Briefly Noted: Coronation Music (CD of the Month)

An English Coronation, 1902-1953, Gabrieli Consort, Roar, and Players, Chetham's Symphonic Brass Ensemble, S. R. Beale, R. Pierce, M. Martin, E. Slorach, P. McCreesh (released on May 3, 2019) Signum Classics SIGCD569 | 159'21"

From this American's perspective, the only thing to be regretted about the final demise of monarchy would be the ceremonial and music associated with it. Paul McCreesh has put together this 2-CD collection of the best music composed for the coronation of English rulers, following up on a similar compilation of music for the coronation of the Doge in Venice, recorded in two slightly different versions. With forces ranging from intimate to vast, he has recorded music from Gregorian chant to Tallis and Byrd to William Walton and David Matthews in the resonant acoustic of Ely Cathedral and two smaller churches. All of the music is drawn from the coronations of Edward VII (1902), George V (1911), George VI (1937), and Elizabeth II (1953).

The pieces range from expected favorites like Parry's I Was Glad, Handel's explosive Zadok the Priest, and Walton's Coronation Te Deum to less expected discoveries. McCreesh expands his main ensemble with the Gabrieli Roar, a partnership with a number of youth choirs, which adds voice to his projects and gives young singers training. The pieces with mass numbers of singers gain in vigor and excitement what they lose just slightly in refinement. The instrumental works include regal marches and heraldic brass fanfares. Much here to make Anglophiles and royal nostalgists rejoice.

NSO Program 1: Shakespeare at the Symphony

Conductor Edward Gardner (photo by Benjamin Ealovega)

The National Symphony Orchestra had its season opening gala last weekend. The season really began with a program led by British conductor Edward Gardner, heard at the second performance on Friday night. The concept, Shakespeare at the Symphony, was a perfect excuse to bring together two excellent pieces never before presented by the NSO, Edward Elgar's Falstaff and the suite from William Walton's film score for Laurence Olivier's Henry V.

As Gardner announced before Falstaff he thinks audiences need help following the dramatic action in Elgar's delightful Shakespearean tone poem. To that end, we were invited to follow the story through descriptions on a supertitle screen, and it did enhance the music's effect. Gardner is climbing the ladder of principal guest positions, having served in that capacity with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and now the Bergen Philharmonic. He was able to bring the music to life with decisive ideas and a clear, contained set of gestures. He put the second violin section back with the first violins, moving the violas to the outer right edge of the orchestra. This allowed them to be heard much more clearly, a good idea since both Elgar and Walton gave them important melodies. The sotto voce sound of the string in the robbery scene (as well as of the violas and cellos in the scene in Shallow's orchard) and the hilarious bassoon solos were high points. Concertmaster Nurit Bar-Josef had a wistful, nostalgic sound as Falstaff dreamed of himself as a slender youth.

Other Reviews: Seth Arenstein, NSO opens season with Shakespeare in words and music (Washington Classical Review, September 30) Anne Midgette, NSO starts season with a new face in Shakespeare (Washington Post, September 29)

Elgar's score ends with the death of Falstaff, and the return of Prince Hal's melody indicates that his last thought is of his young friend who has spurned him. Walton's suite begins almost with the mournful passacaglia for Falstaff's death. Top-notch solo playing from English horn and flute stood out, as did more exquisite all-string sound. Before the final movement of the suite, actor Matthew Rauch gave a stirring recitation of Henry V's St. Crispin's Day speech. It led quite naturally to the "Agincourt Song" that concludes the suite, into which Walton incorporated the "Agincourt Carol," an English folk song from the 15th century.

Actors William Vaughan and Audrey Bertaux were less memorable in the balcony scene from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, staged with him moving among the orchestra musicians and her in the chorister seating above. This led just as aptly into the final selection, Tchaikovsky's fantasy-overture on Romeo and Juliet, which received a performance that really made me like it. It is true that in this piece, Tchaikovsky does not give in to his usual tendency to go on too long, but still Gardner accomplished the near-impossible by making me enthusiastic about a Tchaikovsky symphonic work. The battle scene was well marshaled — all fast, crisp, and aligned — and Gardner never let the potentially soupy bits wallow or drag in the least.

This concert repeats this evening at 8 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.

Wer ist Walton?

William Walton’s symphonies and concertos are relative rarities on concert programs—especially outside English speaking countries. So when his First Symphony, conducted by Semyon Bychkov, popped up on the calendar of the Munich Philharmonic, just two weeks after they performed Walton’s Violin Concerto, it was a very pleasant surprise. (Even more surprising might be that the MPhil has performed the same work as recently as seven years ago, with Rumon Gamba and—if one believes the hearsay—to alarming results.)

Why surprising? For one because of general concert-goers’ attitudes, especially of conservative German audiences. If a work wasn’t in the repertoire by about 1930 or composed by Richard Strauss, then it has a very hard time finding acceptance, irrelevant of how much a masterpiece it is. The case of Sibelius shows that plainly enough—he dropped off the radar around the 1940s (his music too closely embraced by the Nazis and subsequently denigrated by the aesthetic elite of the land) and never clawed his way back to the status that ought to be his. If Sibelius is neglected, and Nielsen ignored, imagine poor Walton’s standing. “Walton-who?” Exactly!

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Lisztful Thinking: Hugh Wolff & Yuja Wang

Hugh Wolff

“A Night of Firsts” was the title (with its mildly seedy, if unintended, sexual innuendo lingering) of a night of splendid music at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s third Summer Thursday Classics concert at Strathmore. What the title meant to minds less beholden to see sexual innuendos lurking around every corner was Liszt’s first piano concerto, Schumann’s first symphony, and – for starters – Walton’s Façade Suite No. 1. Hugh Wolff, whom I had suspected under consideration as a possible Temirkanov successor before that issue was settled (regrettably) on Tuesday, led the BSO with his sunny-boy style and touch of flamboyance belying his 52 years. For a perennial boy with a smirk, few works seem more fitting than Walton’s wacky Façade, even if the suite sounds almost tame compared to the Dame Edith Sitwell enriched ‘real deal’. Lightness, not too much grace, and good fun purveyed a reading that bubbled like champagne.

Yuja Wang

The young (and beautiful) Beijing native Yuja Wang may appear fragile at first sight, but she destroyed any such notions as regards her playing with a thunderous entry into the piano concerto. (I hesitated calling Ms. Wang ‘beautiful’ at the sight of her 1987 birth date, but after some calculations, that turns out to make her 18, in which case such a comment may be safe from accusations of indecency.) Rather than playing it safe, she went for it, possible wrong notes be damned – and good for her and us. Most performances could use more risk as it is. The carefree spirit went well with Hugh Wolff’s rationale for the programming; namely highlighting the “positive side of the human experience” and “shunning tragedy.” Daringly light piano (it wasn’t even pianissimo) touches on Yuja Wang’s part seemed to have an otherwise far from mute crowd hold its collective breath for a moment or two. Both orchestra and soloist brought smiles to my face on several occasions with their interpretation that was – in keeping with the spirit so far – spry and nimbly mischievous.

When Mr. Wolff introduces a work with a few words, I always fear that his slightly nervous exuberance will veer into clownery. Thankfully it never does. In that regard, he reminds me a bit of Leonard Slatkin, who also comes close to the latter but stays on the right side of that line surprisingly often.

Spring-infused is how Schumann’s first symphony is to sound – and although a beaut, it’s not necessarily an easy work to bring off. It’s a cliché, but not less true for it: Schumann’s symphonies, the first not an exception, can be taxing on the string players and difficult for the conductor to keep the textures clean. It’s a lot more work to do them well than hearing might let on. Nor would watching Wolff have betrayed any difficulty as he conducted with palpable joy and a relaxed smile. He cannot have had much time to drill the BSO for this concert, but between fun Walton, the astounding soloist and a very well-executed Schumann with plenty of body yet not neglecting the lighter sides, the result was most pleasing, indeed. I’ll be sure to mark Wolff’s appearances in the region in my calendar.

The concert can be heard again tonight at the Joseph Meyerhoff Hall at 6 pm. The next and last of the Summer Thursday Classics will be Beethoven’s 9th and Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage on July 28th at 8 pm.