CityLife

Halle: Classical Extravaganza

YES, the nights are drawing in again and it’s time for the Hallé Proms. The first was on Saturday, with John Wilson conducting and introducing, both of which he does very well.

No white tuxedos for the musicians this time (they used to be obligatory), but piano soloist Leon McCawley had brought his and wore it anyway.

It was one of the best houses I’ve seen at the Bridgewater Hall for some time and shows that a well selected mainstream classical music programme can still pull people in without any gimmicks.

John Wilson began with the overture to The Merry Wives Of Windsor by Nicolai: neat articulation from the strings (with Lyn Fletcher leading) and woodwind, skilfully built climaxes and lively pacing were ideal for it. And there was rich violin tone to be heard in Grieg’s Notturno.

The piano solo was for Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini, and masterly, too.

Conductor and soloist took it very straight, with no attempt to disguise its variation form, and vivid contrasts between the upbeat and gentler sections. The famous 18th variation, well prepared for and movingly sustained, was sweetly lyrical without sentimentality.

The second half ranged from the bright and brassy in Walton’s Orb And Sceptre coronation march from 1953 (John Wilson handled this better than many, keeping its grandiloquence well proportioned and its middle tune noble), through Tchaikovsky and Sibelius to Bach.

The Swan Lake suite had all the advantages of dance music without dancers: in particular the act two love scene where Lyn Fletcher and Nicholas Trygstad played the solos adroitly and the general pacing was much faster than you could ever fit around the choreography.

Valse Triste (Sibelius) worked its eery magic, and then there was something of a curiosity – Stokowski’s orchestral version of Bach’s Toccata And Fugue In D Minor, as heard in the film, Fantasia. It was well done, but I must admit that for sheer over-the-top cheek I like Stanislaw’s Skrowaczewski’s transcription even more.

More Hallé Proms follow on the next three Saturdays at the Bridgewater Hall.

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