Debussy, Elgar, & More With The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Details

Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Thursday, 27 October 2022 17:20

Written by Jack Angstreich

Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla Conducts City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Soloist Sheku Kanneh-Mason. Photo by Chris Lee

At Carnegie Hall on the evening of Saturday, October 22nd, I attended a rewarding concert presented by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under the confident direction of its Principal Guest Conductor, Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla.

The distinguished soloist, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, entered the stage for the opening work, a good performance of Edward Elgar’s celebrated Cello Concerto. In his program note, Jack Sullivan comments: “Composed in 1919 and premiered by the composer conducting the London Symphony Orchestra with Felix Salmond as soloist, it had the misfortune to appear on the same program as Scriabin’s spectacularly colorful The Poem of Ecstasy, which was better rehearsed and greatly preferred by the audience.” The first movement begins lyrically and Romantically with a slow introduction; contrastingly, theModeratosection is less somber but still soulful and at times very animated, containing some of the piece’s most glorious moments. The Lento opening of the second movement is subdued at its beginning but acquires a more passionate character, while the Allegro motto is surprisingly dramatic for ascherzo. With the Adagio and finale there is a marked increase in intensity. Kanneh-Mason and the musicians received a warm reception which was answered by a beautiful encore, Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Come Sweet Death,” performed by the soloist—in his own arrangement—with four additional cellists, a piece which he has recorded.

The second half of the event began with an impressive account of the New York Premiere of the accomplished The Exterminating Angel Symphony of Thomas Adès, which was co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall and this ensemble along with several other organizations. The piece, notable for its admirable orchestrations, is adapted from the music from the composer’s opera of the same title, itself based on the classic film by Luis Buñuel. The opening movement, Entrances, has Neo-Romantic inflections while the ensuing March has a military character. The Berceuse is more inward, at least for some of its length, and the finale, Waltzes, delivers many of the pleasures of that genre.

The highlight of the evening, however, was a superb reading of Claude Debussy’s extraordinary La Mer.The opening, “From Dawn to Noon on the Sea,” was especially remarkable for its climactic ending. “Play of the Waves,” which follows, is maybe the most mysterious movement, featuring some thrilling, Orientalizing effects, while the conclusion of the work, “Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea,” is the most turbulent and suspenseful.

• < Prev
• Next >