SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Macmillan, Ravel, Dvořák: Nicholas Angelich (piano), Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Stéphane Denève (conductor), Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 25.9.2010 (SRT)

Macmillan: Three Interludes from The Sacrifice

Ravel: Piano Concerto for the Left Hand

Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 “From the New World”

New Season, New World. The RSNO kicks off their season in confident style with Dvořák’s evergreen New World Symphony. There are few more confident statements in music and what enlivened this performance was the carefully sprung rhythms of the first and third movements, together with the glorious blaze to the brass in the finale. If the Largo felt a bit cursory at times then the moment where Hiawatha’s funeral march returns pianissimo on the violins was beautifully judged.

Ravel’s left hand concerto was as much of a joy to watch as to hear: just how does the pianist get such remarkable sounds with only one hand, and what does he do with the right in the meantime?! Angelich, an old Conservatoire colleague of Denève’s, moulded the tricky solo line with grace and care, proving a perfect foil to the brooding majesty of the orchestral Sarabande. Later both orchestra and soloist slotted into one another’s groove brilliantly for the sparky Allegro section and the final crash of the coda marked a confident full stop.

The most interesting piece of the night, however, was Macmillan’s Sacrifice interludes. This marks an exciting year-long project for the orchestra which they’re calling Ten out of 10. For the 2010-11 season Stéphane Denève has chosen ten works composed in the last decade, works which he believes will stand the test of time. These will be performed as one of the mainstays of this year’s programme and audiences are invited to contribute their thoughts on each one in web forums and post-concert discussions. The project is a sign of Denève’s commitment to contemporary works, but also of the artistic and intellectual health of the orchestra and its team: when it would be so easy to pack the halls with wall-to-wall Beethoven and Brahms the RSNO has consciously decided to push our musical boundaries and has invited our responses too. Eric Sellen’s programme note addresses honestly the fact that not all of these works will be universally popular and that many will prove a daunting challenge to listeners and performers alike, but it’s still worth doing anyway because the chance to hear them is important.

The first choice was a relatively safe one, featuring Scotland’s greatest and certainly most famous contemporary composer. The Sacrifice premiered to acclaim with WNO in 2007 and a complete recording already exists on Chandos. We heard here a concert suite assembled from three of the seven interludes which link the scenes. Macmillan is a master colourist and he uses his palette brilliantly, evoking the sometimes beautiful, sometimes savage world of the opera effectively. The third interlude, in particular, drives the action forward in a tribal, almost animalistic way with washes of sound radiating out of each instrumental section. However, Macmillan is also a master of structure, shown clearly in the central Passacaglia. Here the ghost of Britten, and particularly Peter Grimes, is at its closest. The music tightens with every repetition of the ground bass as the theme passes up through the orchestra from the basses and raises a semitone with each new hearing. It controls the tension brilliantly and gives every section a chance to show what they can do. If this is a sign of things to come then we are in for a great season. Watch this space!

Simon Thompson