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SEEN AND HEARD UK CONCERT REVIEW
Britten, Albinoni, Berkeley, Oldham, Searle, Tippett, Walton, James
MacMillan and Vivaldi: Alison Balsom (trumpet),Scottish
Ensemble, Sainsbury Royal Academy Soloists, Jonathan Morton, Wigmore
Hall, London 17.2.2011 (BBr)
Britten: Prelude and Fugue, op.29 (1943)
Imogen Holst (Theme), Britten (4
Quick and gay), Berkeley (3 Andante), Oldham (
1 Allegro non troppo), Searle (5 Nocturne),
Tippett (2 A Lament), Walton (6 Finale Fuga a
la gigue) : Variations on 'Sellenger's Round' (1953)
James MacMillan: Seraph for trumpet and strings
(2010) (world première) Vivaldi: Concerto in D, for four violins, op.3/9
(1711) (transcribed by Alison Balsom for trumpet, violin and continuo)
Tippett: Fantasia concertante on a Theme of Corelli
(1953)
The obvious "pull" of this concert was the appearance of Alison
Balsom and the attraction of her playing of Albinoni and Vivaldi.
However, no matter how fine an artist Alison Balsom is, and she is an
artist of considerable talent, Albinoni's Oboe Concerto and
Vivaldi's Concerto for four violins don't work when arranged
for the trumpet. They sounded pleasant enough tonight but, musically,
they were most unsatisfactory.
James MacMillan's new mini-concerto was, necessarily, smaller beer
than the magnificent Epiclesis (1993 revised 1998) and, oddly
for this composer, it had a very retrogressive feel, recalling 1950s
Stravinskian neo-classicism and banal TV music. The outer movements
relied too heavily on rhythmic devices at the expense of melody but the
middle, slow, movement had an atmosphere of loneliness, the emotion
being heightened with a beautiful duet for muted trumpet and solo
violin, which would have proved to be the emotional high point of the
work but which, within the scheme of the piece, was too long and out of
proportion to the surrounding music.
The collective set of variations on Sellinger's Round,
created for the Coronation year Aldeburgh Festival, is great fun,
diverting and entertaining. It's not without its serious moments -
Searle's Nocturne is particularly impressive - but overall it
aims to please and tonight the performance was light and frothy - just
as it should be. To start and finish the Scottish Ensemble was joined by the
Sainsbury Royal Academy Soloists for brilliant performances of Britten's delicious jeu d'esprit, the Prelude and Fugue for
eighteen solo strings, written for the 20th anniversary of
the Boyd Neel Orchestra, and Tippett's richly conceived Fantasia
concertante on a Theme of Corelli. Both proved to be the highlights
of the show and the Tippett would have been perfection had it not been
for the fact that Jonathan Morton insisted on elongating every breath
mark into a pause of too significant proportions.
Bob Briggs