Shades of pewter, clouds of silver: dark emotions dominate BBC Philharmonic concert

Sometimes programmes of a single colour can be difficult to pull-off, but when the musicianship and creativity is such, the sky is the limit. At Bridgewater Hall, it was a dark serious colour, shades of pewter with clouds of silver, in which the BBC Philharmonic succeeded under Principal Conductor John Storgårds. 

Making quite an impression, the deep chest voices of the Estonian National Male Choir basses began Arvo Pärt’s De profundis (in its chamber orchestra arrangement). The contrast in tone was stark with the lighter ethereal tenors echoing them. Storgårds' pacing brought a solemnity and gravitas as the work unfolded in what was quite a moving rendition.

Sibelius’ Violin Concerto followed, in a quite remarkable performance by Jennifer Pike. Both soloist and conductor were on the same page musically and the fluttering from the strings in the opening Allegro moderato maintained an austere, lugubrious ambience, while Pike’s entry soared above it. A slightly broader tempo was taken, focussing on the moderato, allowing both soloist and conductor to be highly expressive. Pike's cadenza was executed with an unassuming air, evolving organically with no sense of urgency.

The Adagio di molto second movement was purely magical. Closing one’s eyes, the performance took you to another sphere, another dimension in space and time. The audience wanted to applaud, but Storgårds indicated otherwise, not wanting to break the timeless spell. The outpouring of emotions in the finale movement was vast, not just from the violinist but also from the orchestra. Storgårds' familiarity with the concerto was clear, and together with Pike they found every ounce of emotion while exploiting Bridgewater Hall’s acoustic to its full.

A short heartfelt encore followed featuring BBC Phil leader, Zoë Beyers, a touching arrangement of a Ukrainian folk song, Plyva Kacha, by Pike’s father, which provided a fitting link between the heart-on-sleeve Sibelius and the monumental might of Shostakovich’s Symphony no. 13.

Babi Yar is arguably one of Shostakovich’s most sombre symphonies, opening In the key of B flat minor, perhaps the darkest of all keys. Storgårds gave a performance of such magnitude that it hit hard like the full might of a Soviet hammer. Joining the BBC Philharmonic and the 50-strong choir was bass-baritone Albert Dohmen. Across the five movements, the endurance of both Dohmen and ENMC was impressive, creating a sense of dialogue to deliver the texts by Yevgeny Yevtushenko with utter conviction. Diction was occasionally lost, but not the raw emotion, which conveyed the sheer brutality of the 1941 massacre at Babi Yar. 

The first movement evoked an anguished, sinister, violent, terrifying feeling, ploughing through to the bitter end. Storgårds pushed the orchestra hard and, by the end, one was left in no doubt that he had created a picture of desolation and distress with utter conviction. 

This was a concert not without its momentary blemishes but, those aside, the unsurpassed music-making and considered programming made this challenging and demanding listen an impactful experience.