RSNO, 27/02/2022
Jasper Dommett : Dreams of Isolation
Elgar : Enigma Variations
Vaughan Williams : Sinfonia antartica
Katie Coventry, mezzo-soprano
RCS Voices
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Sir Andrew Davis
Like last week's concert, this too began with an RSNO Composer's Hub winner, Jasper Dommett, and a world premiere. Dommett's note on the new piece was not particularly helpful in suggesting what to look out for, but as the title clearly suggests, it was a reflection on the enforced isolation of at least the first lockdown. I enjoyed this more than Metselaar's piece last week, it had a slightly unearthly quality to it, a little distant and unreal, that I rather liked, and there was notably a lovely oboe solo passage at one point. I did find myself thinking of Sibelius, and maybe Rautavaara's Cantus arcticus - partly because there was a distinct suggestion of birdsong in one place - and that was fine with me, as I'm partial to both those composers. It also made it a particularly suitable starter for a concert programme that included Vaughan Williams's 7th Symphony.
Before getting to that, and instead of the customary concerto, came Elgar's Enigma Variations, something I haven't actually heard in concert in a very long time. It got off to a slow start, a little stodgy for my liking, and the second variation was also a bit of a blank. Then the humour raised its head, and finally, with the turbulent 4th variation, we were off and running. The fastest variations were the best; "Troyte" was dazzling, heart-poundingly swift and exuberant, with wonderful articulation from the strings, and "G.R.S." was similarly brilliantly delivered. "Dorabella" was all charm, lightly fluttering, while the all-too famous "Nimrod" had gravity without being portentous, and Davis built it all up to an energetic, bold conclusion.
RVW's symphonies are a remarkably disparate group of works; their character changes radically from one to the next, and it's a large part of their appeal, and yet there is a true consistency between them also. The fascinating thing about the Sinfonia antartica is how that English 'pastoral' vein of which RVW was a master translates to this utterly strange and alien landscape. It is clearly a home to something, just not that group of ill-prepared and ill-equipped interlopers. It is also one of his most remarkable scores, magnificently orchestrated, with a wonderful use of percussion, and varying orchestral colours to evoke a frozen landscape of terrifying and deadly beauty. Davis made sure all this came across clearly, as well as the determination and despair of the expedition members, until they vanish under a pall of ice and snow, and the wind whistles emptily over the barren vista. Katie Coventry and the RCS Voices were the icy sirens in the outer movements, and my only real complaint is that I would have liked the wind machine to be a little subtler in effect. Otherwise, this was a hauntingly desolate performance, just as it should be.
[Next : 3rd March]