were no histrionic gestures, vocally or physically, not even for the climax of "Asie". Something a touch more relaxed, particularly in the central song, would have been welcome, but overall, this was a persuasive performance, with lush support from the orchestra, and Katherine Bryan's flute gently seductive in that same middle song.
It was very interesting to hear Rachmaninoff's 1st Symphony in such close proximity to Borodin's 2nd (heard last Thursday). The Rachmaninoff work does indeed sound quite different to most of what was being written around the same time (1895), notably Tchaikovsky, but there are some distinct similarities to the Borodin, the peremptory mood of the first movement, the martial debut of the last, and various other points along the way. However, you also get a very tightly woven cyclical structure, all based around the opening thematic cell of the piece, which returns again and again in every movement, and Rachmaninoff's fascination, not to say obsession, with the "Dies Irae" chant, something that was a life-long element of his composition, at least in his orchestral scores.
The piece is densely scored, sometimes a little too much so, and there are some longueurs, notably in the slow movement, not completely overcome tonight. I have, only once to date, heard a performance that concluded in a dark blaze of splendour which sent the audience home almost reeling - from the opening fanfares of the last movement, it was as if you were being crushed into your seat by its fierce intensity. Søndergård and the RSNO didn't give us that overwhelming impression, but there was much to admire nevertheless, with the brass well and truly earning their keep, and plenty of luscious sweep from the strings, cellos notably, as well as expressive solos from guest clarinettist Maura Mannucci, and Principal Oboe Adrian Wilson.
[Next : 15th October]