CityLife

Manchester Camerata @ Bridgewater Hall

Douglas Boyd

BEETHOVEN from Manchester Camerata is very different from Beethoven played by a big symphony orchestra – but utterly compelling.

Douglas Boyd produced an ‘Eroica’ symphony (No. 3) at the Bridgewater Hall that was a near-revelation.

It’s not an ‘authentic’ performance that he goes for, but simply the clean lines and transparency that result from moderately sized string numbers.

The body that was heard on Saturday was still twice as large as the strings Beethoven had for the work’s premiere – but then wind instruments have changed since his time, too, and the balance Boyd achieved was probably about as good as it gets, given the use of a present-day orchestra.

Device

He had everyone standing to play, too (as far as possible), a device which it seems to me has more of a psychological effect than a sonic one. Perhaps it inspires the band to give of their best so they don’t have to spend too much more time on their feet in the patching session for the CD afterwards.

But the gains in the alacrity of the violin figuration and chiffy wind sound in the first movement, and in the richness of the horns’ contribution in the second, along with clarity and rhythmic life throughout, are immense.

Flexibility

Boyd drove the music pretty hard in the faster movements, but still allowed space for flexibility of phrasing and points of emphasis which gave distinction to the performance, and, though I feared for a plodding funeral march at first, in fact the Camerata gave him a wonderful climax later in the movement and there was a sense of genuine pathos at the end. Heroic indeed.

The first half brought Gordan Nikolitch, the Camerata’s principal guest director, in the role of soloist, in Brahms’s violin concerto.

This may not be his instinctive home territory, but he made glorious sound in the slow movement, and the change of orchestral tone from the baroque and classical sound we had just heard at the opening of the concert to darkly burnished colours was remarkable.

The baroque element – Purcell’s Fantasia no. 9 – and the classical – Haydn’s overture to Il Mondo Della Luna – were thoughtful and lively (respectively) explorations of lesser-visited territory and a good example of how to widen audience horizons painlessly.

What did you think? Have your say.