CBSO
YOUTH ORCHESTRA ACADEMY
Birmingham
Town Hall *****
It wasn’t a youth orchestra we heard on Sunday, it was a
fully-fledged ensemble of young professionals, mature of tone, impeccable in
intonation, expert in articulation and attack. This was the CBSO Youth
Orchestra Academy, brilliantly coached by players from the world-class CBSO,
and brought together under the experienced, wise, empowering baton of conductor
Michael Seal.
No scraping, no thinness, no allowance-craving, this was
music-making to be enjoyed at the highest level, beginning with Haydn’s “Clock”
Symphony, written for a crack London orchestra in 1794, and receiving an
equally crack performance here. There were some delicious wind contributions,
not least the solo flute in the third movement’s Trio section (foreshadowing by
well over a century the fairground flute solos in Stravinsky’s Petrushka and
Shostakovich’s First Symphony), and balances were generally impeccable – allowing
for the dominance of the andante’s clock-ticking bassoons.
Indeed, the first half of this concert was something of a
BassoonFest, with CBSO principal Nikolaj Henriques soloist in Weber’s Bassoon
Concerto. This is another benefit accruing from the CBSO’s Youth Orchestra
initiative: not only do the youngsters get the opportunity of expert coaching
before performing under a world-famous conductor, they also have the
responsibility of working with and accompanying a world-class soloist.
Here their accompaniment under Seal was flexible and alert
to all Henriques’ magical inflections in this showy piece, his technical
accomplishment ranging from a cavernous digging-out of the bassoon’s lowest
note to swaggering humour (I won’t dignify Weber by describing it as “wit”) in
the upper registers. His instrument sang eloquently, and the youngsters
listened as they were playing.
Then came a brilliant encore, Henriques bringing out the two
Academy bassoonists to join him in an idiomatically-delivered Tango which
brought the house down, giving these two students an experience they will never
forget.
After the interval Beethoven’s sublimely energetic Seventh
Symphony could have stood comparison here with so many performances I have
heard on recordings and in the concert-hall. String stamina in the first
movement’s Olympian drive was astounding, the tone and unanimity of the lower
strings set the mood for a heartsearching allegretto, everyone on their toes
for a bounding scherzo, and then a finale blistering in its speed, horns
proudly affirmative as the music sped towards its exhilarating conclusion.
Just a footnote, in view of the current unease engendered by
aspects of the CBSO’s current management. This was an amazing concert, totally
professional in its delivery, raptly received by a willing audience. There was
no razzmatazz, no gimmicks of lighting and stage- movement such as had
disfigured with extra demands the CBSO Youth Orchestra’s previous performance
of one of the most taxing works in the repertoire, Mahler’s Fifth Symphony –
which they delivered triumphantly, despite everything thrown at them.
Christopher Morley