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SEEN AND HEARD UK CONCERT REVIEW
Verdi: Overture: Luisa Miller
Mozart: Piano Concerto No.17 in G major, K453
Elgar: Symphony No. 1 in A flat, op.55
On the stage prior to the second half of the concert music-writer Michael
Kennedy who has done so much to promote Elgar's music was presented with
the Elgar Society Medal. Try as I might I
couldn't detect a theme for this Hallé programme. However any concert that
includes a Mozart piano concerto has something good going for it and the
inclusion of one of the Elgar symphonies seemed like a windfall bonus.
Listening to a Verdi overture often feels as if I'm settling down at the
opera house in anticipation of a Verdi production and then feeling
disappointed when the curtain isn't raised. Agreeable but not one of
Verdi's greatest offerings, the overture to Luisa Miller seemed
to be over in a flash. Unusual in that it's designed predominantly at one
pace and employs an attractive single theme as the basis for the overture.
Coming as a blessed relief there is a modest hastening of the tempo
towards the conclusion. For openers something more unusual, or more
challenging - such as a contemporary score - might have provided more
satisfaction.
Berlin born pianist Martin Helmchen was the soloist in Mozart's Piano
Concerto No.17. A product of his late twenties the Vienna
based composer wrote this engaging G major score for one of his pupils
Barbara von Ployer. Clearly a fine Mozartian, Helmchen's velvet gloved
performance was characterised by sophistication and delicacy. Maintaining
a Classical restraint, Helmchen unfolded a veil of heartbreak over the
virtuous Andante. The accomplished soloist made it all seem so
very easy capturing the vivacity and charm of the concluding movement. In
the finale I was certainly reminded of the music of Papageno, the
ridiculous feather-suited bird-catcher from the opera The Magic Flute
that Mozart composed some seven years later. Quite splendid was the
accompaniment from the Hallé under Sir Mark Elder.
The combination of an Elgar symphony; the Hallé Orchestra; Sir Mark
conducting and an enthusiastic Bridgwater hall audience is an alchemist's
dream. The potion certainly drew a large audience of admirers to Elgar's
Symphony No. 1, a score that Sir Mark must have conducted
countless times. Having been entrusted by Elgar to give the 1908 première
of the score at Manchester's Free Trade Hall under Hans Richter the
First Symphony runs through the lifeblood of the Hallé Orchestra. In
view of all this emotional attachment there was a heavy expectation for
the Hallé to deliver and deliver they did. Marked by the heroic march
theme Sir Mark conducts an expansive reading of the opening movement. The
impressively controlled increase in weight and tempo was carried out to
spine-tingling effect. With its scuttling and darting main theme the
Scherzo-like second movement contains an impressive thrusting
momentum. Elgar's colourful music has become indelibly associated with
imagery especially of the Monarchy of Edwardian England. At first I
visualised the pageantry of a ceremonial event in Whitehall that then
refocused to evoke a view of a rowdy Parliamentary debate. The transition
to the heartbreaking theme of the Adagio was seamless. This is
now intensely passionate music combined with the scent and sounds of
nature. In this frame of mind the sections of the Hallé are an alliance
made in heaven. Towards the conclusion of the movement I felt the deep
sorrow of lovers parting perhaps on a long ocean voyage. The final
movement begins almost furtively with an undercurrent of foreboding. Sir
Mark provides robust rhythms in a passage high in buccaneering spirit
before the return of the principal march theme. In this music of grandeur
it is easy to imagine an important State occasion in Horse Guards Parade.
Those Hallé strings improve each time I hear them, especially the ebony
tinged, rich low strings. Striking was the brass with the trombones in
tremendous form. One cannot fail to mention the beautiful playing from the
woodwind.
There are no better Elgarians around when Sir Mark Elder and his Hallé
Orchestra take wing in music that just runs through their veins.
Michael Cookson