CityLife

BBC Philharmonic @ Bridgewater Hall

Gianandrea Noseda

IT sounded 10 times better than in the Royal Albert Hall. Just two weeks ago, Gianandrea Noseda and the BBC Philharmonic, with the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, brought the serious part of the BBC Proms to a close with Beethoven’s ninth symphony.

On Friday they were live on radio with it again, this time in a concert from the Bridgewater Hall. And, having been present both down there and up here, I can say the second performance was a deeply stirring and moving experience.

The London one may have come over well in broadcast, but inside the Royal Albert Hall the acoustics muddied the orchestral sound and made Noseda’s urgent speeds in the first two movements sound rushed.

In Manchester they were highly effective, and carried the authentic rhythmic power which is so essential to Beethoven’s writing. The Philharmonic were agile and athletic, and Noseda’s swaying, sometimes almost jogging figure on the rostrum gave the music exhilarating impetus.

For the slow movement he drew out clarity of line and beauty of tone, with the melodic inflexion that seems to come naturally to those reared in Italian traditions, and balanced the texture with extraordinary skill.

Transcendental

The final movement was a seriously transcendental experience. The gentleness, subtlety and polyphonic blend of the great theme tune at its first appearance were awesome. The ‘Turkish’ music became an anthem for all mankind, with which you longed to join and march along. I doubt if ever this movement has ever come closer to storming the gates of heaven.

The soloists were Hillevi Martinpelto, Jane Irwin, Paul Nilon and Iain Paterson, all worthy of it (the men’s contribution I found particularly powerful), and the CBSC were aided by members of Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus.

The first part of the concert, the opening of the BBC Philharmonic’s Bridgewater Hall series, was devoted to Berio’s Formazioni. It’s a clever experiment in spatial sound relationships, with the wind section of the large orchestra split and arranged in groups around the stage.

In the Bridgewater Hall the wrap-around resonance took away most of the sense of position, but there was that impression of richness which comes from the mix of multiple sound sources in one space and the physical spreading of high pitches and overtones which organ builders have long been aware of.

As music, I felt it belonged to that class of works which would have been better shorter.

What did you think? Have your say.