Now in its 44th year (the third since composer Paul Mealor’s appointment as Artistic Director), the theme for this year’s North Wales International Music Festival was ‘Macrocosm: Music and Conservation’. Fitting, then, that the festival’s penultimate concert should present three works inspired by the natural world and music’s role within it.
The reflections on nature in Vaughan Williams’s popular The Lark Ascending were formed in the aftermath of the devastation of the First World War, inspired by the poem of the same name by George Meredith. Soloist Thomas Mathias’ delicately controlled performance of the lark’s sweeping birdcalls projected nature’s fragile beauty and timeless tranquillity with calm restraint, assuredness and conviction. Adequately accompanied by BBC National Orchestra of Wales, whose lush strings offered sensitive support to Mathias’s flowing, soaring lines and almost folk-like gestures, this pared-down performance fittingly presented the piece as an evocation of a pastoral world rather than one shaped in the image of an epic Romantic violin mini-concerto.
Vaughan Williams’s tender tone poem was followed by the world premiere of an ambitiously crafted symphonic poem for solo harp and orchestra by Cameron Biles-Liddell, Nature’s Dance. Described by the composer as “a modern pastoral tale,” the four-part work – divided into two large movements – juxtaposed old and new, ancient and modern, rural and industrial, through Biles-Liddell’s vivid, colourful orchestration, commanding writing and imaginative, evocative writing for solo harp.
Subtitled Mechanical Dawn, the first movement opened with echoes of Debussy’s La Mer, with rippling harp lines and tremolando strings, before gradually building to a series of loud statements in the brass. After a sweeping cadenza passage on harp – accurately rendered and controlled by Alis Huws, excellent throughout – the movement launched into a folklike dance punctuated by film-like gestures and vivid sonic chiaroscuros. Drawing on industrialisation’s impact on nature, the latter part of the movement became increasingly fuelled by a Dionysian spirit. This dystopian mood culminated in the dramatic use of the so-called ‘split-third chord’, where minor and major versions of a chord were juxtaposed.
In contrast, the second movement began mournfully, in reflective mode. Subtitled Nature’s Lament and Rebirth, its first section was constructed around a chaconne-like four-chord pattern, which allowed Biles-Liddell to weave a series of increasingly complex variations between soloist and orchestra. As in the first movement, it culminated in a dance, this time in the form of a punchy, propulsive gigue that culminated in a colourful, positive conclusion. The piece’s message appeared to be that a harmonious coexistence between an industrialised society and the natural world might still remain possible.
As with any concerto involving harp and orchestra, the challenge is to ensure adequate balance and equilibrium between soloist and large ensemble. While this was effectively controlled through reduced orchestration and subtle amplification, a future scaled-down version of the work for harp and ensemble (rather than full orchestra) may prove equally effective.
The concert ended with Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony and it was here that conductor Tianyi Lu really came into her own. I have heard the BBC NOW perform Beethoven’s Sixth on several occasions, notably with Takuo Yuasa as guest conductor, but this was an altogether more cohesive, streamlined and convincing account. Lu’s choice of tempi across all movements was spot-on, especially during the opening two, which possessed a graceful sense of ebb and flow and lilting buoyancy. Equally striking was the precision, accuracy and clarity of the performance. Lu and the orchestra imparted weight and heft to the stormy fourth movement, while the fifth was calm, joyful and serene. With performances such as these on its programme, the North Wales International Music Festival can look ahead with real confidence as it approaches its half century in 2032.
