'Wagner's Dream' - the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra on great form, with Geoffrey Paterson conducting

Lotte Betts-Dean
© Ben Ealovega

Lotte Betts-Dean (Mezzo-soprano)

Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra

Geoffrey Paterson (Conductor)

Joanna MacGregor (Music Director)

 

7.30pm, Saturday 27 January 2024

Dome Concert Hall, Brighton

 

★★★★

 

Györgi Ligeti (1923-2006): Atmosphères

Luciano Berio (1925-2003):  Folk Songs

Richard Wagner (1813-1883): The Ring: An Orchestral Adventure

arranged by Henk de Vlieger (b.1953)

 

Geoffrey Paterson

The Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra were back at the Dome in their relatively new Saturday night slot, and whilst the concert hall wasn’t completely full, they had a good audience for one of their most ambitious programmes in recent years. The main draw for most will have bee Henk de Vlieger’s crazy arrangement of Wagner’s Ring Cycle (yes, all four operas, around 15 hours of music) into one orchestral concert work, coming in at around an hour and ten minutes. But more of that later.  

In the understandably short first half, the BPO gave us two challenging and highly contrasting twentieth century works, and there was no sense of these being there purely as filler. Ligeti’s Atmosphères may be known to some from its appearance in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, where it provides an other-worldly sense of suspension in time and space. Consisting of dense cluster chords of up to fifty or more pitches at once, these ‘sound masses’ create that sense of suspension, and what movement there is, is almost indiscernible within the density of textures, with the dynamic only rising above quiet on a couple of occasions. Conductor Geoffrey Paterson took the BPO through this with taut control, and by and large, they successfully achieved the desired effect. There were shimmering, strange oscillations and glassy strings, with the woodwind leading one of the crescendi up to four strikingly shrill piccolos. Towards the end two percussionists sweep and stroke the strings inside the piano, adding to the ethereal effect, as well as providing a little extra on-stage interest.

 

Lotte Betts-Dean,
Geoffrey Paterson & the BPO
© Nick Boston

This was followed by Luciano Berio’s Folk Songs, a set of eleven songs, drawn from eight different countries or regions, in as many different languages, written for and dedicated to his muse and wife at the time, Cathy Berberian. The BPO were joined tonight by the Australian mezzo-soprano, Lotte Betts-Dean, who gave us an incredibly assured and engaging performance. I have to confess, you’ll be surprised to hear, to having little Armenian, Sicilian or Genoese dialect, or Azerbaijani, Sardinian or Occitan for that matter, but none of these linguistic challenges appeared to phase Betts-Dean, and in every song, there was a clear sense of communication and variety of tone. Her range is impressive, from the gracefully held higher notes in Loosin yelav right down to the almost bluesy, yearning low notes of A la femminisca. And she also demonstrated nimble virtuosity in the La la las of Ballo, as well fluid expression over the droning cellos in Lo fiolaire. Paterson and the BPO enjoyed the lighter textures, from just two violas and harp at the start of Black is the Colour, to the orchestral woodwind and trumpet colours in the gently lilting La donna ideale. Only in a couple of places did Paterson allow the orchestra to get a little too loud, risking overpowering Betts-Dean, particularly in her lower range. But overall, this was a characterful performance from all of this delightful and engaging set of songs.

 

And so to Wagner. Despite the risk of being dismissed as a bit of a ‘greatest hits’ compilation, Henk de Vlieger’s arrangement nevertheless manages to include most of the major musical themes and motifs, with some vocal lines covered instrumentally, obviously, but also keeps much of the orchestral textures preserved, meaning that overall, this does actually work as a stand-alone orchestral piece. Here, programme notes taking us through the synopsis of the four operas, distilled by de Vlieger into fourteen sections, were supplemented by somewhat sketchy surtitles. The orchestra may well have been the largest iteration of BPO, certainly that I’ve ever seen, with a mammoth brass section including eight horns (four of whom doubled on Wagner tubas) – oh, and of course, the anvils. Paterson steered them through the adventure with remarkable energy and drive – this is definitely a feat of stamina, and to their credit, they kept the energy levels high right through. The frolicking Rhinemaidens were joyous, and the flowing Rhine itself from the strings had suitably swirling, watery atmosphere. On the whole, the brass delivered, particularly glorious when evoking the World’s Light appearing as Siegfried wakes Brünnhilde with a kiss, and Siegfried’s subsequent riding away on her steed. Inevitably with so much reliance on the brass, there were some lapses in precision later on, but overall, the excitement and commitment made up for the occasional lack of shine and finesse. The BPO woodwinds continue to show their proficiency, with some particularly evocative birds in the forest, and desperate cries at the death of Siegfried, whilst the string sound was rich and ensemble tight throughout. Hagen’s stabs that kill Siegfried could have had a little more strength and violence, but the final climactic fire of Valhalla, followed by the majestic overpowering by the Rhine brought things to a suitably exhilarating conclusion. Hats off to all concerned for an impressively dramatic performance – an orchestral adventure it certainly was!

Geoffrey Paterson & the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra
© Nick Boston