Orchestra of the Swan at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire by Christopher Morley

-
It was a wonderful house-warming as Orchestra of the Swan moved into its new Birmingham residence on Bank Holiday afternoon, and there was a packed audience to savour the occasion.
Julian Lloyd Webber, RBC Principal, was the genial host, his batonless conducting, often with a cellist's sweep of phrasing and articulation as the music unfolded, drawing performances of utter enjoyment from the OOTS players, whose generous enthusiasm was unbounded.
There were three cellists in this relationship, Lloyd Webber collaborating with the remarkable Jian Wang (and conducting here scoreless in a work he himself has played countless times) in Haydn's lovely C Major Cello Concerto. Wang's initial entry was stunning and imposing, followed by flowing facility of passage-work conveyed through lissomly athletic bowing. The finale proved a spectacular technical display from both soloist and orchestra (such fizzing violin unisons).
Jiaxin Lloyd Webber partnered Jian Wang in Vivaldi's G minor Double Cello Concerto, the familiar Vivaldi template enlivened by the empathetic interplay and dynamic energy between the soloists. The Largo, just soloists and orchestral cellos, was particularly affecting, and the quarrelsome finale was theatrically effective, part of it the basis for a Mad Hatter's Tea Party of an encore, both Lloyd Webbers and Jian Wang all swopping roles.
Framing these concerti were two great Elgar works for string orchestra, both sounding so well in this wonderful acoustic. The early Serenade was affectionate without affectation, with warm bass-line underpinning, and the Introduction and Allegro of the composer's confident maturity was grippingly engaged. The solo quartet of OOTS' sectional principals seasoned the progress with reflectiveness, Lloyd Webber's brave refusal not to hammer out every beat of each bar, and the busyness of the tutti gave us a texture scudding like clouds, reminding us of the opening of the famous Ken Russell Elgar docu-film. Didn't he get everything right on that occasion?
Christopher Morley

Popular posts from this blog

Some Enchanted Evenings at the Grand Hotel, Eastbourne

-
CHRISTOPHER MORLEY ENJOYED THREE ENCHANTED EVENINGS AT EASTBOURNE'S GRAND HOTEL SOME ENCHANTED EVENINGS Appassionata at the Grand Hotel, Eastbourne ***** Eastbourne's breathtakingly magnificent Grand Hotel, so imposing yet also so welcoming, has an impressive roster of visiting musicians since its opening in 1875. Among the many luminaries who have crossed its portals are Debussy (who completed La Mer here), Kreisler, Caruso, Nellie Melba, Ysaye, Paul Robeson, Myra Hess… the list goes on. Latest to join them is the young vocal quartet Appassionata, who, together with pianist Will Sharma, presented a three-night entertainment "Some Enchanted Evenings" at the end of March. It began with baritone Matthew Siveter, already a much-loved veteran of Gilbert and Sullivan productions, presenting his one-man show "A Source of Innocent Merriment", drawing material from the likes of G&S themselves, Noel Coward, Flanders and Swann, Tom Lehrer, as well as d...
Read more
-
  STIRRING ELGAR CONCERTO FROM THE CBSO LEADER CBSO at Symphony Hall ★★★★ Elgar’s Violin Concerto has provided almost as many opportunities for pointless speculation as his ‘Enigma’ Variations. Who is referred to in the work’s inscription, “Herein is enshrined the soul of...”? Is it someone codenamed “Windflower” after whom several of the work’s themes are named? Is it Alice Stuart-Wortley, daughter of the painter John Everett Millais? Is it Helen Weaver, or Elgar’s mother or possibly his wife? Who cares? Elgar himself told us all we need to know about the work when he said of it: “It's good! Awfully emotional! Too emotional, but I love it.” So would any unprejudiced listener after hearing this performance played with such tenderness, fierce concentration and passion by the CBSO’s leader Eugene Tzikindelean and backed to the hilt by the orchestra conducted by Kazuki Yamada. In the opening bars soloist and orchestra captured the mysterious haunting quality of the initial theme that ...
Read more

Jacquie Lawson e-card music

-
THE MUSIC BEHIND THE E-CARDS MIKE HUGHES-CHAMBERLAIN AND JACQUIE LAWSON E-CARDS by Christopher Morley It's always a joy when an e-greetings card plops into your inbox, not least at festive times of the year. It's easy to understand why the sending of these cyber-messages has become so popular, given the huge cost of postage nowadays At the forefront of this trend are the e-cards produced by Jacquie Lawson, and in addition to the attractive artwork, witty and sensitive storylines, and interactive opportunities offered by these little gems, comes the input of music, atmospheric and appropriate. Whether specially composed or arranged from other sources, these sound-pictures are masterminded by Mike Hughes-Chamberlain, who has made the seamless connection between a musical education and Information Technology in order to create scores for these scores of delightful little gems. He was brought up in Hindhead in Surrey, where his mother founded a music school in 1975. ...
Read more