The Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra strings excel, with expressive Britten from Padmore & Watkins, and exciting MacMillan from MacGregor

Joanna MacGregor & the BPO strings
© Frances Marshall

Mark Padmore (tenor)

Alexei Watkins (horn)

Joanna MacGregor (piano/conductor)

Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra

Ruth Rogers (leader)

7.30pm, Saturday 8 November 2025

Corn Exchange, Brighton

★★★★

Ruth Rogers leading the BPO strings
© Frances Marshall

Britten, Benjamin (1913-1976): Young Apollo, Op. 16

Purcell, Henry (1659-1695): Chacony in G minor Z.730, (arr. Britten, Benjamin)

Britten, Benjamin: Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, Op. 31

Dowland, John (1563-1626): Mr Dowland's Midnight (arr. MacGregor, Joanna (b.1959))

MacMillan, James (b.1959): Piano Concerto No. 2

The Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra continued their successful season with a programme that allowed their string section to shine, and shine they did. With some of the richest string playing I’ve heard from them, they relished the warm Corn Exchange acoustic, and also showed their tight ensemble in some of the more complex rhythmic music this evening. And what a great programme, with the music of three English composers – Britten, Purcell and Downland – joining the great Scottish composer, James MacMillan.

 

So they began with Britten’s Young Apollo, with Music Director Joanna MacGregor at the keyboard. It’s a vibrant, energetic piece, composed in 1939 when the 26-year-old Britten was in New York, yet he withdrew it soon after its premiere, without saying why, and it wasn’t performed again until 1979, after his death. It’s hard to know why, as its bright, radiant energy certainly captures images of ‘the new dazzling Sun-god’, as Britten described Apollo, inspired by Keats’ Hyperion. MacGregor launched in with an incisive start, and the glassy string slides and scales against the virtuosic piano scales were full of vitality. The vibrant solo string quartet contrasted well with the full, luscious string sound, and the ensemble of the accelerating chords at the finish was spot on. 

 

Mark Padmore, Alexei Watkins and the BPO
© Frances Marshal

Next up the strings were left to their own devices, with leader Ruth Rogers directing from the front desk in Britten’s arrangement of Purcell’s Chacony. Here their lush sound came to the fore, but also their ability to keep their precision alive when playing quietly. Just when the repeated variations that form the chaconne felt like they were becoming borderline aggressive, they dropped back to produce a more sensitive, quieter sound, and the slowing up of the quiet ending was well timed.

 

They were then joined by their Principal Horn player, Alexei Watkins and tenor Mark Padmore for Britten’s masterpiece, the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings. A cycle of eight short songs setting varied texts including Tennyson, Blake and Keats, it is bookended by a Prologue and Epilogue for the solo horn. Watkins’ opening Prologue, which exploits hand-stopping to produce natural, other-worldly harmonics, was secure and controlled, with an earthy rasp to the sound in places, and the off-stage Epilogue at the end was atmospherically eery. Padmore’s expressive communication of the texts was faultless, so no need to consult the texts in the programme here. His tone was equally expressive, with moments of tender fragility , such as in Pastoral, as well as evocative word-painting, as in Nocturne’s repeated ‘dying’, and the playfully decorative ‘excellently’ in Hymn to Diana. Occasionally, expressive projection was favoured over centring of intonation, such as on the repeated ‘lulling’ or at the highest end of the range, but communication of the dark moods and evocative texts had undeniable clarity throughout. Watkins’ fanfares in Nocturne, and shifts in and out of mute in the mournful Elegy were impressive, and he demonstrated considerable power in Dirge. MacGregor directed the strings with clarity and energy, with a gleaming, glassy sound in Nocturne, and strong articulation in Dirge. 

 

Joanna MacGregor’s arrangements of three short Dowland pieces provided a delightful opening to the concert’s second half, with solo violins and viola joining the double bass and cello pizzicato line in Forlorn Hope Fancy, soon to be joined by running lines from the piano, the arrangement cleverly building to a richly textured conclusion. In Mr Dowland’s Midnight, MacGregor uses the pizzicato double basses again, this time layered with jazzy piano chords and then string surges. A muted quartet of two cellos, viola and violin features, with noodling from the piano on top. The final Can She Excuse for strings alone provided a lively rhythmic contrast to end the set. 

 

Joanna MacGregor (snare drum and piano)
© Frances Marshall

James McMillan’s Piano Concerto No. 2, which ended the evening’s concert, was a revelation to me, an exciting piece full of humour and playfulness but also complexity and diversity of moods. There’s the McMillan trademark use of Scottish tunes, and the Ceilidh that always seems to go off the rails. When MacGregor has conducted the full orchestra from the piano in the past, it hasn’t always proved totally successful, particularly in larger scale concerto works. However, here, the smaller forces of just strings needed less controlling, especially with Rogers’ strong leadership. Joanna still managed some left hand conducting whilst playing the solo part in the right hand, however, and everything felt extremely tight and energetic throughout. The opening movement, Cumnock Fair, is full of cartoon-like, playful renditions of various 18^th century tunes, and there is plenty of opportunity for the strings to have fun. At one point, the violins’ drunken melody gets louder and slightly out of hand, and the BPO violins judged and controlled this well. Melodies collided as the piano tried to pick out the quote of music from Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor’s famous Mad Scene, which repeatedly went off the rails (in a good, Ravel’s La Valse kind of way), before the sliding strings came over all atmospherically Celtic. As the chaos develops into full on Ceilidh in the final movement, there was enthusiastic foot stamping and whoops from the players, with slaps and slides, and the solo piano ringing out on top. Joanna even switched to beating rhythm on the snare drum before sliding down into the depths of the keyboard, and then still trying to assert the Lucia music. Rising piano flourishes built with a stomping string reel, bringing everything to a sudden raucous conclusion. 

 

Once again, MacGregor’s lively and imaginative programming, as well as insightful direction throughout, allowed the BPO players to rise to new heights. And great to see the Corn Exchange pretty much sold out for this.  

Gothic Opera allows another side of Offenbach to shine at Battersea Arts Centre

Die Rheinnixen
© Craig Fuller

Max Hoehn (director)

Hannah von Wiehler (conductor)

Leon Haxby (arranger)

Isabella van Braeckel (set & costume designer)

Luca Panetta (lighting designer)

Gothic Opera

(Béatrice de Larragoïti, Alice Usher, Charlotte Osborn)

Mae Heydorn (Hedwig)

Alice Usher (Armgard)

Sam Utley (Franz)

Owain Gwynfryn (Conrad von Wenckhem)

Harrison Gration (Gottfried)

Emily Rooke, Anusha Merrin, Hannah Morley, Cicely-Yishou Hé, Lars Fischer, Alexander White, Maximilian Catalano, Chris Murphy (Chorus)

Alice Usher (Armgard) & Sam Utley (Franz)
© Craig Fuller

5pm, Sunday 2 November 2025

Battersea Arts Centre, London

★★★★

Offenbach, Jacques (1819-1880): Die Rheinnixen

(Edited by Jean-Christophe Keck, Libretto by Charles Nuitter & Alfred von Wolzogen, Arranged by Leon Haxby)

'Gothic Opera chose Die Rhiennixen for their seventh season. Once again, they have pulled off a triumph'.

'The performance gripped from beginning to end, the closeness of the action to the audience creating an immersive experience, a treat to see and hear the singers up so close'.

Owain Gwynfryn (Conrad)
© Craig Fuller

'Alice Usher (co-founder) was spellbinding as Armgard ... whilst Mae Heydorn, as her mother Hedwig, had ... steely power when needed'.

'Sam Utley’s Franz was ... tender and warm, with power at the top of his range. Harrison Gration made the strongest vocal impact of the men,his powerful bass-baritone one to watch ...

 whilst Owain Gwynfryn as Conrad (is) another agile baritone to watch out for'.

'The band ... performed Leon Haxby’s arrangement of the score with tight energy, conducted with precision and clarity by von Wiehler'.

Read my full review on Bachtrack here. 

The Railway Children becomes a pacy action thriller in Turnage's hands at Glyndebourne

Jessica Cale (Bobbie), Henna Mun (Phyllis) & Matthew McKinney (Peter)
© Glyndebourne Productions Ltd/Richard Hubert Smith

Tim Anderson (Conductor)

Stephen Langridge (Director)

Nicky Shaw (Designer)

Mark Jonathan (Lighting Designer)

Max White (Video Designer)

Lydia Coomes (Sound Designer)

The Glyndebourne Sinfonia

Richard Milone (Leader)

The Glyndebourne Chorus

Aidan Oliver (Chorus Director)

Gavan Ring (Mr Perks) & Chorus
© Glyndebourne Productions Ltd/Richard Hubert Smith

Edward Hawkins (David, Mr Tarpolski)

Rachael Lloyd (Cathy)

Simon Mascarenhas Carter (Police Officer, Chorus)

John Mackenzie-Lavansch (Detective Sergeant, Train Driver, Chorus)

Rhiain Taylor (Police Radio, Chorus)

Bethany Horak-Hallett (Yolanda)

Jessica Cale (Bobbie)

Matthew McKinney (Peter)

Henna Mun (Phyllis)

Michael Wallace (Police Constable, Chorus)

Gavan Ring (Mr Perks)

James Cleverton (Sir Tommy Crawshaw)

Natalia Brzenzińska (Chorus)

Dominic Morgan (Chorus)

Jacquelyn Parker (Chorus)

Rachel Taylor (Chorus)

4pm, Thursday 30 October, 2025

Glyndebourne Opera House, Glyndebourne 

★★★★

Turnage, Mark-Anthony (b.1960): The Railway Children

(Libretto by Hewer, Rachael)

Jessica Cale (Bobbie) & Ensemble
© Glyndebourne Productions Ltd/Richard Hubert Smith

'Hewer’s libretto is direct and clear, with switches between narration and dialogue moving the action along with pace. Turnage’s score is tight and equally pacy, with strong use of chamber forces, from single strings to woodwinds and dashes of percussion, the overall style of tense action thriller occasionally giving way to more tender lyricism, all conducted with energetic precision by Tim Anderson'.

'Nicky Shaw’s design is slick and suits the action well, with camera shutter switches between scenes and stylish colour palettes, and Mark Jonathan’s lighting adds further sharpness of focus'.

'Singing from all was faultless, with clear communication, strong depiction of characters and evenness of strength and projection. Jessica Cale was exceptional as the eldest child, Bobbie, ... her bright soprano ... increasing in strength of conviction'.

The Railway Children - full cast
© Glyndebourne Productions Ltd/Richard Hubert Smith

'Matthew McKinney was convincing as Peter, ... carrying Turnage’s angular lines well, and Henna Mun was endearingly sweet as Phyllis'.

'A few confusing elements in the updating of characters and a lack of a convincing train notwithstanding, this is an effective take bringing something fresh to an old favourite, and Turnage’s score is full of action and interest throughout'. 

Read my full review on Backtrack here. 

Mark-Anthony Turnage, Rachael Hewer, cast & artistic team
© Nick Boston

Highly engaging performance of Tarney's effective Lux Stellarum from The Choir of Royal Holloway

It’s a crowded field these days for new choral music, which is good news for the genre, but it does make it harder for composers and their compositions to stand out from the rest. Thankfully, this new recording by The Choir of Royal Holloway, directed by Rupert Gough of Oliver Tarney’s (b.1984) Lux Stellarum is a welcome addition, with its combination of familiar and less familiar texts, and use of varied choral textures. This is assisted by the strong showing from the choir here, with Andrew Dewar on organ. Tarney was new to me, but he clearly already has a body of music behind him, with several recordings of his works also already in the catalogue. Lux Stellarum is a short requiem for choir and organ, which he wrote for the choir of the American Cathedral in Paris, and biblical passages are mixed with texts by John Donne and the Canadian writer Marjorie Pickthall. With its focus on light, the stars and the universe, it sits in the more positive, hopeful camp of requiem interpretations – no hell and damnation here, but more reassurance in perpetual light and eternal rest. And so to the music. Tarney writes smooth lines and mixes use of plainchant melodies with fuller choral settings, and soaring intertwined soprano voices open the first section, followed soon by the organ heralding the full choir. The setting of the Requiem text is confident, with plainsong elements reminiscent of Duruflé, followed by more rhythmic writing for the Amos text. The Kyrie is gentler, and the choir’s diction here is exemplary, as well as the purity of the high sopranos. The third section sets a Pickthall poem focussing on the vastness of the stars above. The setting is clear, and once again the choir’s diction allows the text and Tarney’s word painting to come across effectively. There’s a beautifully controlled high chord on ‘soft infinite’, and the harmonic shift for ‘unafraid’ stands out within the otherwise relatively straightforward harmonic language. There’s a bit more movement in the Sanctus, and the Hosanna is warmly joyful, ‘excelsis’ ringing out. The Agnus Dei is the most effective of the movements for me, with the combination of chant of the psalm text interspersed with the Agnus Dei text, with more and more layered, falling lines. The lower voices also get more of a showing here, with a particularly strong tenor chant section, but attention returns to thinned out upper voices for the conclusion. The final section, with the In paradisum text combined with John Donne, contains some of the most crunchy harmonic writing, delivered with impressive blend from the choir here. There’s a hefty, powerful organ solo, and rich tonal chords spread out into more complex textures. Sometimes full albums of choral music, especially from one composer, can mean that works get lost within a homogenous soundworld, however well written. With just the one work here, at just under half an hour, this is a short release, but this allows this effective piece to stand out on its own, leaving us wanting to hear more from the composer rather than less. Gough and The Choir of Royal Holloway also deserve credit for their clarity and rich blend, as do the team from Convivium for their generously warm recording. 

Tarney. O. 2025. Lux Stellarum. The Choir of Royal Holloway, Andrew Dewar, Rupert Gough. Compact Disc and Download. Convivium Records. CR111.

Hugh Shrapnel shares thoughts on his music, influences, and life as a composer

Hugh Shrapnel

Having reviewed three albums of composer Hugh Shrapnel’s music now, it was a pleasure to have the opportunity to sit down with him recently and discuss his music, his influences, and his life as a musician and composer.
 
We began discussing what pointed Hugh in the direction of music and composition in the first place. He was born in Birmingham in 1947, but grew up in Stockport (as, coincidentally, did I). His father Norman Shrapnel was a journalist with The Guardian, his older brother John an actor and their mother Myfanwy an artist. Norman Shrapnel was a great music lover and good amateur violinist, often playing chamber music with friends. Hugh began playing the recorder aged seven, went on to play the oboe from the age of 13, and then began to play the piano in his mid-teens.

Hugh Shrapnel
credit: Phoebus Apostolide

Composition came early - he was inventing tunes as a boy, and he remembers a marching tune that he used to sing all the time, driving his mother mad! He started composing seriously at around fourteen, and was fascinated by modern music, inspired by hearing a performance of Schoenberg’s Serenade on the radio and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. So he already knew he wanted to be a composer at that time. His father, and Mary Stott, a musician friend and fellow Guardian journalist (the founder of the paper’s women’s page) encouraged him, although initially, academic studying of music took a back seat to his keenness for listening to new music and writing. He went to the Battersea College of Technology for a year, studying with Hans Heimler, the Austrian composer and musicologist, who had studied with Berg and Weingartner. From there, he went on to the Royal Academy of Music, where he initially studied composition with Norman Demuth, whose main interest was French music. Shrapnel’s interest lay in avant garde, serial music, so he moved to study with Cornelius Cardew, and this was a better fit, opening many opportunities for him in experimental music. He joined Cardew’s Scratch Orchestra, and they took their experimental music out of the concert halls, touring in the North East, Wales and Cornwall. ‘What they thought of what we were doing is something else!’, says Hugh, but he says that their mission was partly to rebel against the musical establishment of the time. 

 

Collaborating with other musicians has always been important for Hugh, from those early days with Cardew and other important British experimental composers such as John White, Chris Hobbs and Alec Hill, with whom he formed the quartet, the Promenade Theatre Orchestra, right through to more recent piano duetting with fellow composer John Lewis. This led to Elements of London, the first recording of his work (and Lewis’) by the Ivory Duo Piano Ensemble. It’s also worth mentioning that Cardew directed many of those early experimental pioneers, including Hugh, in the UK premiere in 1968 of Terry Riley’s In C. Along the way, Hugh’s compositions have often been for the musician friends around him, and unusual combinations of instruments have always interested him. On mentioning in conversation that I had played the euphonium at school, Hugh immediately referred to his piece for euphonium and two electric keyboards, West Pier, and he’s currently working on completing a long cycle of pieces for accordion, trumpet, piano, percussion and cello. Other collaborators include the BBC Radio 3 presenter and pianist Sarah Walker and composer pianist Robert Coleridge (who passed away in 2019), who recorded his South of the River suite of piano duos in 1998, and have been great supporters of his work. The Cornelius Cardew Concerts Trust, led by composer Michael Chant has been also very significant, with Hugh’s compositions receiving frequent performances at their Morley College concerts.

 

Promenade Theatre Orchestra, 1972

Aside from the South of the River suite, and a 1972 Promenade Theatre Orchestra recording, the more recent Convivium Records albums are the only available recordings of Hugh’s work. However, there are a number of performances of some of the earlier experimental works on YouTube, including several of Raindrops, a work ‘for any number or kind of tuned and untuned percussion, guitars and other plucked strings’. These include one for flutes, guitars and keyboards, as well as one for glockenspiels. Following those early experimental years, like a lot of other composers, Hugh gradually moved towards more ‘conventional’ music, as he describes it. ‘It (experimental music) had run its course, and I wanted to write tunes again. Looking back on the experimental music, it was a short-lived phenomenon’. Whilst he has still performed such works more recently, it now somehow ‘feels like going back in time’.

Raindrops (1970) by Hugh Shrapnel

performed by Jost Nickel et al.

Hugh says he rarely starts from a purely musical idea when composing, but often more  of a poetic image. He describes such pieces as ‘descriptive, of a mood - poems in music, if that’s not too pretentious’. It is that ability to capture this in small form, distilling an image, a thought or an idea, that is so impressive in his work. There is a clear thread of connection with local environment, community and political issues in much of his work. ‘During the experimental time, it was all to do with concepts, in its own little world’. That’s not to say that politics weren’t important then too. Hugh played oboe in the Peoples’ Liberation Music, a political music group in the 1970s, playing folk and ‘agit-pop’, and they often played on demonstrations against cuts, supporting the miners’ strike, the Irish Struggles and anti-fascism. 

Hugh feels rooted in the geographical area of South East London, where he has lived for most of his life. He moved from Stockport to Blackheath when he was 12, and apart from a few years in Birmingham, he has remained in the area. Why? ‘Well, force of habit. But I like it – there are lots of parks and open space, and I’ve always loved the countryside and nature’. Oxleas Wood, the first piece in South of the River, was written in support of a successful local campaign against a motorway being carved through this ancient wood. Like many, composing has not been his sole profession from necessity. In the 70s and 80s he taught music in schools and further education colleges, but then spent many years working part time in a council housing department. Teaching was demanding, with marking and preparing eating into his time. The housing job, whilst demanding in its own way, it gave more free time for composition, but it also brought him into the outside world. New music circles can become somewhat isolationist, whilst Hugh feels that music is very much ‘to do with everyday life’. He thinks more and more about the idea of music being expressive, in contrast to the earlier experimental view of music as pure sounds. In essence, he is ‘more and more concerned with melody’.

 

With three recordings of his music on Convivium Records under his belt, a fourth is on the way. Following on from piano duos, solo piano works and wind chamber works, the new album will be music for strings, including a new work for string quartet. He’s also working on orchestrating some of his earlier works, including the South of the River piano duets. So there’s still more to come, and I for one will be looking forward to hearing more very soon.

At the Rivoli by Hugh Shrapnel, 

performed by the Ivory Duo Piano Ensemble

Recordings of Hugh Shrapnel's music on Convivium Records:

Various. 2020. Elements of London. Ivory Duo Piano Ensemble. Compact Disc. Convivium Records. CR055.

My review here.

Shrapnel, H. 2023. Hugh Shrapnel: Piano Works. Ivory Duo Piano Ensemble. Compact Disc. Convivium Records. CR087.

My review here.

Shrapnel, H. 2025. Chamber Works. Camarilla Ensemble. Compact Disc. Convivium Records CR097.

My review here.

Playful Coleridge-Taylor contrasting with dramatic Mahler from the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra

Elena Urioste
 © Chris Gloag

Elena Urioste (violin)

Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra

Alice Farnham (conductor)

Ruth Rogers (leader)

2.45pm, Sunday 19 October 2025

Dome Concert Hall, Brighton

★★★★

Coleridge-Taylor, Samuel (1875-1912): Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 80

Encore:

Arlen, Harold (1905-1986): Over the Rainbow (?arr. Poster, Tom (b.1981))

Mahler, Gustav (1860-1911): Symphony No. 5

For their latest programme, ‘The Romantics’, the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra presented two highly contrasting works, with Mahler’s mighty Symphony No. 5 following the lighter offering of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 80. Ben Gernon was originally scheduled to conduct the concert but was replaced by Alice Farnham, whose combination of precise direction and energy made for a highly engaging afternoon’s programme. Of course it shouldn’t be worthy of note, but it’s great to see an all-female roster (for the second time this season) of conductor, soloist (Elena Urioste) and leader (Ruth Rogers) – with Music Director Joanna MacGregor the overall driving force. 

Elena Urioste
© Nick Boston

Violinist Elena Urioste was born in the US, and has an established solo career, performing with orchestras around the world. She is also a committed chamber music, with her Chamber Music by the Sea festival in Maryland celebtrating its tenth anniversary this year. She also co-founded with her partner, Tom Poster, the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, frequent performers at the Wigmore Hall and at the most recent Coffee Concert at Brighton Corn Exchange. She first performed Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Violin Concerto with Chineke! in 2019, recorded it with them in 2022, and has become a strong advocate for the somewhat neglected work. It’s an open-hearted piece, full of lyrical invention and plenty of opportunity for a virtuoso soloist to shine. Born in Croydon, of mixed Sierra Leonean and English heritage, Coleridge-Taylor originally intended to use spirituals for the melodic material of his Violin Concerto, but wasn’t happy with his attempts, deciding instead to use his own thematic ideas. Of course, Dvořák’s take on ‘American’ music also must have had an influence to bear here too, but the resulting work has a great sense of fun and individual style, which Urioste communicated here with great enthusiasm. 

Following the brassy stately opening from the orchestra, Urioste launched with a flourish into the first melodic idea, and from there, delivered each episodic entry with panache, at one point dancing her line over the accompanying pizzicato strings, and elsewhere injecting just enough bite to point up her dotted rhythms over the full orchestra. That dotted rhythm featured highly in her impressive cadenza, leading to a dramatic conclusion from the orchestra. The second movement is unashamedly lyrical, and the BPO strings set up just the right kind of muted accompaniment to allow Urioste to sing the silky lines above them. Orchestral ensemble was kept tight by Farnham through the ebb and flow of the rubatos whilst Urioste’s tender solos roamed effortlessly. The sprightly finale is once again packed with thematic invention, and Urioste and Farnham drove on through with playful energy (accompanied by frequent audible foot-tapping from Urioste). Virtuosic downward scale passages and skittering runs were aplenty, and weighty tuttis from the orchestra made for a brightly dramatic conclusion. In stark contrast, Urioste gave a simple yet highly tender rendition of Over the Rainbow by Harold Arlen (arranged I believe by Tom Poster), with gentle double-stopping providing some harmony, but the emphasis being on the beauty of the melodic line, delighting the Brighton audience.

 

Alice Farnham & the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra
© Nick Boston

In contrast to the light-hearted ease of the Coleridge-Taylor, Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 was of course a completely different matter. The funereal opening movement immediately takes things in a darker direction, and the challenge for the orchestra is equally weightier. There is a great deal of pressure on many soloists from the orchestra, chiefly the trumpet and horn, and on the whole, the BPO acquitted themselves very well. It has to be said, however, that the overall strike rate today of brass splits was relatively high, which was a pity. The first movement’s woodwind dance had finesse, with some wild car-chase strings to follow, and Farnham steered the orchestra through with great clarity, although the latter part of the movement lost a little forward momentum. The screaming opening of the second movement had great drive, and the concluding brass chorale gleamed brightly, although the central marching section could have taken a bit more bite. The Scherzo had lilt and swagger, although at times a little too precisely measured, and once again, it was the woodwinds that shone the most, with the pecking bassoon and delicately precise oboe proving most noteworthy. The Adagietto was beautifully shaped by Farnham, with warm and tender playing from the strings, and sumptuous playing from harpist Alex Rider. The finale raised the mood, with precise horn and woodwind solos leading to the cellos deftly setting off the playful fugal section that followed. The orchestra appeared more in their element now, and the brass climaxes, swaying strings and woodwind interjections were knitted together with momentum by Farnham, with the final accelerando racing to a spectacular finish. So if not the most precise Mahler 5 at every point, Farnham and the BPO certainly delivered a performance with high energy and many great moments. 

'A New World' - Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra kicks off their 101st season in style

Junyan Chen

Junyan Chen (piano)

Joanna MacGregor (conductor)

Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra

Ruth Rogers (leader)

2.45pm, Sunday 28 September

Dome Concert Hall, Brighton

★★★★

Rachmaninov, Sergei (1873-1943): Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30

Encore: 

Gershwin, George (1898-1937): The Man I Love, arr. by ?

Ravel, Maurice (1875-1937): La Valse, poème chorégraphique pour orchestre

Bartók, Béla (1881-1945): Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin, Sz.73

Joanna MacGregor

After a cracking 100^th season, the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra are back for their 101^st (my season preview is here),and there’s no sign of Joanna MacGregor letting up on the imaginative programming we’ve now come to expect. So whilst there was a big hitting concerto for the first concert of the new season, they went for Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 – popular of course, but not as well-known as the second. And rather than the usual overture-concerto-symphony sandwich, the Rachmaninov opened the concert, bold and up front, with Shanghai-born pianist Junyan Chen at the keyboard. A former pupil of MacGregor’s, Chen has performed with the BPO previously, and last year won not one but three prizes at the Leeds International Piano Competition, including the Silver Medal.

Right from the steadily rolling opening of the Rachmaninov, it was clear that Chen was in control here, setting the pace with incision and steering progress through the frequent rubatos at the ends of phrases. The orchestra were a little slower to get going, with a somewhat muted response, and MacGregor’s occasionally uncertain beat meant that in solo-free passages there were a few hesitant cadences. Woodwind solos were strong, however, with a particularly fine moment from the bassoon alone with the piano. Flute, oboe, clarinet and horn all got a chance towards the end of the movement, and all acquitted themselves well. The muted strings in the slow movement could have still had a little more weight in their sound, but their ensemble was tight, giving secure support to Chen’s swirling romantic solo. The movement’s conclusion was authoritative and arresting, with the finale following at a healthily steady pace. Once again, Chen drove the tempos, and apart from the odd uncertain pickup, the orchestra followed obediently. Chen demonstrated some particularly seductive, slinky playing here, with impressively virtuosic solo passages, and a glorious surge to the finish, here matched with a rich, full sound from the full orchestra. She then treated the appreciative Brighton audience to a sensual arrangement of Gershwin’s The Man I Love (possibly Art Tatum’s arrangement?), with its seductive outer thick chords beautifully contrasted with the brief vamping central section. Definitely a pianist to watch, and hopefully we’ll be treated to a return visit in Brighton sometime soon.

 

Junyan Chen & the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra
© Nick Boston

Ravel’s La Valse is a wonderfully anarchic unravelling of the Viennese Waltz, originally intended as a ballet for Diaghilev. He turned it down, souring their relationship for good, even though Diaghilev acknowledged it as a musical masterpiece. As well as a reflection on the dying world of the waltz, was it also a comment on political decay in Europe, post-World War I? Well Ravel said not, but it is hard not to read some sense of the end of an era into his wildly evocative picture of the opulent ballrooms of Vienna gradually swirling out of control into chaos. MacGregor and the BPO gave us a suitably dark opening, with slithering glissandi from the violas and an ominous cor anglais solo. MacGregor steered through the frequent rubatos and Viennese holdups, although these felt occasional a little mechanical rather than fully felt. As things built to the inevitable climax, timing unravelled ever so slightly, and the seasick surges from the orchestra needed even more, but MacGregor punched through to a suitably wild finish. 
 

Joanna MacGregor & the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra
© Nick Boston

Then came the most intriguing programming choice of the afternoon. Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin Suite is not performed as often as it should be, but when it is, at just over twenty minutes, it often appears as the warm-up act. But this densely imaginative and exciting score deserves more attention, and by ending their concert with it, the BPO were able to show off its dramatic and unsettling power. Described as a ‘pantomime ballet’, the original full work, with its shocking tale of tramps forcing a girl to entrap men so they could rob them, was in fact too shocking for audiences of the day, and it had to be withdrawn after its premiere. Bartók’s concert suite was however performed in his lifetime, perhaps because the ‘action’ now stops at the point when the mysterious Miraculous Mandarin, the tramps’ third victim, chases the girl, and avoids the ensuing failed attempts by the tramps to kill him, as well as his sexual union with the girl, before he finally dies. Nevertheless, the Suite still contains the darkness of the drama, right from the opening raucous cityscape to the chase scene, via the increasingly complex characterisations of the three victims, all portrayed via clarinet solos. MacGregor and the BPO were in their element for the opening bustling cacophony, with trombone car horns and swirling, whistling woodwinds. Principal clarintettist James Gilbert’s solos were full of the necessarily individual character, and with mournful turns from cor anglais and oboe, brittle col legno strings (hitting with the wood of the bow), trombone slides and glassy celesta combined with high flutes, they delivered much of the atmospheric detail of Bartók’s score with enthusiasm. MacGregor’s direction was also more confident throughout here, and the slowing up into the final finish was well judged, making for a thrilling conclusion to their assured performance of this exciting work. Once again, MacGregor and the BPO showed that taking risks with more adventurous programming choices pays dividends, as evidenced by another almost full and highly appreciative Brighton Dome audience.