CityLife

James Galway and Michael McHale: Various Composers

Sir James Galway
Bridgewater Hall
May 12, 2010

What a charmer Sir James Galway is. What began as a fairly formal recital ended with him greeting an audience member with a rendition of Happy Birthday, and then inviting us to pray for a sick friend while he played Danny Boy.

His whimsical introductions carry his audience along so that it all seems like a family party in the back parlour more than a concert. He’d brought his wife along, of course (Lady Jeanne), and the accompanist was young fellow-Ulsterman Michael McHale.

And the opening solo was by that great Ulsterman (and former Hallé Orchestra conductor) Hamilton Harty. His romantic and showy In Ireland set the tone for all that was to follow.

Flautist versions of Debussy’s The Girl With The Flaxen Hair and En Bateau followed – showing how Galway can sustain a line, produce a kaleidoscope of tone colours in a single phrase and hold an audience rapt with a single note. There’s just the odd hiccup in his breath control now, but it hardly matters.

He wanted to get the bulk of the tricky stuff over in the first half (and leave room for a few surprises later) so Morlacchi’s The Swiss Shepherd (with its yodelling variations) and Taffanel’s Grande Fantaisie Sur Mignon both came before the interval, with spectacular effect. So far so brilliant – and no sign of Lady Jeanne.

I should add that Michael McHale’s conduct as accompanist was of the highest order: sensitive, never self-assertive but acutely timed, he was an exceptional partner.

A couple more 19th century display pieces, and at last Lady Jeanne appeared to play in duet with her husband, in K and F Doppler’s Rigoletto Fantasy. They work together well, do the Galways, and I was glad they smuggled an extra into the programme (a two-flute version of Mozart’s Rondo Alla Turca). They could have added more together.

But there was still another solo firework display – Borne’s Fantaisie Brillante Sur Carmen – before the encores. Now it really was time for party pieces: Saint-Saëns’ The Swan (preceded by Happy Birthday in the same style), Danny Boy and finally The Flight Of The Bumble Bee. The audience went home happy, Sir James sold a good few CDs, and Michael McHale … he just went on smiling and playing perfectly in that modest and musical way of his.