The programme was Rimsky-Korsakov’s ’The Tale of Tsar Saltan’ Suite; Rachmaninov’s The Rock, and Stravinsky’s The Firebird: Suite (1945 compilation)
This was an enjoyable concert with two relative rarities. All three pieces were in a sense in the business of telling stories, with lots of brilliant sounds, evocative but with nothing that really chilled the soul or warmed the heart, or gave sustenance to the soul at this difficult time. They were great orchestral display pieces – and it’s always good to hear an orchestra being put through its paces – but maybe not ultimately very satisfying – though often thrilling. The Halle sounded very well and particularly in the ‘Firebird’ offered some beautiful woodwind and horn playing. It would be interesting to see some of the Rimsky-Korsakov operas performed in this country – maybe they have been, but I have never encountered a production. I saw a wonderful display in Moscow of some of the design models for the original sets of Rimsky’s operas’ first productions. If not in the UK, maybe I should try to see them performed in Moscow or St Petersburg. One day, perhaps………
The Rachmaninov piece – written when he was 20 – is obviously prodigiously mature to be written such a young composer, but it is not, to be honest, very interesting
The programme was on the short side – about 75 mins – and so the Halle played the ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’ from the same Tsar Saltan opera as an encore
At the end of this sparkling well-put-together programme, brilliantly played by the Halle, I did have a ‘so what?’ question buzzing in my mind – if music has the ability to affect our emotions, intellect, and psychology, to assuage our loneliness or incite our passions, what was this concert doing? I’m not sure…..
John's musical journey 