Midlands Classical Music Making

  ELAINE DELMAR                                            The Radlett Centre, Radlett *****   Doyenne of British jazz-singing   for well over half a century, Elaine Delmar continues to pack one hell of a punch. The voice is like a synthesizer of every musical sound imaginable, now piping like a piccolo, now swooping richly into cello tones. now barking out at us as though from the inside of a double-bass. And to this we add amazing clarity of diction and articulation, seductive phrasing born of immaculate breath-control, and a force of personality, bursting with adrenaline, which is irresistible. For this lovely event at the welcoming and charming Radlett Centre in such a delightful Hertfordshire village Delmar was joined by an expert quartet: Barry Green (piano), Simon Thorpe (bass), Bobby Worth (drums), and Alex Garnett (saxophone/flute). The empathy between instrumentalists and singer was heartwarming, and I was particular impressed by Garnett’s platform courtesies, stepp

                                             PETER SMITH RETIRES FROM AUTUMN IN MALVERN                                                           By Christopher Morley   A footballer hangs up his boots when he comes to the end of his playing career. I’m not sure what a veteran festival-planner does when he retires, but whatever it is, Peter Smith will be doing it next month when he completes 35 years as founder and director of Autumn in Malvern. The festival does exactly what it says on the tin, marking the beginning of this season of mists and mellow fruitfulness in this beautiful, evocative, hilly corner of Worcestershire, and at the time of writing this year’s programme is just about to begin. Peter’s day job was actually as a Scientific Officer in Materials Research for the MoD, Royal Signals & Radar Establishment, Malvern. Malvern-born, he also served for 14 years as elected member for the Priory Ward on Malvern Town Council, in which role he instigated and delivere

                                             TRIAL BY JURY/ HMS PINAFORE The National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company                                            At Malvern Theatre *** The company’s title sounds grand and imposing, the reality is somewhat different, with so many variable standards in performance. What is undeniably laudable is the unashamedly traditional set-designs of these productions, a forbidding courtroom for Trial, a properly nautical foredeck for Pinafore. These cameos by Gilbert and Sullivan are firmly set both in the period of their creation and the period of their action,   and any directorial gimmickry can only show up frailties in their structure. So full marks to the company for this. Not so laudable is the varying standard of delivery, and therein lies the problem for any audience outside the G&S diehards. We had here a portrayal of a main character straight out of the Savoyard mould so appreciated by devotees, Simon Butteriss’ Sir Joseph

  Norman Stinchcombe reviews the latest classical CD releases The great symphonies are amenable to different interpretations, surely one of the necessary conditions of being a great piece of music. Dvorak’s late symphonies are in that category and there are plentiful rewards to be had from recordings by conductors and orchestras with different approaches as two newly released sets show.  Dvorak: Czech Philharmonic /  Semyon Bychkov  (Pentatone 2CDs)  ★★★★ was taken from performances of the Symphonies 7-9 in the Dvorak Hall at the Rudolfinum in Prague last year. As the orchestra’s chief conductor and music director Bychkov has formed an acclaimed partnership with his Czech players at home and on tour. The LSO Live label is 25 years-old and is celebrating with a remastered set from of Dvorak’s Symphonies 6-9 conducted by Sir Colin Davis, D vorak, Janacek, Smetana: London Symphony Orchestra / Davis / Rattle (LSO Live 4 CDs & SACDs)  ★★★★  Both sets are great value for money and come w

  HOW THINGS STAND WITH THE CBSO The plans of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra management to attract a diversity of new listeners off the city’s streets and into the concert-hall have caused consternation among regular audiences, subscribers, donors, and indeed legacy-givers. There has been much backtracking from the original proposals, issued in late November 2023, which included invitations to applaud whenever people felt like it, bring your drinks in, video the performance and your entourage enjoying it (and then send it in for publicity material), explanatory greetings from the platform at every concert, a more welcoming approach from front-of-house staff (a terrible affront to the expertise and experience of the stewards who have greeted us at Symphony Hall for a third of a century).   There was also an inference that the orchestra was racist, ageist and sexist (the expression “old white men” had been bandied around in some quarters). The filming raised a couple of