As they will for the imminent end of James Anderson’s remarkable Test Match career, the crowds flocked to Manchester to see Sir Mark Elder’s final concert as Music Director of his beloved Hallé. Such was the demand for this swansong that the orchestra had to add a second performance and sold out the Bridgewater Hall for both. No other British conductor in recent times has come close to his 24 years at the helm, and surely no frontman has led such a turnaround in fortunes as that achieved in Manchester. As Elder reflected after tonight’s performance, his major achievements here have been to oversee not only exceptional musical standards but also the integration of a symphony orchestra into the very fabric of a community. With the orchestra playing to its current standards, a family of children’s and youth choirs and orchestras thriving and a new home at the heart of the regenerated Ancoats area, Elder leaves the Hallé in probably its strongest position ever.
It was, perhaps, a slight surprise that they chose to close this chapter with Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, a relatively frequent flyer on concert stages, rather than perhaps a Wagner opera or something less commonly performed. The European premiere of James MacMillan’s Timotheus, Bacchus and Cecilia went some way to allay this feeling. Scored for children’s and adult choruses and large orchestra, the 20-minute work is a thrilling setting of John Dryden’s 1697 poem in honour of St Cecilia’s Day, Alexander’s Feast, or The Power of Music. This set the stage for a joyful celebration of the whole Hallé family of choruses, with ranks of singers practically bursting out of the choir stalls. The musical arc represented a compelling crystallisation from early hazy textures and rich harmonies to triumphant finale. The last pages brought forth a gargantuan choral sound in joyous unison, horns raised aloft and tam-tam ringing. No doubt a crowd-pleaser, Timotheus will surely raise the roof at this summer’s BBC Proms.
Then to the Mahler, Elder returning one last time at that most leisurely of gaits through the first violins to the rostrum. Much had changed compared to their last performance of this work in 2015, but then again nine years is as long as many music directorships. This performance was softer, slower, and in turn more desolate and ecstatic. The aesthetic, carved from sweetly legato string playing and elegant individual solos, was always one of great beauty, and never forced or hurried.
The first movement funeral march panned out with a slow, deliberate tread, with heavy rubato, its last pages dissolving into the darkest of midnights. Without pause, the second took off with biting fury, though again without ever feeling rushed. Even among the rage there was beauty, not least in the exquisite central cello line. The bitterest tragedy followed, trombones rasping despairingly, before a huge – if short-lived – climax. The third movement continued in similarly spacious character, its slow tempo still flowing thanks to Elder’s expansive, one-in-a-bar beat. Laurence Rogers’ concertante horn solos (played from a standing position) were elegant and fresh.
By contrast, the Adagietto was relatively forward-looking in tempo, lingering only momentarily for the molto ritardando of the second bar. Here the Hallé strings were at their most resplendent, playing with that unmistakable legato developed over a quarter of a century, serenading, soothing, musicians and conductor as one. The finale – unhurried, crystalline in texture – unfolded with almost palpable joy. With richly characterised trumpet and woodwind solos and some astonishing pianissimos, the journey to the blazing finale was one of utmost joy.
There have been too many superb performances over the years to mention here, but those that stand out most are the Wagner operas, Mahler and Vaughan Williams symphonies and, of course, the major works of Elgar. After some powerful last words about the power of – and need for – music, delivered in that inimitable style as if reading from a carefully prepared script, an encore of Elgar’s Chanson de nuit was an apt end to this remarkable era.
