Ruth Gipps Song for Orchestra; Nielsen Violin Concerto; Borodin Symphony No.2. RLPO – Andrew Manze conductor; Johan Dalene violin (Young Artist in Residence)
This was a really good concert. Though it was a far from generous programme, and had at least two works which almost everyone in the audience hadn’t heard live before ( and indeed in my case I had never heard the Borodin live before either) , and which probably they’d be unfamiliar with, the hall was completely full. I sense that even more than with the Halle and Manchester, people in Liverpool are very passionate about ‘their’ orchestra and trust its programming – so will turn out even for the unfamiliar. I have a recording of the Nielsen which I bought a few months ago (the Fabio Luisi one of the complete concertos) but have only heard it once.
I did wonder what the programming logic was here. I thought maybe there was something in the Nielsen related to folk tunes that would correlate to the Gipps and Borodin works. But there isn’t really…and so it was simply an overture/concerto/symphony model.
The orchestra was I thought on outstanding form – they have been extremely well led by Petrenko and now by Hindoyan for a long time – and it shows. There were really sensitive contributions by the first horn and oboe and an impressive sheen to the strings.
The Ruth Gipps piece was very much on ‘cow pat’ territory for the most part, sounding with a plaintive oboe much like Vaughan Williams but there was a central section where the brass stirred and growled from the depths which sounded as though it came from a slightly different voice.
The Nielsen piece I liked a lot – it is formally in two movements, but really there are four – a slow introduction followed by a long movement described as cavalleresco (not quite sure what to make of that, literally ‘chivalrous’ but maybe – ‘swaggering’?)), and then a long slow movement with a quick finale. Its thematic material is good, though it sounded as though Nielsen was overly concerned with making sure the violin wasn’t drowned by the orchestra, and sometimes it was difficult to remember the orchestra was actually present!. There are many touches in the work reminiscent of the symphonies (it was written about the same time as the 3rd) – that Nielsen sense of wide open spaces and a bracing breeze was very much present here. Johan Dalene, a young Swedish violinist aged only 23, was outstanding in giving character to the concerto, from a hushed beginning to great energy in the last movement. His opening – quiet and gentle – was very different to my recording, though they concurred in their beautiful phrasing of the lovely theme in the opening prelude. At the end I felt I wanted to listen to this again soon – I’ll put my recording to good use at the weekend. Dalene offered a Bach solo piece as an encore, which again was played with a lot of character (including subtle variations in dynamics and speed.
The Borodin symphony is in one sense a bit of a war horse, with lots of folksy music, very easy on the ear, and with the Polotsvian Dances never far away – yet on the other hand it doesn’t crop up that often in the concert hall (its maybe awkward length, at approx 28 mins, possibly having something to do with this. For me, it was huge fun to hear this live and it made for a genuinely happy experience for everyone – orchestra as well as audience – with lots of smiles. This was the piece that needed the most direction from a conductor and Andrew Manze took up the challenge vigorously – possibly smudging one or two of the lyrical moments on the way, but this was no great matter – it was all very exciting!
John's musical journey 