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SEEN
AND HEARD CONCERT REVIEW
Alexander, Holst, Munsey, Wagner and Haydn:
Janice Graham (violin/director), English Sinfonia, Geoffrey
Alexander (conductor in his own works), Cadogan Hall, London,
16.3.2008 (BBr)
Geoffrey Alexander:
Still Life Fast Moving (2007)
Gustav Holst:
St Paul’s Suite, op.29/2 (1913)
Adrian Munsey:
Requiem (2007)
Richard Wagner:
Siegfried Idyll (1870)
Gustav Holst:
A
Song of the Night, op.19/1 (1905)
Franz Josef Haydn:
Symphony No.92 in G, Oxford (1789)
Geoffrey Alexander:
Towards the Dawn (2008)
Now here’s an intelligently planned concert, mixing well known
masterpieces with a less well known piece by a master and two
composers new to me. The English Sinfonia did them all proud.
Starting with Geoffrey Alexander’s minimalist overture, with shades
of Adams’s Short Ride in a Fast Machine but with an English
accent, the concert got off to a rollicking start. Next, the
orchestra’s smallish string section (6,6.4,4,1) made a very big
sound in an ebullient and exciting St Paul’s Suite, with
precise phrasing and playing despite the fast tempi chosen for the
outer movements – I bet the girls at St Paul’s School would have
been amazed at this. There was also a most delectable, muted,
scherzo in the second movement and a similarly gorgeous
slow movement where the big tune was given the full treatment with a
lush, romantic, sound.
A change of pace was found in Adrian Munsey’s beautiful Requiem
– a short piece for violin solo and small orchestra – which was
melodic and very passionate. This work was a real reassurance that
well wrought, tuneful, music is still being written today. Although
called Requiem the composer intends the work to be heard as a
rest in peace piece rather than a dramatic representation of
the Mass. It was far too short and I would have welcomed more of it,
indeed the composer told me after the concert, that he would have
liked more of it too, but that’s critics and composers for you –
never satisfied!
Wasn’t it Rossini who said that Wagner has wonderful moments but
boring quarter hours? And didn’t Donald Francis Tovey comment that
Wagner the composer wasn’t tough enough with Wagner the librettist?
I do know that it was me who has often said that were it not for the
perfect miniature (in Wagnerian terms) Siegfried Idyll then
some of us would never give the man the time of day. The
Siegfried Idyll is sheer perfection and tonight’s performance
was a joy, the music treated as a chamber piece – despite the size
of the string section – and the gradual unfolding of the work, as it
makes its blissful way towards a superbly conceived climax, was well
thought out and most satisfying. The coda was breathtaking in its
simplicity and controlled gentleness.
After the interval we heard Holst’s almost totally unknown A Song
of the Night for solo violin and orchestra. I know that Holst
created a marvelous Concerto for two violins and orchestra
towards the end of his life, but it must be said that he was not a
concerto composer. Written at the end of his period of Wagneritis,
and just before his starting to use English folksong in his works,
this is an interesting, but not entirely successful piece. The
performers did what they could with it but I was left with a feeling
that it didn’t really work – despite a finely built climax and
lovely quiet coda – and certainly it’s not Holst anywhere near his
best. But it’s always good to hear the shavings from a well known
composer’s workbench.
Haydn’s Oxford Symphony was given a very stylish performance,
with the exposition repeated in the outer movements, which pointed
the wit of the music and never dropped the high spirits from
beginning to end – except in the lovely slow movement.
To end, Alexander’s Towards the Dawn, which the
orchestra has just released as a CD single in support of
Breakthrough Breast Cancer. It’s a sustained cantilena for violin
and orchestra, very warm and pleasing, and a restrained end to an
evening of fine music making.
Bob Briggs
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