The opportunity to hear a trombone concerto doesn’t come along every day, especially one as captivating as Joe Chindamo’s Ligeia. This was the crowning glory in the Ulster Orchestra’s evening of what they titled “Rhythm and Romance”.
Beginning with rhythm – Bernstein’s Three Dance Episodes from On The Town, Michael Seal conducted the orchestra through a precise rendition. The Great Lover was vivacious and wonderfully balanced, but the orchestra were just a little too reserved overall despite some remarkable brass playing. Lonely Town was gentle, smooth and mostly expressive, but the clarinets were rather cool with their tone and didn’t make the most of their phrasing. Times Square 1944 again had the shackles of rhythmic precision which held this back from being completely stylistic.
Ligeia received its European premiere in Dublin several months ago with Peter Moore as soloist, having been premiered in 2022 by its dedicatee Colin Prichard with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Chindamo’s concerto is a work of musical genius, combining the rhythms of jazz, harmonies both consonant and dissonant and textures that showcase the orchestra as well as the soloist. It demonstrates that there is still a lot of mileage in the traditional three movement concerto model.
The quick opening movement was full of contrasting colours and textures which both Seal and Moore unilaterally worked together to make utterly captivating. In the second slower movement Moore’s musicianship was nothing short of astounding, his ability to change the colour of a single note was remarkable, as was his vision with the phrasing. A quasi-cadenza, all too brief, links the second and third movements. With great momentum, we were projected forward, Seal handling the orchestra with great sophistication to make the most of every contrast of texture, timbre, dynamics and harmony.
Moore’s technical ability here was nothing short of incredible. He is a very restrained performer, his stance throughout the whole work was very muted, but he has an exceptional gift to express, drawing you in to take one along on his musical journey with formidable communicative prowess. Moore had completely internalised the work, living and breathing it from the first note to the last.
The “romance” of the evening came via Rachmaninov’s First Symphony. Seal possessed a clear vision, evident each time the recurring themes emerged in the four movements. Instantly the orchestra seemed more secure in this work than in the first half of the concert, when a slight hesitancy had been obvious. The first movement had a tension, but in the grander episodes the slightly smaller than expected body of strings didn’t swell enough to add enough sonority. Seal brought character to the Scherzo, stressing the recurring melodic ideas with interest. The slow third movement was highly expressive with excellent playing from oboist Christopher Blake. A bold, articulate and finely balanced finale brought the symphony to a befitting conclusion.
