United Kingdom Berlioz, Block, Sibelius: Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello), Philharmonia Orchestra / Jukka-Pekka Saraste (conductor). Royal Festival Hall, London, 26.2.2023. (JR)
Berlioz – Excerpts from Roméo et Juliette
Bloch – Schelomo – Hebraic Rhapsody
Sibelius– Symphony No.1, Op.39
A packed Royal Festival Hall was testomony to the pulling energy of an look by Philharmonia ‘Featured Artist’ Sheku Kanneh-Mason, fairly than – I think – the considered an exhilarating Sibelius symphony carried out by a local Finn. A lot of seats had been vacated on the interval to inform me my suspicion was well-founded. Be that as it might, the Philharmonia Marketing Department received it completely proper by scheduling this live performance for mid-afternoon, so there have been loads of younger faces within the viewers – and the same old multitude of senior residents too.
We started with Berlioz, however not his common show of visceral thrills. In its unabridged kind, his Roméo et Juliette is a large-scale choral work, full with soloists. Saraste introduced us with 5 orchestral excerpts, which had been, for essentially the most half, light – the opening Scène d’amour (Love scene) went past that and was suitably ardent. Audible was the artistry of Principal Flute Samuel Coles. Saraste stored the strings flowing mellifluously all through. Sadly, it was all fairly too soporific, maybe we had been all nonetheless digesting our lunch or lacking our afternoon nap. Some too had been anticipating Tchaikovsky’s luxurious and thrilling ballet music, I suppose. Even a rumbustious ending to the Berlioz failed to avoid wasting the day for these considerably lacklustre excerpts.
Sheku then appeared to shrieks of adulation from the again of the corridor. Ernest Bloch, a Swiss Jewish composer who emigrated from Geneva to New York in 1916, wrote his Schelomo (Hebrew for Solomon) in the identical yr and added to the title ‘A Hebraic Rhapsody’. It is a twenty-minute work for cello and orchestra. The cello represents King Solomon, who could have been rich and clever, but additionally, beset by a number of enemies, clearly depressing regardless of allegedly having 700 wives and 300 concubines; the cello writing is baleful all through, celeste and percussion together with tam-tam, tambourine and cymbals including greater than a contact of orientalism. Authentic materials by Bloch is difficult to discern; Bloch took many melodies straight from the cantor and the synagogue. The piece doesn’t keep within the reminiscence. Kanneh-Mason impressed nonetheless along with his approach (some superb left-hand pluck-pizzicato particularly) and his seen efforts to place coronary heart and soul into his efficiency. Kanneh-Mason made his 1700 instrument sing, each within the tender and rugged passages.
The meat of the live performance was offered by Sibelius’s First Symphony. Jukka-Pekka Saraste was final yr named as Chief Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra: he skilled on the Sibelius Academy within the Finnish capital. Conducting and not using a rating (no shock), this was textbook Sibelius – all of a sudden the orchestra seemed and sounded engaged. Principal clarinet Mark van de Wiel (but once more) took the woodwind honours, although harp and tuba caught the ear. The gradual motion benefited from delicate, dancing strings, particularly the chief of the second violins. Saraste took a light-weight, jovial view of the often extra militaristic Scherzo. Throughout he eschewed quantity for the sake of it, till the final, thrilling climax of the Finale.
There was extra to come back. Immediately after the live performance, seven members of the Philharmonia’s superb cello part let their hair down, joined by Sheku Kanneh-Mason for a full of life rendition of Heitor Villas-Lobos’s Bachianas Brasileiras (Suite No.1), a frenetic fusion of Brazilian folks and pop music within the fashion of J.S. Bach. The work is scored for an orchestra of cellos and devoted to Pablo Casals. Principal cellist Karen Stephenson joined Sheku on the entrance and had been a pleasure to observe and listen to. Hundreds packed into the Charles Clore Ballroom beneath the auditorium and got an actual musical deal with.
John Rhodes