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Conductor Andrew Manze has come a long way from his days as a violin soloist in baroque repertoire. Now, he is equally at home conducting twentieth-century British orchestral music, which is what we got in this concert by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra - Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham, UK, 24 October 2024.
Walton's score for the film Battle of Britain was at the centre of a row with the producers, who bone-headedly rejected it because there wasn't enough to fill a commercial record release, and commissioned a replacement from Ron Goodwin. It was only when the film's star, Laurence Olivier, put his foot down, that they agreed to include even the small section 'Battle in the Air'. This launched the concert, its swirling energies kept taut. For some reason, it came without its opening fanfare, 'Spitfire Music', though it had been advertised.
Pianist Mark Bebbington, who was to have been the soloist in Bliss's Piano Concerto, had to withdraw, and his place was taken by Guy Johnston, in Bliss's Cello Concerto. Written for Rostropovich, this is one of the composer's later works, worlds away from his enfant terrible image of the 1920s. In the perky, occasionally acerbic opening to the first movement, Johnston was sensitive, but rather more reticent than I was expecting, and the orchestra's contribution also felt somewhat under-characterised. The eerie passage for cello and woodwind at the end, though, had plenty of atmosphere.
Guy Johnston. Photo © 2016 Kaupo Kikkas
The second movement received sympathetic phrasing from all concerned, but here, again, it seemed expressively rather tentative. There was, though, a sense of firmer commitment in the finale's scherzo-like, springy opening, with Neil Hitt's timpani figures setting the pace. The middle section, a kind of anxious barcarolle, provided a breathing-space, before the bounding energy took over again.
Are we now so familiar with Holst's The Planets that we overlook its sheer originality? Holst had serious doubts about the value of success to creative artists, and you can see his point, especially in a performance as vividly colourful and engrossing as this. The slow-build treatment given to 'Mars' was an effective way into a performance full of raw, relentless clamour, with Gary Curtin's tenor tuba solo having a suitably swaggering air. 'Venus' was the perfect balm, Timothy Jackson's serene horn solo setting up the calm, swaying woodwind figures. Leader Thelma Handy and principal oboist Helena Mackie added their floating lines to the prevailing sense of active stillness. A puckish account of 'Mercury' had all the airy fleet-footedness you could wish for, and a deliciously crisp ending.
'Jupiter' generated, for the most part, the right kind of holiday atmosphere, with the three-in-a-bar central section swaying like some giant pendulum. The big tune, though, felt surprisingly sombre to begin with, and a touch of the grandiose even started to creep in, which I'm sure wasn't Holst's intention. But the final bars had jollity to spare.
Andrew Manze. Photo © Benjamin Ealovega
The icy woodwind at the beginning of 'Saturn' crept in from the very edge of audibility. Here was another slow build - to that astonishing climax of mingled alarm, panic and protest. The calm ending was all the more soothing as a result. The irresistibly bouncy, galumphing account of 'Uranus' that followed had moments of real comedy, while the stillness produced at the end by the famous organ glissando (Richard Lea) was the perfect doorway into a reading of 'Neptune' utterly compelling in handling of the music's intricate textures. As conductor and orchestra explored the daring nature of Holst's thinking, Emma Burgess's clarinet solo added to the sense of quiet flow, and the offstage Cantamus Girls Choir sang with a tone suggesting something beyond human experience. Balance with the orchestra was just right, to the point where I wasn't even sure I was already hearing them before they actually entered, and the concluding fade-out came off superbly.
Copyright © 31 October 2024
Mike Wheeler,
Derby UK