UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN CONCERT SERIES 2019 -2O20

OPENING CONCERT

PETER McNEILL: French Horn ELLEN McNEILL: Soprano ALEXANDRA WEBBER GARCIA: Violin JEREMY COLEMAN: Piano

KING’S COLLEGE CHAPEL Thursday 19th September, 2019

In my sixth year at school, in the French class, we studied a poem by Alfred De Vigny entitled Le Cor – The Horn. The opening line read: “J’aime le son du cor, le soir, au fond des bois”. I have always remembered that line which suggests the evocative misty reverberant sound of which the French horn is capable. The second piece in the concert ‘Waldvöglein’ by Franz Paul Lachner deals with woodland but even in the first movement of the opening work, ‘Horn Sonata in F major, op. 17’ by Beethoven with its sense of echo, its leaps, its variety in dynamics and with wonderfully expressive playing over the full range of the horn, De Vigny’s romantic and atmospheric description of the horn sound came to mind. Beneath it though, Jeremy Coleman’s dazzlingly virtuosic piano playing lit up Beethoven’s music to perfection. In the comparatively short slow second movement, the horn was gentle and beautifully smooth. Peter McNeill made his horn part flow so freely. Then the ‘song and dance’ music of the finale delivered moments of electrifying energy from both horn and piano. Horn and piano were joined by Peter’s sister Ellen a delightfully clear sounding soprano in ‘Waldvöglein’ by Lachner described as ‘the most successful composer of the Schubert circle’. Ellen has a delightfully silver-toned soprano voice. She would be perfect in the role of the young virginal Sophie von Faninal in Richard Strauss’s opera ‘Der Rosenkavalier’. Lachner’s song with words by Johann Nepomuk Vogl (a market square in Vienna is named after him), describes how the little forest bird has such a good life in the woods where its nest of leaves is as soft as moss and provides a lovely home whether in sunshine or in storm. Ellen’s singing was charming while piano and horn painted a fine atmospheric forest background. In an Aria from Mozart’s opera ‘Mitridate’ Peter changed to the natural horn which required stopping the bell in various ways to provide notes which on the modern horn would be accessed by means of keys. The natural horn has no keys and I was interested to hear how changes in pitch also produced changes in tone. This was quite new to me. Judith Weir’s very short and amusing song for horn and soprano is a setting of words by Laurence Ferlinghetti who if he is still alive is over 100 years old. ‘Don’t Let that Horse eat that violin’ is based on a picture by Chagall. It was a joyful fun piece and our performers delivered it at full value. ‘Appel Interstellaire’ by Olivier Messiaen for solo unaccompanied horn explored so many varied sounds of which the instrument is capable – dynamics from pianissimo to fortissimo, tonal quality from clear and golden to sharp and edgy, differences in attack, distance or up close and at one point even chording produced by vocalisation while blowing the horn. This was a fine performance of a proudly modern brass showpiece. The concluding performance was of two movements, the third and fourth, Adagio and Allegro con brio from ‘Horn Trio, op. 40’ by Brahms. In this very attractive work, horn and piano were joined by violin played masterfully by Alexandra Webber Garcia. The three instruments were beautifully intertwined in the slow movement. Best of all however was the Allegro in which all three performers played perfectly together. They made Brahms’s lively dancing melody go lolloping forward in the most delightful way. Dr Jeremy Coleman is currently a Teaching Fellow in Music at the University of Aberdeen. Peter, and Alexandra are from The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow. It was great to have them here in Aberdeen.