Kahchun Wong conductor, Anna Lapwood organ, Sopranos and altos of the Hallé Choir, Matthew Hamilton, choral director: Max Richter, Cosmology (Hallé co-commission / Manchester premiere); Olivia Belli, Limina Luminis; Elgar, Enigma Variations
This was another packed out Halle concert, though this time in their Rush Hour series -1 hour or so at 6pm, similar to the LSOs Six o’clock Fix, from whom they have obviously unashamedly nicked the concept. I was wondering what Kahchun Wong’s Enigma Variations would be like. He said before the concert that one of his most loved recordings when he was a high school student was the Halle’s recording of this work with Mark Elder. To what extent would he replicate the Elder approach. The audience was quite diverse age-wise and, in response to a question from Mr Wong, it was clear quite a few people had not heard the work. Clearly though for some people the reason for going to the concert was the presence of Anna Lapwood in the first two works – she is by all accounts a major Tik Tok and Instagram star and a very considerable ambassador, in the UK anyway, for classical music. She bounced on and off stage to very enthusiastic cheers.
First up though we had Max Richter’s Cosmology. People are very sniffy about Max Richter – ‘film music’, ‘mindfulness/well being sort of music with no substance’: ‘BBC Nightwaves sort of music’ – you can imagine the comments. I am not that fussed by how it sounds – it comes from the minimalist tradition, the music is very easy on the ear, it builds to enormous climaxes. Although it is seemingly all at the same speed, its 4 movements outlining various aspects of cosmology don’t outstay their welcome. It is glutinous in texture and, oddly, it is quite difficult to hear the organ which rumbles away in the background. Ms Lapwood was sitting in the orchestra, with a keyboard wired to the main and imposing Bridgewater Hall organ. The orchestral contribution is designed to be dark, monochrome and soft-edged, and the brightness in sound is provided by the upper voices of the Halle Chorus who sing wordlessly in several of the movement. All in all I quite enjoyed yhe experience though the lack of challenge would be wearing on repeated listening. Next was a short organ only piece called Limina Luminis by Olivia Belli, about an astronaut blasting off into space and seeing the earth for the first time from a new perspective. This was., as Anna Lapwood herself admitted, very similar in sound and texture to the Richter piece, but, again, it was easy on the ear and offered an opportunity to hear Ms Lapwood play and put the BH organ through its paces – the moment when the astronaut sees the earth from space, flagged up to us by Ms Lapwood beforehand is lovely…..
And so to the Elgar…. As I have mentioned in this blog I heard Elder and the Halle play this twice in the last 4 years – the second time being only 17 months ago. It was a relief to hear the flashing colours and the frequent changes of speed and mood of the Elgar after the slow sameness of Richter and Olivia Belli. The Halle sounded just as impressive in Elgar for Kahchun Wong as they had for Mark Elder. And in at least one aspect- the last 4 or 5 minutes of the work- Wong moved the music along more effectively than Elder and got more energy into the closing bars. There were some beautiful violas and cellos solos and sectional work, a whispered start to Nimrod and a noble ending to the same section, the horns being given their head but without their sounding vulgar. Perhaps Wong in general set slightly quicker tempi than Elder, but the performance always sounded spacious, never rushed, and, as with the Rachmaninov last Thursday. Wong and the orchestra brought out colours and textures in the orchestration you don’t always here. This was a very, very good performance.
I can’t wait to hear Kahchun Wong conducting the Elgar symphonies in a future season……
Olivia by Ciara Mirelli
credit Jermaine Francis
John's musical journey 