Alpesh Chauhan, covering at short notice for an indisposed Han-Na Chang, directed The Hallé with lively charisma in this colourful programme. Two well-loved crowd-pleasers bookended the programme, Strauss and Prokofiev both providing plentiful opportunities for virtuosic orchestral playing, but it was the UK premiere of Maria Herz’s Cello Concerto which was most memorable. The concerto was written in remarkable circumstances around 1930, shortly before its German-Jewish composer ceased all composition. The manuscript lay largely forgotten until the 1990s, when it was championed by Herz’s grandson. Tonight’s soloist, German cellist Raphaela Gromes, gave the German premiere last year as part of her continued mission to resurrect lost works by female composers.
The 20-minute, single-movement concerto is modestly scored, calling for pairs of woodwinds, horns and trumpets plus four percussionists. It falls roughly into three parts: the first begins in darkness and tone reminiscent of Shostakovich before becoming progressively bleak by the page. With the string section halved in size, textures here were always crystalline, allowing Gromes to flourish in some fiendish solo passages. The scherzoid middle section sees plucky orchestral offbeats carefully balanced against the solo, and latterly a series of elegant woodwind solos are neatly interwoven with the cello line. Gromes’ exquisitely pure sound shone again in the cadenza, even amid some vigorous cello acrobatics. Together, she and Chauhan made a compelling case for this important music, and I will certainly look forward to its surely inevitable future UK performances. Hanna Havrylets’ Prayer was a touching encore for Gromes and the front two cello desks.
Before the Herz concerto, Strauss’ Don Juan had begun the evening with testosterone-laden swagger in its opening minutes. The more lyrical second theme, however, was notable for its glossy, Hollywood-style heavy string vibrato and luscious, unhurried wind solos. Don Juan is infamous for its virtuosic orchestral writing, of which there was more to come after the interval in Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony. Here all the high demands placed on wind and string soloists were realised with conviction, even at Chauhan’s suitably blistering tempos in the Scherzo and Finale. Elsewhere occasional lapses in ensemble amid the more fluid, expansive passages did little to dampen the atmosphere in the dark slow movement, the climax of which was overwhelmingly suffocating. The symphony’s raucous last pages hurtled into the buffers with steam almost visible from the violas, concluding a hugely enjoyable performance.
