EIF 2010 - The Russian National Orchestra

Edinburgh is predictable sometimes.  The Usher Hall languishes half empty for a programme of Nielsen, a fifth full if you try an obscure bit of Messiaen, but stick a Beethoven overture together with the Tchaikovsky violin concerto and a Shostakovich symphony and you have a sell out.  The withdrawal of Pletnev didn't seem to have dampened enthusiasm.  Interestingly, one group I overheard were discussing the new spiral staircase as if they'd never seen it before, indicating they hadn't been here for over a year.

However, great works do not a great concert make.  They started with Beethoven's Coriolan Overture.  This was fascinating listening with Boreyko and the Russian National Orchestra delivering an angular and brutal interpretation.  Stalinist, one might almost call it.  It didn't work for me at all (and the lukewarm applause suggests I was not alone).

They were on home ground for Tchiakovsky's violin concerto, and while there was some good playing in evidence, not to mention a stunning technical display from soloist Vadim Repin and some very fine wind solos, it managed to leave me utterly cold.  Not only was it intensely clinical but they seemed to go out of their way to squash all the big tunes.  I seemed to be in the minority though, and he played an encore, accompanied by the orchestra in a manner that looked almost spontaneous, with a degree of wit and passion that I would have loved to hear in the concerto.

EIF 2010 - The Cleveland Orchestra Part II

After Tuesday's disappointing Bruckner, Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra returned the following day for an altogether more successful second programme.  Welser-Möst has a lot of experience in the opera house and this showed both in his selection of works and the way he performed them.

Up first were two exerts from Korngold's Die tote Stadt: the prelude and Marietta's Lied.  These were well played and possessed much more of the style I recall from their visit six years ago.  There were nice dramatic touches, such as soprano Laura Aikin's first words coming from off-stage, then entering through the orchestra as they played.  She had a small voice, but it was well suited to the part and Welser-Möst and the orchestra accompanied her sensitively.

Berg's Lulu suite followed and was similar successful, though this time Aikin's entry nearly went awry as she knocked into one of the second violins.  When she sang, though, she gave a good performance, but I didn't find the piece quite so engaging.  Moving her up to the side of the organ gallery at the end was a nice touch.

Sunset Boulevard, or if only the Lord could be a little less Lloyd Webberish

This review begins with a series of confessions.  I am a Sondheim not a Lloyd Webber man when it comes to the modern musical.  Consequently, prior to my weekend expedition with two Maine friends to the Ogunquit Playhouse I had only actually seen one Lloyd Webber show in its entirety.  This was Cats as the family Christmas outing quite a few years ago.  The show was well into its run, and did not grab us.  Indeed my most vivid memory of the evening is of my brother (then active on the technical side of things in the school theatre) casting a jaundiced eye on the Christmas tree lights which festooned the theatre and declaring loudly “The technical management of this theatre is appalling” - that is, there were a lot of dud bulbs.  However, I am always game to see a show I haven't seen, and one should always be willing to give composers the benefit of the doubt.  So off I went last Saturday to a matinee of Sunset Boulevard.

Here I have to make a further confession which is that not only is my view of Lloyd Webber in general jaundiced, but my view of Sunset Boulevard was somewhat prejudiced in advance by the cabaret duo of Kit and the Widow.  As aficionados will know one of their best numbers is a satire on Lloyd Webber entitled “You Too Can Write a Great West End Score, Steal it From Somebody Else” . This I have heard them introduce as follows - “We wanted to write a tribute song to the big tune in Sunset Boulevard, the trouble is we couldn't find one!”

Finally, in the manner of laying all my cards honestly on the table, I have to admit that I have never seen the film on which the musical is based.

Elevator Repair Service - The Sun Also Rises

For a theatre company, Elevator Repair Service, have a slightly random name.  Still, we here at where's Runnicles are all in favour of random names.  Continuing the Americana flavour of this year's festival, this New York based ensemble had brought their adaptation of Ernest Hemmingway's The Sun Also Rises.  Running just shy of four hours with one interval it was a long slog, but ultimately well worth it.

The Sun Also Rises, Elevator Repair Service. (Photo: Mark Barton)

The story is that of American expatriate Jake Barnes, who works as a newspaper man in Paris, and the community of Americans and Brits who form his social circle.  Well, I say works, but to be honest there's precious little evidence of that; indeed, at one nicely judged moment in his office, his typewriter rattles on even after he has stopped miming the key presses.

EIF 2010 - The Cleveland Orchestra (Part I)

Hot on the heels of two excellent nights with Oramo and his Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, two more with a legendary orchestra from another continent looked set to be the sort of embarrassment of riches that only a festival can deliver.

I first met the Clevelanders on their last visit to Edinburgh back in 2004, on that occasion for three consecutive nights.  It was an extraordinary experience: the discipline and precision of the ensemble made them a visual sight to watch unlike any I'd seen before or any I've seen since.  This was matched by the quality of their playing.

Their programme started with a notable visual, though it was notable for the fact that chairs were cleared into stacks around the stage and just six members of the orchestra, conductor Franz Welser-Möst and organist Joela Jones were present.  They delivered three pieces by Charles Ives.  The first of these, Variations on 'America', for solo organ, made for a wonderful start.  Sharing its theme with God Save the Queen, it proved highly enjoyable, laced with wit and playfulness.  I always tend to feel the anthem itself is a poor piece of music, good only as musical whitewash for getting rid of music stuck in your head, except when I hear the fun that can be had making variations out of it, such as with Beethoven's set.  And so with Ives as he treated it to such styles as music hall, fairground organ and a polonaise.  The final variation, with it's low counterpoint, marked "as fast as the peddles can go", was especially good and gave Jones a chance to show what she could do.  Even better, it was an opportunity to hear the Usher Hall organ in its full glory.

Oramo and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra PLAY Nielsen and Wagner

Right from the moment I opened the Edinburgh International Festival programme back in March, one of the things that had me most excited was the two concert visit of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of their chief conductor Sakari Oramo.  The team have a wonderful chemistry and provided electrifying evenings on both their previous visits, for Bruckner's 1st symphony in 2006 and a programme of Janáček and Sibelius in 2008.

This time round they presented something a little more challenging.  Well, I say challenging; in point of fact the programme was nothing of the sort, but Nielsen is, it seems, enough to send a large chunk Edinburgh's conservative audience running for the hills.  More fool them: the mix of Wagner and Nielsen was extremely effective and the latter absolutely electrifying.

The first programme was particularly interesting since it represented, a rarity this, one where every work on the programme was new to me (I'm not sure how Nielsen has managed to pass me by, indeed, two concerts later I'm utterly baffled - I knew of him of course, but had never really explored his work).  They opened with Nielsen's Helios overture.  Beginning with a beautifully soft cello chord, it gradually built up, first with the horns (albeit with the odd cracked note).  It grew and sparkled and shone through some superbly and wonderfully textured orchestral playing before fading away to those cellos and then silence again.

EIF 2010 - Opera de Lyon's Porgy and Bess

The Gershwins' lushly scored and accessible tale of love, poverty, prejudice and murder always seemed a fine fit for new worlds theme of this year's Edinburgh International Festival.  Personally, I know the music best from Gil Evans' superb arrangements for Miles Davis, which we will hear later in the festival from the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra.

The Gershwins’® Porgy and Bess.  (Photo: Stofleth)

Unfortunately, Opera de Lyon's production of the opera was something of a mixed bag.  On the plus side, the orchestra played their socks off under the baton of William Eddins and the score swung along nicely.  Too often when an opera company puts on works that have a lot in common with musical theatre the music can fall flat, but this did not happen.

The other highlight of the evening was Derrick Lawrence's superb Porgy which was powerful and well characterised and whose diction was superb, an achievement all the more impressive given he was singing from a seated position for the whole evening.

El Niño - The 2010 Edinburgh International Festival opening concert

As is his customer, Jonathan Mills took to the stage of the Usher Hall to introduce this year's festival, an innovation I rather like, and something you'd never have caught his predecessor Brian McMaster doing.  This year's theme is, of course, New Worlds, and in particular the Americas and Australasia; perhaps because of this, his focus seemed mainly on drama, dance and opera with the superb orchestral programme getting barely a mention.

To start the festival Mills had chosen very well indeed: John Adams' oratorio El Niño.  Knowing nothing about it, you could be forgiven for expecting a piece based on global weather systems, since that is where many will know the term from.  Actually, though, it's Spanish for "the boy", in this case Christ (the meteorological phenomenon shares the name as it usually manifests around Christmas).

Edinburgh International Festival 2010.  El Niño – Opening Concert: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / James Conlon – Conductor, Edinburgh Festival Chorus, National Youth Choir of Scotland, Jessica Rivera – Soprano, Kelley O’Connor – Mezzo soprano, Willard White – Baritone, Theatre of Voices.  (Photo: Peter Sandground)

Stylistically it is much as one would expect from Adams, with claustrophobic and often repetitive rhythms.  The results were compelling.  Time and again I heard shades of his Dr Atomic, especially the music in the lead up to the detonation of the first bomb.  Adams provided some great touches, such as the use of three countertenors together to voice the angels.  He had also chosen his settings well, mixing biblical texts with more modern pieces based on the bible.  Only the section concerning Joseph's reaction to who the father might be left me unconvinced, but then that aspect of the story never does.

Proms 2010 - Elder, the Halle and Lewis's 3rd Beethoven concerto

Note - this review is of the the concert broadcasts on Radio 3 and BBC 4.

Actually, it was the fourth concerto of Lewis's survey, but the third chronologically and the third concert.  Once again the partnership between conductor, soloist and orchestra seemed natural.  However, Elder's take on Beethoven was gentler than we've had from Bělohlávek and Nelsons and the result was quite a lyrical reading.  As ever, Lewis brought both wonderful clarity and poetry.  He also brought weight and intensity, especially at the outset of the first movement cadenza, but this didn't quite sit with the general tone of the reading.  Most successful was their sublime take on the slow movement, the orchestra's beautifully soft string playing fitting perfectly with Lewis's delicate touch; the movement's main climax was especially moving.  In the finale, as in the first movement, I think I would have preferred a conductor who revelled more in the surprises Beethoven's writing holds; Elder's accompaniment was a little straight laced for my taste, albeit very well played.  As a result, it slightly took the sheen off Lewis's immaculate playing.  It's interesting the way you can throw together a soloist, a conductor and orchestra each of whom you love, and yet somehow not be entirely satisfied.  Sadly the video director from the first concert seemed to be back on duty, intent on showing us Lewis's face far more than his fingers.  The first few concerts seem to have come in rapid succession and it's a bit of a wait now until the Emperor comes in September (when Deneve and the RSNO are on duty).

They had opened the programme with more John Foulds, a composer Donald Runnicles introduced me to on Tuesday, and another work that despite having been written decades ago was also getting its Proms premiere.  Again, it was slightly difficult to hear why.  Less overtly showy than the Dynamic Triptych, it nonetheless provided a nice curtain raiser, particularly due to the many opportunities it provided to show off the Halle's glorious string sound.  From a gentle and lyrical opening it built to a suitably grand finish.

Proms 2010 - There's Runnicles with Cargill, the BBC SSO and Mahler's third symphony

Note: this is a review based on the concert broadcasts via Radio 3 and BBC 4.

It's nearly five years since I last heard Donald Runnicles conduct Mahler's epic third symphony with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.  That was at an Edinburgh festival concert, only the second time I had heard him live, and an utterly magical experience it was too, not least for the astonishing balance he achieved with the posthorn solo in the third movement.

How, then, would he fare with near identical forces five years later, the major change being Karen Cargill, a singer with whom Runnicles has collaborated frequently and to great effect, taking the mezzo role Birgitta Svenden sang last time round.

Things started well, with the eight horns playing as one.  He found a nice darkness to begin with, which is good as the summer has to march in from somewhere, yet even later on as the summer began to intrude the darkness was still present.  Runnicles also kept a solid grip on the music, ensuring it remained compelling and didn't sprawl as this vast work, the longest Mahler wrote, all too easily can.  This was the case nowhere more so than when he slowed the orchestra to an absolute crawl about five minutes before the close of the first movement, ratcheting up the tension to almost unbearable levels.  Elsewhere it was a bubbling, seething and turbulent movement, calling to mind what makes his Atlanta Beethoven 9 so riveting.  There was some fine playing from the orchestra and Runnicles did well at bringing out the infinite variety of Mahler's orchestration, a fitting expression perhaps for a work so concerned with nature.  His trademark attention to detail was on display too: how much experimentation had gone into muffling the trumpets like that, with cloths draped over the bells, in the finale?  Credit too to the BBC's engineers who ensured it was well captured; a particularly nice balance was achieved with the percussion.

Proms 2010 - There's Runnicles, with Foulds, Vaughan Williams and Elgar

Note - this is a review of the concert as broadcast on Radio 3.

Time was, and it was only a couple of years ago, that it was a rare sight to catch Donald Runnicles performing in the UK.  So rare, in fact, that websites were given names playing upon the fact (okay, one website).  Now, some three and a half years later, here he is, conducting two Proms concerts on consecutive nights a few weeks before he is due to give another two completely different programmes at the Edinburgh international festival.  Such, indeed, is the embarrassment of riches, that for once your correspondent didn't feel the need to make a mad dash south to catch the Proms.  Having heard the first from a distance, I'm already slightly regretting that.

Joined by pianist Ashley Wass, Runnicles and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra opened the programme with a piece by unjustly little known composer John Foulds.  Or, to put it another way, with a piece, Dynamic Triptych, which despite being written more than 80 years ago, was receiving its Proms premiere.  Having heard it, it's difficult to understand why.  Wass's strong and glittering solo playing in the opening movement was matched perfectly by the orchestra, creating a rich and evocative sound world.  Perhaps most remarkable was the central movement, at times somewhat otherworldly as they produced some wonderful string sounds, sometimes seemingly in slow motion.  The piece had a sense of playfulness too, especially in the finale which built to a thrilling climax, nicely underscored by some great low brass sounds.  The piece hung together very well, having a strong narrative feel.  Would that we heard it in concert halls more often.

Foulds was followed by two pieces from Vaughan Williams, one either side of the interval.  I must confess that I'm not the greatest fan of the composer and in the wrong hands I find his music can be a little dull.  Not so with Runnicles and the BBCSSO playing the Serenade to Music.  Rich and shimmering textures from the orchestra were complimented by some fine singing provided by members of the RSAMD (another fruit of the collaboration between the two institutions).  Voices were balanced nicely and the result was captivating.  Together the provided both some fine climaxes and a nice fade away to silence at the end.

Proms 2010 - Sondheim at 80, or I am singing Sondheim but you are playing Mantovani

Note: This is a review of the concert via the BBC iplayer. BBC Engineers might do something about the fact that Part 1 breaks off with the opening bars of "A Weekend in the Country" which concludes in the Interval Feature.

Anniversaries have been a staple of Proms programming for some years so it was perhaps inevitable that Roger Wright's eye should alight on Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday year as a fitting moment to devote a whole Prom to his work. Such an enterprise however immediately presents a number of difficulties. Firstly, Sondheim's numbers are specifically not written to be performed out of context, and they almost inevitably lose something when so performed. Secondly, the danger of letting a symphony orchestra loose on musical theatre is that it will fail to grasp the idiom. This Prom just about got away on the first count, but was largely floored by the second.

The performance actually started remarkably well. The “Instructions to the Audience” from The Frogs are a bit cliched, but Simon Russell Beale is such a masterful deliverer of any line that he made me laugh heartily. Unfortunately it was largely downhill all the way from then on. The main reason for this was the partnership of David Charles Abell and the BBC Concert Orchestra. Having read Abell's biography in the on-line programme (one of the excellent things the Proms website provides – one rather wishes Radio 3 would do this year round for concerts) I find it difficult to work out why he'd been selected for the honour. He doesn't appear ever to have conducted a full-length Sondheim show – although he has one or two coming up. This inexperience shows. Sondheim's sound world is wistful, edgy, biting – you cannot simply have an orchestra luxuriating in its various solos. Abell's tempi where almost universally too slow (a common failing in this kind of performance – compare Simon Rattle's recording of Bernstein's Wonderful Town with the recent Broadway revival recording), and the violins in particular seemed to imagine they were performing lush Mantovani arrangements rather than bittersweet Sondheim. At times Abell was simply completely out of his depth, the unbelievable pause as he tried to get from Henrik's sermon-like solo in “A Weekend in the Country” back into the patter counterpoint being an especially glaring example of a gear change gone wrong. The performance of the starry line-up of soloists against this unhelpful accompaniment was variable. The standout, by a country mile, in the first half was Dame Judi Dench performing “Send in the Clowns”, here Abell and the orchestra wisely followed Dame Judi wherever she wished to go even seeming to realise that it was possible to play quietly. At the other end of the spectrum were two lousy performances from Julian Ovenden in Too Many Mornings and Agony. Ovenden fell down on two counts. First, despite so far as I can judge from his bio being British by birth he insisted (in contrast to just about everybody else involved) on putting on an American accent which just grated badly. Secondly, he achieved the remarkable feat of making “Agony” the fairy tale duet for the two love-sick princes hopelessly unfunny.