More local artists and a chance to support for LGBT Manchester based work was my goal. The Sunday Boys are the city’s low voiced gay choir and female choir Meraki collaborated on a rather telling piece. The ladies and gay men who are friends, who share mutual love and respect of each other is a less trodden ground in queer circles. 

In this cantata, Michael Betteridge uses flashes of John Adams and Benjamin Britten, the words here by Rebecca Hurst being very casual and sometimes touching. I was thinking about the female friends in my own life, the mutual understandings we have about life and love. Betteridge tries out some challenging bits for both choirs, in some instances rich harmonised sonorities poured out with loveliness. I wouldn’t say I was as nourished by the whole as I should have been, a lot of the vocal line remained a bit dull, though the instrumentalist had some tricks and sweet moments for piano, percussion, strings and more. 

Betteridge shared conducting duties with Michelle Robinson, a fitting thing within the context of the words. Meraki did sometimes have the little wobble in the vocal line, though things usually got back to basics and they followed through. Dare I say it, I’d love to see Betteridge take things to a higher, experimental plain. Both these choir have made waves and more impassioned work will get the word out. This Stoller Hall audience seemed to have enjoyed themselves, the acoustic of this newish venue is a pearl in the Manchester cultural scene.  

I was unaware there was a second half to the evening where both choirs would perform their own repertoire. I had to love them and leave them as I transgressed over to the Carole Nash Hall within the same venue for Will Pound and Jenn Butterworth. Drinking in as much as possible before I shoot off back to Wales.

A second wind from the Berlin Phil after the rowdy Mahler 7, would proved mixed. The Violin concert from Alfred Schnittke proved a rare discovery and a really strange piece with a lot going for it. Soloist Tabea Zimmermann proved a jaw-dropping display in pretty harsh passages along more fund bits. Some of her cadenza might not have been as stimulating as the rest, though the orchestra alas proved quite brilliant in the whole endeavour. Razor sharp pastiche mingles with serious experimentation in all its brow raising brilliance. The touch of a harp, piano, celeste and harpsichord could only be Schnittke, in this most memorable of violin concertos. Should do a good job in haunting me over the next few days.

Daniel Harding replaced Kirill Petrenko from the night prior, therefore replacing the Shostakovich 10th Symphony with Bruckner’s 4th Symphony. Whilst I’ll admit the performance was a grand affair, the definition of professional…I have to say this was one of the dullest symphonies I’ve ever heard. Bruckner seems to loiter is past German romanticism that leaves little room for new horizons nor any real depth to the style. A lot of this just felt like a load of frivolity with no real sense of it’s influences. I still can’t make out if it’s “German sounding’ either. The finale almost won me over with broad, bold outburst where things started to take off, quieter moments having some genuine appeal. Though I’ve heard the Shostakovich originally planned many times, I dare say I would have much gathered heard that again.

Sir András Schiff relaxed a Sunday morning Proms audience in a intimate affair in the grandeur of the Albert Hall. You see another side to Beethoven in his late piano sonatas. Still filled with innovations, their refections and anguish still pound through and the electricity still lies within them.

Schiff is extremely no thrills, at least the view of his back and part of the keys would prove this where I was sitting. Playing all this from memory proves his chops, his previous Bach whistle stop concerts also proof of his sheer talent. His writing out of the pieces makes it look so easy when it might be a nightmare to play. The dexterity and energy require cant be underestimated, Schiff tackling all these, though his reserved manner might shut fool people.

A debate about having small, more intimate Proms prevails. All I know is the sounds ring out from the piano, though I was in the stalls and may very much be a different story in the high up gallery. This massive audience all came to hear him play and that is enough to justify the recital in the space. Whilst the first two buttery sonatas performed are firsts for the Proms, it was the Sonata No. 32 in C minor which stood out, as if a big beast on the war path. The violence and the weird imagery made it stick out, a fine choice to wrap things up.

You can listen to the event on BBC Sounds here

Photo credit; BBC/Chris Christodoulou

Itching for more Proms, the Berlin Philharmonic began a two ninth fest featuring the huge 7th Symphony from Gustave Mahler. It’s been a while for me where I’ve seen a instrumental blend this fine and musicianship this stellar. One can never picture taken on his big works on a whim, the lesser favoured piece is finally getting the love it deserves. It’s funnier than usual as well, with merry tunes and drinking songs which as ever, are met with black doubts and lingering uncertainties. Here the woodwind shines, the brass enthral and the percussion (when used) add that extra bite to proceedings.

The large set of strings delivers jabs, swoons and haunts us all. This feat of musicianship was made crystalline by conductor Kirill Petrenko, who’s flamboyant flair and care for the orchestra is very telling of his persona. These five movements remain quite strange in their form, moments for guitar and mandolin or the cowbells evoking the Austrian Alps are another quirky touch. I found the near 90 minutes whizzed by, some Mahler can drag and this being so fresh and alive it was never a test. The composer wouldn’t have believed a performance like this could be done of this work, so tight and polished. Great work indeed.

BBC Proms continues till 10 September 2022. Listen live to all concert on BBC Radio 3 or listen back to all concerts on BBC Sounds.

A heatwave joined for the latest excursion to Penarth for Cardiff Opera for their latest concert. Having seen their Julius Cesare by Handel, this unassuming collection of young singers and instrumentalists offering up to the Welsh capital events both popular and rare. 

The Siegfried Idyll from Richard Wagner is perhaps one of the finest depictions of a forrest. It’s a much more gentle side to the arrogant and racist composer, presenting the piece to his wife Cosmina on Christmas morning. Later recycled into the opera of the same titular hero, this is gateway Wagner for people not to sure of the five hour epics which follow. It was the strings here which let down the side on a few occasions, some problems might have been with the vibrato. Though it all, the sweetness and charm of the work still shone through, conductor William Stevens with a no thrills command of the score.

In a hefty follow up, Mahler’s The Song of the Earth sees ancient Chinese poetry mixed with the composer’s angsty, Austrian existentialism in a heady brew. This is Mahler’s good bye to the world, at least for me much more then the 9th and 10th symphonies (the latter incomplete at his death). The woodwind was fairly tight here, the players reduced to a very small size for such a work got away with it, though it may not have captured that universal metal the composer demands. 

Fine footed tenor Robert Felstead get some lush moments of nature and drinking, the rowdiness of the role a bolstering, unshaven thrill. For me the real joy came with soprano Rebecca Chellappah who sings the majority of this song cycle with grace, has an affirmed sense of drama and musicality. The Farewell takes up half the piece and is a devastating departure, Rebecca  awash in this grand movement of the passing of time, as nature thrives. All that was missing was the celeste for the final flurry in the last few bars.

Every summer, we would mostly be graced by our very own Youth Orchestra on tour. Wales should be proud that we in fact have the oldest youth orchestra in the worlds having been founded back in 1945. Conductor Kwamé Ryan from Trinidad and Tobago, leads all with a spirited energy and his commitment to the future of music lives in moments like these. Though quite formal in his maestro, he wrings out of these students a fine musicality.

Argentum by Dani Howard held up as a good choice of a concert opener. Quite happy and had the feel of a giddy, John Adams sort of mood. Her take on celebrations would mark the work with a dedication for the marriage of some close friends. She speaks of pride and happiness in a union of this manner and you could hear this at the Last Night of the Proms, such is its appeal.

In the Violin Concerto of Korngold, Jennifer Pike shone, the gleam of a Hollywood veneer never far away. The composer had the privilege to be able to recycle film scores he had already written after fleeing Austria and making it to California. Pike soaks up the loving atmosphere of the three movements, the finale clearly from Robin Hood as it rolls along with a rompy air. Pike made the piece appear as child’s play, though I’m sure it has it’s technical moments of bravado. We don’t tend to hear enough Korngold, the delight of an encore was another work: the finale of his score to Captain Blood with Errol Flynn, a pirate party if ever there was one.  

Whilst Russian music might not be a frequent hitter at this present time, the Youth Orchestra gave a decent take of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. Each night the title character regales her husband the Sultan with tales in an effort to save her life, as he longs for more conquets. The sumptuous violin motive (with harp) pin points Scheherazade as safe, each of the movements the stories she tells. Leader Esme Lewis fared well in this central role, along with her efforts throughout the programme. There are wild moments of the sea storms, princesses and even a festival in Bagdad, all taken from the Arabian Nights collection of stories. It’s the vividness of the orchestration and clever melodies that have made this work a crowd-pleaser for over one hundred years. It may be fairly overdone by today’s standard, but it does give this youth orchestra a piece to cut their teeth with.     

Granted, I was able to detect the odd fluff in the brass and woodwind. All things which can be ironed out with further practice and commitment. Fine work from all involved!

It was touch and go for the return of the Welsh Proms if maestro Owain Arwel Hughes would conduct after a Covid scare. Owain’s loyalty to the Welsh side of the Proms is extensive and helped bring in large, attentive audiences.

A Prom from the Kenneh-Mason brood would bring some new blood to the festival in fine music making form. I’ve seen a few of them here and there in more intimate recitals, yet here the siblings played together and then duet after duet would form. Little doubt being the most musical family in these lands, the talent on display is but hereditary brilliance. The combined forces of Isata, Braimah, Sheku, Konya, Jeneba, Aminata and Mariatu graced the stage and all proved to be no gimmick.

A broad programme of bite sized work (some miniatures some extracts of larger pieces) loomed heavy over the night but the long list was gracefully ticked off as each brother and sister had their time to shine. My views on Eric Whitacre are very mixed and the opening of his Seal Lullaby was pretty and gave everyone some moments of harmony. The work of Coleridge-Taylor is newer to me (a diverse composer with work still being discovered decades after completion) and has blues  charm and a gusto all of its own. Schubert on the piano was a highlight the quirky scales and stunning timbres of the composer always stood out and left me wanting more. Chopin I’ll take or leave, but still played very well indeed. The youngest sister doing Frank Bridge was impressive even with some understood nervous energy. 

A showy take on Liszt’s famous Hungarian Rhapsody No 2 is bonkers, made famous by Tom and Jerry and the real crowd pleaser of the night. Sheku got to pick a more quirky piece for his cello and that of Shostakovich’s Sonata for Cello and Piano (Allegro). His take on Welsh hymns also are met with acclaim, the family having proud Welsh roots. They came into their own in the marvellous riffing on a medley of songs from Fiddler on the Roof. These classics are played with joy and are inflected with some marvellous colours thanks to the combination of duo piano and strings. Even a surreal encore of Bob Marley only added to the pot of an evening that wont be forgotten in a bit. Come back when you can! 

Welsh Proms continues at St David’s Hall till 16 July 2022.   

Sheku Kanneh-Mason’s new album Song is released 9 September 2022.