Reports Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 119, No. 1630 (Dec., 1978), pp. 1067-1071 Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/960750 Accessed: 04/06/2009 09:44

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http://www.jstor.org LIVERPOOL Among recent concerts,one of the most memorable restraint,and Lutyensis to be congratulatedon the was on a relativelymodest scale. The de PeyerTrio, warm receptionit deservedlyelicited. before a small but appreciativeaudience at Christ's Concision and restraintwere scarcelyamong the College, Woolton (May 12), gave appealing inter- attributes of Anthony Milner's Symphony no.2 pretationto trios by Beethoven(op.11) and Brahms op.35, for soprano and tenor soloists, boys' choir, (op. 114). But even these delights were surpassedby chorus and orchestra, commissioned by the BBC the good-humoured performance by Gervase de and presented by the RLPO under Meredith Peyerand WilliamPleeth of PhyllisTate's Sonata for Davies (July 13) as part of the LiverpoolFestival of clarinet and cello. The central work was Berg's Sacred Music. Its subject is peace and mankind's Piano Sonata op.1. Peter Wallfisch'splaying here need and searchfor it. The huge scale of the music was riveting; every subtlety of phrasingwas there, matches the momentousnessof this idea, but in the the music at one moment meditative,at the next full outcome the symphonytakes on too much and ends of ebullience and splendour. Concert-goers who up by achieving little. The three movements have eschew performancesoutside the city centre have cumbrous titles, and the choral and solo texts, only themselves to blame for missing this most though individuallyappropriate, are diminishedin enjoyable evening, for the concert was well publi- impact when juxtaposed, and the interest is not cized. sustained.The scoringis more or less traditionaland Nevertheless, there has been plenty to attract there is some superb choral writing reminiscentin people into the city, and the RLPO in particularhas places of Bax. The PhilharmonicChoir had a few been enterprising in this respect. Their recent awkward moments, particularlyin the enormous 'Composer in Person' series has done much to woolly fugal section, and were largely outshone by enhance the accessibilityof new works; it deserves the boys whose task was less arduous. Best of all, better status and publicityand a more appropriate despite having to fight to be heard, were John venue than the balconybar at openingtime. When a Elwes and Jane Manning-who, according to the new piece is to be performed,the public are invited programmenote, was performinga 'Bop. Solo'. to hear the composer give a short talk about it Another work with a traditional title under beforehand.Rather than the huff, puff and analysis individual interpretationwas Gerard Schurmann's from which one suspects many people are shying Violin Concerto for Ruggiero Ricci, given its first away, the talks have been more like amiable con- performanceby the RLPO under Walter Weller versationsfrom which much of interesthas emerged. (Sept 26). This delightfulconcerto brims over with Indeed, Elisabeth Lutyens (April 25) talked en- purposeful,rich melody. It deservesa virtuoso like gagingly about music in general,professing interest Ricci to perform it; the remarkablydifficult solo no longer in the work she had just completedfor the part sang and flowed with liquid ease. The cadenza, RLPO under Simon Rattle, but only in composi- not an empty ornamentbut a profoundsynthesis of tions currentlyin hand. Almost her sole commenton the precedingmovement, would almost stand as a the new piece, Rondel,was that 'it could be magic, it piece by itself. Just as remarkablewas the effective could be a deadly bore'. In the event, it was magic. use of single percussion and harp notes in soft The idea behind Rondel is simple; lightly-scored passages, and the prominent role given to the episodes for the orchestra are interspersed with orchestralstrings. The eveningended with a spirited refrains of three chords for which certain of the performance of Brahms's Symphony no.1, most richer, darker-huedinstruments are reserved. The notable for WalterWeller's determined dismissal of playing was excellent, and the urgent dynamismof the self-indulgentsluggishness sometimes apparent some verses contrastedeffectively with the serenity among string playerson reachingthe 'big tune'. of the refrain.The piece is a model of concision and JUDITH BLEZZARD

NORTH WALES The small cathedral of St Asaph with its unstuffy Stuart Burrowswho was at his most sensitive in a atmosphere and generous acoustics continues to Straussgroup, and his most eloquent and dramatic house this festival (although its name has broader in Hoddinott's song cycle Landscapes (Ynys M6n). implications), and as usual the varied fare drew A well-balancedand lively programmeof Haydn, large attendances to most of the ten concerts Tippett and Schumanngiven earlierin the week by (Sept 24-30). Two events were early sell-outs: the the Lindsay Quartet with Imogen Cooper should Friday morningappearance of Atarah'sBand which have drawn better support. delighteda capacity school crowd, and predictably, Some prominence was given to the concerto a fine recital the previous evening by the tenor principle in this seventh festival: at the central 1067 Wednesday evening concert George Malcolm harpist Elinor Bennett gave much pleasure in directed the Northern Sinfonia in all six Branden- another morning recital which included Ian Par- burgs, in a presentationwhere strict musicology (in rott's new suite Arfon, a colourful sound-picture terms of instrumentation,deployment of continuo reflecting the craggy and dramatic northern land- and handling of repeats) gave way gracefully to scape. Robin Orr's elegant and likable psalm other musical and aesthetic considerations; what settings Songs ofZion formedthe novelty in a rather might have been a glut of Baroque semiquavers over-eclecticconcert by the BBC Northern Singers became a real feast of Bachianvigour. In Monday's directed by Stephen Wilkinson. A beautiful sound opening concert given by the RLPO under Walter was maintained throughout a longish programme, Weller, Ruggiero Ricci gave an effectiveaccount of but the movement from Byrd through Malcolm the decorative patternsand wry lyricism of Proko- Williamson to Brahms posed stylistic problems: fiev's rarely heard Violin Concerto no.1. For me sensitive phrasing did not prevent the Liebeslieder however the highlight of the whole festival was waltzes from sounding rhythmically stiff and reached on the final Saturday evening with Sir unidiomatic. Clifford Curzon's memorably tender yet incisive The anniversariesof Arne and Schubert were playing of Mozart's last piano concerto, K595,in a noted during the week, the former in an engaging radiant performance well partnered by the BBC harpsichordrecital by George Malcolm, and the Welsh SO under Erich Bergel. latter principallyat the end of the festival with the Three new works (two by Welsh composers)were 'Great' C major Symphony. This was taken at a presented during the week, and Mathias's lately spanking pace by Bergel, curiously recalling premieredRequiescat also functionedas an overture Weller's urgent but effective reading of Brahms's in the last concert. This powerful orchestralelegy First on the opening night. The Schubert finale seems to herald a sea-change in the composer's however emerged as excitable rather than exciting, recent style. Huw Tregelles Williams in this year's losing much of its Olympiandignity. Neverthelessit organ recital capably maintained the very high is to the credit of the Welsh orchestrathat in res- standards previously set, and introduced Richard ponding to Bergel's relentlessdrive they closed the Elfyn Jones's Second Sonata, a substantial and week's music-makingin an impressivelyvirtuoso attractivework whose impactwas not diminishedin manner. the company of Franck, Messiaenand Durufle.The A. J. HEWARD REES

WEXFORD Czech domestic comedy, German verismo and artfully suggested the verandahof a large country Italian science fiction made up the programmefor house and still left room for the harvest dances this year'sfestival, the lastto be directedby Thomson arranged by Terry Gilbert. Smetana's score, as Smillie (Adrian Slack takes over next season). melodious as that of , was ,Smetana's fifth opera, was sung in conducted by Albert Rosen with the authority of a fluent translation by Leonard Hancock and by his deep understandingof Czech music. David Pountney, who also produced. He accen- Tiefland,Eugen d'Albert's setting of a German tuated the temperamental difference between libretto based on the play Terra baixa by the Karolina,who revels in the power and freedomthat Catalan dramatist Angel Guimera, lacks the widowhood has brought her, and her cousin concision that gives Puccini's operas their spell- Aneczka, who cannot shake off the influence of an binding power, though it has a strong if hardly unhappy marriage so easily. Elizabeth Gale's original plot-baritone villain foists discarded Karolina, catching a breakfast trout (cooked, mistress on naive tenor-and contains some apparently, by microwave oven), arranging her effective music, especially in the second act. Roger cousin's future as efficientlyas she runs her estate, Butlin's set provided a realistic mill interior while pulsed with a vitality reflected in her confident pointing the symbolism of mountain purity as singing. Felicity Palmer'sAneczka, her emotions at opposed to lowlandcorruption with a toweringpeak first as severely controlled as her body in its tight resembling the Matterhorn. Julian Hope's pro- black dress, gave thrilling vocal expression to the duction also gave a convincingly lifelike back- young woman's acceptance of love when finally ground to the highly charged atmosphere of the she drops her self-imposedreserve. Robert White, central intrigue. Mani Mekler sang and acted the though he sang agreeably enough as Ladislav, unfortunate Marta with admirable intensity; her Aneczka's tenor suitor, did not carry the dramatic keenly focussed voice cut through the orchestral weight to withstandsuch a torrentof feeling; he was texture effortlessly, though her words were not happiest in the guise of deliberatelyincompetent always clear. Jon Andrew, taking on the role at poacher adopted to gain entry into the household. short notice, made a crediblefigure of the innocent Joseph Rouleau, released from the bass's usual Pedro; his singing, full-toned but variablein pitch, tragic role, made a boisterouslycomic Mumlal, the improvedgreatly in the second act. Malcolm Don- gamekeeperwho is even more ineffectualthan the nelly's powerfulSebastiano also carriedconviction, pseudo-poacher. Dinah Harris and Bonaventura while the fight betweenthe two men was excitingly Bottone, a charming pair of amorous servants, staged. Dinah Harris(Nuri), Pat Sheridan(Moruc- adorned Sue Blane's spacious garden set, which cio) and Alvaro Malta (Tommaso) all sang well, 1069 while the chorus was in excellent collective voice. some unsparkling vocal performances. Three Henri Gallois, conducting the versatile RTE SO, things, however, gave unalloyed pleasure: Ugo made a persuasive advocate for the opera, as Benelli'sebullient and expressivecharacterization of undervaluednow as it was formerlyoverpraised. the mock astrologer Ecclitico; Denis O'Neill's II mondo della luna, despite a libretto by Goldoni, elegant singing as Cecco; and Courtney Kenny's is not one of Haydn's most dramatictheatre pieces, harpsichordcontinuo, as vivid in the Irish national and Adrian Slack's deft productioncould not quite anthem as in the opera. Mention must be made, counteract the effect of a set too heavy for the too, of BenjaminLuxon's masterly interpretations Theatre Royal's small stage; nor could James of two Schubert song cycles, Die schone Miillerin Judd's stylish conducting quite compensate for and Winterreise. ELIZABETH FORBES

ATHENS Each year Athens has a summerarts festival in the Bergianovertones and yet originalin its use of new Herodus Atticus open-airtheatre at the foot of the orchestraltechniques. Anestis Logothetis,who lives Acropolis. As an appendix to this, the Hellenic in , works with graphic notations; his Association for Contemporary Music organized, Dynapolis, which must be strictly interpretedand with the National Tourist Organization, four timed by the conductor, had some interesting or- concerts of contemporarymusic in the Lycabettus chestral textures and structures. Other Greek open-airtheatre. Last year Greekmusicians joined a composers represented were Yannis A. Pappaio- live electronicsgroup from Dusseldorf;this year the annou, by his Violin Concerto, and Yannis Ioan- group was the Orchestre Philharmonique de nidis, by MetaplasisA. Both showeda preoccupation Lorraine, under its founder Michel Tabachnik. with sonorities related to the developments of Each programmepresented two new Greek works composers such as Xenakis with 'densities' or along with a 20th-century classic. The Greek 'clouds' of sound, yet both-the concerto within a premiere of Xenakis's Erikhthonwas one of the classical framework-maintained some measure of highlights,with an exhilaratingperformance of the identity. Two works by younger Greeks were solo piano part by ClaudeHelffer. Other composers performed; a one-movement symphony by Alkis representedwere Skalkottas, Christou and Logo- Panagiotopoulos, showing the influence of his thetis. The premiereof Skalkottas'sPiano Concerto Greek teachers, and Affrontement by George no.1 (1931) is one of a continuingseries of belated Couroupos,in which varioustypes of confrontation, discoveries,showing clearly relations to his teacher betweenthe groups of soloists, betweensoloists and Schoenberg;his more visionarymusic was to emerge orchestra, and between players and prerecorded in the isolation of his last years. Jani Christou, a tape, were exploited. Tadeusz Baird's Elegy was philosophystudent of Wittgensteinin Cambridgein included as part of an ISCM scheme in one pro- the 1940s, was representedby the premiereof the gramme, illustrating, perhaps quite by accident, orchestral version of his Six Songs on Poems by similarities of Polish and Greek approaches to T.S. Eliot (1955-7), a very fine song cycle with orchestralsonorities. SIMON EMMERSON

BRNO Is the 50th anniversaryof a composer'sdeath more pacing, its undercharacterizedroles, but mostly its significantthan the 125th anniversaryof his birth? failureto sound like 'real'Janacek. In its favourwas Brno seems to think so, for while 1978 (50 years a certainconsistency and dignity,emphasized by the since Janacek died) saw a two-week international stark production from Ostrava, in an unlikely festival (Sept 29-Oct 13), which included all Jana- coupling with Janacek'sfolk ballet Rdkos Rakoczy. cek's operas and a conferencedevoted to the com- Fate, on the other hand suffered from an over- poser, all that is scheduledfor 1979 (when Janacek lively production by the &esk6Budejovice theatre, would have been 125) is a shortenedre-run without which put Zivny into a preposterousgrey wig to the conference and without the three immature representJanacek (notebook in hand, taking down operas. Frankly, it might be better that way. This speech melodies). It also populated the composer's year'sconference, for instance,was fine for devotees study with ballet dancers, who flitted round the of semantic analysis and Marxist aesthetics, frus- piano in the Act 2 preludeand reappeared,together tratingfor those who came to hear new facts about with furthergratuitous appearances of the shades of Janacekand stimulatingdiscussion. Zivny's wife and mother-in-law,in his final mono- Discussion was in fact rather more lively among logue. Fate would no doubt benefit from the the theatreaudiences, deciding which was Janacek's disappearanceof the wig, the dancersand the ghosts, second least stageworthy opera (there was no but this still leavesa work that is musicallyuneven- difficultyallocating the final position to The Begin- the finest is as good as anything in Jandaek-and ning of a Romance).Detractors of Sdrka,Janacek's dramaticallyimmature. first opera, pointed to its remote and unappealing The rest of the festival aroused less controversy. subject matter, its uncertainmusical and dramatic Prague brought over its recent Cunning Little 1070 Vixen, with forests in which the trees have been Augustinianmonastery church where Janacek sang replacedby furry green boulders. brought and conducted in his youth, of the many early its once-celebratedMakropulos Case, now five years sacred pieces. At least the next phase of his life was old and as weary as its ancient heroine; the local better represented with an agreeable evening of Brno production was altogether better. The four folklorewith folk singersand ensemblesgiving some remaining operas were all current Brno repertory rough-grainedversions of Janacek'sfolk pieces set pieces: Jenufa; a newish Brou&ekwith much noisy among the music that inspiredthem. gadgetrydesigned to exploit the generous resources In additionto a new large-scaleJanacek exhibition of the Janraek Theatrein Brno; From the House of organized by Theodora Strakova, the recently- the Dead, which gave, for the first time in Janacek's retiredhead of the JanacekCollections in Brno, the home town, the original score (very differentfrom little Janacek house has been expensivelyregutted. the London version of the originalscore), and made The study is more or less intact (though Janacek's the central act as bleak as its surroundingacts. The characteristiccollage of paintings and trophies has final Brno offering was Kdt'a Kabanovd,which, given way to a more sober selection)but the rest of apart from the inadequateAmerican guest artist in the house has been turned into a soft-carpeted, the centralrole, was as stronglycast and sung as any soft-musicked Janacek,but somehow emasculated we saw, with a particularlyfine Boris from Pribyl. -exhibition. The adjacent garden, from all con- The festival heard a lot of Pribyl: in Amarus(in a temporaryphotographs wooded and overgrown,is superb concert by the Czech Philharmonicunder now a public-parkcircular lawn with neat washed Neumann), in the Glagolitic Mass, and in The pebbles round the side. JOHN TYRRELL Diary of a YoungMan (with Soukupova), coupled with Suk playing the violin sonata. The festival did its best to do justice to Jandaek's extensivechoral oeuvre.If some of the performances 1st International Fritz Kreisler Contest, Vienna, Sept 10-19: seemed somewhatossified most of the choirs were age limit 31; prizes totalling 225,000 AS; entries by June 30. Details from the A-1034 Vienna. those for whom Janacek originally wrote these Secretary, Rabengasse 3, choruses-then it was all the greater pleasure to Shell-LSO Music Scholarships: for trumpeters, trombonists, tuba players; age limit 14-21; entries by Dec 8. Details from the hear how electrifying the Bezruc choruses could Administrator, Shell-LSO Music Scholarships, Regent Arcade sound in the hands of an energeticyoung conductor House, 19/25 Argyll Street, London W1. like Lubomir Matl. We heard many of the secular Bushey Symphony Orchestra Music Competition: work of choruses, but sadly no-one had the imaginationor 10-15 minutes' duration for community orchestra; prizes totalling ?250; entries by Feb 28. Details from G. D. Peacock, the courage to mount a concert, for instancein the 160 Merryhill Road, Bushey, Herts.

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