After 24 remarkable years, Sir Mark Elder’s final season as Music Director of the Hallé is drawing to a close. This week they presented a programme celebrating what is at the core of the Hallé tradition: English music new and old.
First, though, came Dvořák’s Scherzo capriccioso, a work which seems to be played much less nowadays. Short in length but varied in mood and colour, it never settles down for long, veering from melancholy to exuberant with a catchy waltz-like theme, intricate cross-rhythms and prominent solos for cor anglais and jokey interjections from the bass clarinet. It was a very joyful start to the programme which brought back memories of Elder’s wonderful Dvořák festival with the Hallé in 2015.
The orchestra was then joined by Sir Stephen Hough for the European premiere of his own Piano Concerto (following its first performances in January with the Utah Symphony). In his eloquent programme note, Hough tells us that the subtitle The World of Yesterday refers to Stefan Zweig’s memoir of cultural life in pre-First World War Vienna, lending the work a nostalgic element. It also refers, however, to the history of the piano concerto as a vehicle for the pianist-composer.
The concerto lasts about 20 minutes, beginning with a gentle, peaceful prelude for orchestra alone, “not a cloud in the sky” in the composer’s words, followed by a dazzling cadenza for the soloist which goes from “ragged, splashing virtuosity” to something quiet and reflective. The central section is a waltz with variations, the finale a lively tarantella appassionata. Among many striking moments one that stood out in particular was the episode in which the piano duets with the xylophone. The whole piece speaks directly to the audience in the tradition of well-known piano concertos from past centuries. Above all it is entertaining. There was something special in seeing a well-known pianist playing his own work. I hope that Hough will continue to captivate audiences with it – and am I being greedy to hope for a Piano Concerto no. 2?
The second half comprised two works that Elder and the Hallé have made very much their own. George Butterworth’s purely orchestral rhapsody A Shropshire Lad was an epilogue to his settings of poems from A E Housman’s collection of poems. Although the very quiet beginning and end create a peaceful, nostalgic atmosphere, the central section is quite tempestuous and angry in places. The Hallé gave a masterly performance.
Elgar’s Enigma Variations have become deeply associated with Sir Mark and the Hallé but their link with the orchestra go back much further. The Hallé played them in February 1900 conducted by Hans Richter, less than a year after he had conducted the first performance, and the orchestra has been playing the work regularly ever since. Under Elder’s expert guidance, however, they felt freshly minted, each portrait coming to life. The vigorous Troyte and the chirpy Dorabella have rarely seemed so human and it was easy to visualise GRS’s bulldog Dan splashing about in the River Wye. Nimrod lost some of its ceremonial trappings to become an appreciative tribute to a good friend.
These good-natured variations conjure up a picture of a genial composer with a diverse range of friends, and Elder and the orchestra seemed to be extending this gesture to their audience who have been supporting and following them over the years.
