SCO, 01/02/2019
Gounod : Petite symphonie
Debussy : Danse sacrée et danse profane (Eleanor Hudson, harp)
Debussy : Petite suite (orch. Büsser)
Tanguy : Incanto
Berlioz : Les nuits d'été (Carolyn Sampson, soprano)
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
François Leleux
This was a well-filled, but rather odd programme, ostensibly bound together by the fact that it was all French music. It began with what is really a piece of chamber music, Gounod's Petite symphonie for nine wind instruments. Tonight's conductor being a noted oboist as well, it was perhaps not surprising that he wished to play, as well as conduct, so he was in the line-up as first oboe for this charming piece which is not as popular as it used to be - which is a shame. This is Gounod at his brightest and most appealing. Yet despite some very nice, crisp playing from Leleux and the SCO winds, the one thing that was missing here was precisely that Gallic charm. The French wind school was famous, and at its height in the late 19th and early 20th Century, there's a real, identifiable sound there, which is made full use of by Gounod, and it didn't quite come across here.
This typified most of the rest of the evening; nice playing, but not quite on the mark stylistically. The Two Dances for harp and string orchestra were oddly muted, and in my opinion the problem was that Eleanor Hudson was not being enough of a virtuoso. It's not that there was any actual deficiency in her playing, it's that there wasn't enough panache to it. The Two Dances were composed both to show off an instrument, and as a competition piece for the Brussels Conservatory. The harp is not merely another instrument of the ensemble, it is the star, and Hudson was too modest, not assertive enough. Neither the archaic solemnity of the Danse sacrée, nor the seduction of the Danse profane really came through.
As for the orchestrated version of the Petite suite, it sat oddly alongside the Two Dances. In the ten years Debussy spent writing Pelléas et Mélisande, his musical style evolved very substantially, and the two pieces heard tonight come from either side of that period. Hearing the Petite suite after the Two Dances felt like a retrograde step, and Büsser's orchestration, while very pleasant, doesn't really bring anything to the music.
Eric Tanguy is a contemporary French composer, and Incanto was composed in 2001 for the Orchestra de Bretagne's 2002 US tour. Tanguy himself describes it as a concert overture, and it's a lot more agreeable to the ear than tonight's programme note suggested. It's a high-octane piece, pulsing with energy. With no frame of reference for the performance, it sounded to me like the orchestra was enjoying itself with this boisterous, vibrant work.
Les nuits d'été poses one major, perennial problem, and that is the type of voice required to sing it. Originally written for voice (mezzo or tenor) and piano, Berlioz himself orchestrated it, and in doing so specified different voice types for each song. However, just as the piano version is rarely heard these days, it is most often performed by a single singer, usually female, but even that doesn't resolve all the issues. When I first got to know the work, many years ago, the order of the third and fourth songs was often reversed. Poetically, this made good sense; one progressed from the poet regretting the absence of the beloved, to the poet lamenting the death of the beloved, which was then reinforced by the fifth song, also a lament. However, musically, this tended to be a bit lethal for the performer, because the singer has to go immediately from using the darkest timbres of the voice for the "Lamento", to the palest, for "Au cimetière". Vocally, the progression from "Lamento", through "Absence" to "Au cimetière", is much more comfortable. It's most common to hear it sung by a relatively high-voiced mezzo, with clarity in the high notes, and warmth and heft in the low notes.
Carolyn Sampson, on the other hand, is a silver-toned soprano, all delicacy and suggested frailty. She has a lovely control of dynamics, and could produce a hushed intimacy that really drew you in. Her French, when you can hear it clearly, is very good. It's nevertheless odd to hear this light timbre against Berlioz's orchestra, rich in tone and texture for all its restrained size, and she was struggling a little - in the sense of not being heard - with the very lowest notes in a couple of the songs. (Also, while I hate being disobliging about concert dress, that purple number really did her no favours whatsoever!) Just as Suzanne Danco, much as I love her voice, has never been my preferred interpreter of Les nuits d'été, there seemed to be something basically wrong with this clear, crystalline timbre in this context, as opposed to the more burnished tones of a Crespin or, more recently, (and recorded with this same orchestra) Cargill.
A strange and peculiarly unsatisfying concert then, despite much of interest.
[Next : 7th February]
Debussy : Danse sacrée et danse profane (Eleanor Hudson, harp)
Debussy : Petite suite (orch. Büsser)
Tanguy : Incanto
Berlioz : Les nuits d'été (Carolyn Sampson, soprano)
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
François Leleux
This was a well-filled, but rather odd programme, ostensibly bound together by the fact that it was all French music. It began with what is really a piece of chamber music, Gounod's Petite symphonie for nine wind instruments. Tonight's conductor being a noted oboist as well, it was perhaps not surprising that he wished to play, as well as conduct, so he was in the line-up as first oboe for this charming piece which is not as popular as it used to be - which is a shame. This is Gounod at his brightest and most appealing. Yet despite some very nice, crisp playing from Leleux and the SCO winds, the one thing that was missing here was precisely that Gallic charm. The French wind school was famous, and at its height in the late 19th and early 20th Century, there's a real, identifiable sound there, which is made full use of by Gounod, and it didn't quite come across here.
This typified most of the rest of the evening; nice playing, but not quite on the mark stylistically. The Two Dances for harp and string orchestra were oddly muted, and in my opinion the problem was that Eleanor Hudson was not being enough of a virtuoso. It's not that there was any actual deficiency in her playing, it's that there wasn't enough panache to it. The Two Dances were composed both to show off an instrument, and as a competition piece for the Brussels Conservatory. The harp is not merely another instrument of the ensemble, it is the star, and Hudson was too modest, not assertive enough. Neither the archaic solemnity of the Danse sacrée, nor the seduction of the Danse profane really came through.
As for the orchestrated version of the Petite suite, it sat oddly alongside the Two Dances. In the ten years Debussy spent writing Pelléas et Mélisande, his musical style evolved very substantially, and the two pieces heard tonight come from either side of that period. Hearing the Petite suite after the Two Dances felt like a retrograde step, and Büsser's orchestration, while very pleasant, doesn't really bring anything to the music.
Eric Tanguy is a contemporary French composer, and Incanto was composed in 2001 for the Orchestra de Bretagne's 2002 US tour. Tanguy himself describes it as a concert overture, and it's a lot more agreeable to the ear than tonight's programme note suggested. It's a high-octane piece, pulsing with energy. With no frame of reference for the performance, it sounded to me like the orchestra was enjoying itself with this boisterous, vibrant work.
Les nuits d'été poses one major, perennial problem, and that is the type of voice required to sing it. Originally written for voice (mezzo or tenor) and piano, Berlioz himself orchestrated it, and in doing so specified different voice types for each song. However, just as the piano version is rarely heard these days, it is most often performed by a single singer, usually female, but even that doesn't resolve all the issues. When I first got to know the work, many years ago, the order of the third and fourth songs was often reversed. Poetically, this made good sense; one progressed from the poet regretting the absence of the beloved, to the poet lamenting the death of the beloved, which was then reinforced by the fifth song, also a lament. However, musically, this tended to be a bit lethal for the performer, because the singer has to go immediately from using the darkest timbres of the voice for the "Lamento", to the palest, for "Au cimetière". Vocally, the progression from "Lamento", through "Absence" to "Au cimetière", is much more comfortable. It's most common to hear it sung by a relatively high-voiced mezzo, with clarity in the high notes, and warmth and heft in the low notes.
Carolyn Sampson, on the other hand, is a silver-toned soprano, all delicacy and suggested frailty. She has a lovely control of dynamics, and could produce a hushed intimacy that really drew you in. Her French, when you can hear it clearly, is very good. It's nevertheless odd to hear this light timbre against Berlioz's orchestra, rich in tone and texture for all its restrained size, and she was struggling a little - in the sense of not being heard - with the very lowest notes in a couple of the songs. (Also, while I hate being disobliging about concert dress, that purple number really did her no favours whatsoever!) Just as Suzanne Danco, much as I love her voice, has never been my preferred interpreter of Les nuits d'été, there seemed to be something basically wrong with this clear, crystalline timbre in this context, as opposed to the more burnished tones of a Crespin or, more recently, (and recorded with this same orchestra) Cargill.
A strange and peculiarly unsatisfying concert then, despite much of interest.
[Next : 7th February]