Sadness and beauty in Dvorak concert

Belfast Newsletter – 01 April 2024

When concert-goers see Dvorak's name they tend to think of his final symphonies, including the best-known Ninth 'New World' Symphony, but people may be less familiar with his Stabat Mater which is a masterpiece in its own right.

It was performed by the Ulster Orchestra, the Belfast Philharmonic Choir and soloists on Good Friday evening, for an appreciative audience in a well-filled Ulster Hall. In recent years the orchestra has performed sacred works on this important weekend in the Christian calendar, and last year the focus was on Haydn's Creation, so the timing of the Dvorak Stabat Mater was entirely appropriate. The concert was in the extremely capable hands of the distinguished Jac Van Steen, the honorary principal guest conductor of the Ulster Orchestra who is a regular visitor to Belfast.

Antonin Dvorak (1841- 1904) was a deeply religious husband and father, and his is Stabat Mater was completed in 1877 after the deaths of his young children at a time when infant mortality was common place. The Stabat Mater poem about Mary at the Cross, used by so many other composers, is an inspired context in which to express emotions and thoughts about life and death, and the mystery of resurrection for those who believe in such deliverance.

Dvorak's Stabat Mater was written and performed in 10 separate movements for over 81 minutes without an interval, and it moved so seamlessly and compellingly that the journey seemed much shorter, with the orchestra and soloists Ailish Tynan, Carolyn Dobbin, John Findon and Darren Jeffery always delivering with sincerity and understanding. There was sadness and beauty throughout, and the prolonged final Amen was powerful and riveting, and ending in a quiet finality reminiscent of Christ's last words from the Cross-"it is finished".

This was an evening to elevate the soul, as one concert-goer remarked on the way out. The Belfast Philharmonic Choir, which celebrates its 150th anniversary next season, was impressive with its soaring chorus rippling across the auditorium. It was also good to see so many of the 120-strong choir on stage, and much credit due to its chorus director James Grossmith for maintaining the highest standards since his arrival in 2022.

Facebook Ulster Orchestra 1 april 2024

Last Friday, our Honorary Principal Guest Conductor Jac van Steen led the orchestra and Belfast Philharmonic Society in Dvořák's powerful, emotional Stabat Mater, with brilliant soloists Ailish Tynan, Carolyn Dobbin Mezzo-soprano/contralto, John Findon and Darren Jeffery.

Some reactions from the audience on Facebook:

L.C...... This was one of the best concerts that I've attended in recent times. It was absolutely amazing.

U.D...... Uister Orchestra. It was the most wonderful experience. Thank you!

C.D:..... A Thrilling evening!! Thank you

J.B......A very memorable evening

V.R......Carolyn Dobbin is phenomenal

M.H....... The choir were amazing

E.H...... Stupendous!

THE magic of musical storytelling is surely nowhere better captured than in Bedrich Smetana’s six symphonic poems, Má Vlast, together telling of the myths, legends and beauty of his homeland Bohemia.

This powerful, patriotic, unrivalled nationalist composition encompasses tales of knightly valour, a magnificent castle, rage, deception, vengeance, the natural beauty of the landscape, defeat, victory and the journey of the mighty majestic Vltava river, by far the best known of the six pieces.

The connection between music and cultural identity of course runs long and deep and Smetana is seen as one of major inspirations in the ambition of independent Czech statehood, ultimately achieved. For those like me, relatively unfamiliar with all but the much played Vltava and Bohemia’s Woods and Fields, a screen over the stage told each story in words.

In another departure from the norm, the audience was encouraged to applaud between movements. Conductor Jac van Steen, principal guest conductor at the Prague Symphony Orchestra (so who better to be at the podium for the evening) instructed at the outset: “In fact, you are not allowed not to applaud between movements.”

In Vltava, the second piece, Smetana evokes the sounds of one of Bohemia’s greatest rivers, rising as two springs, through woods and meadows, with nymphs dancing in the moonlight, past castles and ruins swirling through rapids and bursting into Prague and onwards. The sixth movement speaks to warriors, battle and ultimate victory. In the rousing, uplifting finale, the High Castle of Vyšehrad, Prague stands proudly over the lands of Bohemia. Maestro was compelling and the players’ performance overflowing with joy, pride and exuberance. A triumph all round then. We all clearly thought so.

Andy Martin - 25th January 2024 - Bournemouth Daily Echo

Korngold - Das Wunder der Heliane - Nederlandse Reisopera

Opera Magazine UK – Robert Nachbar, February 2024

In 2019 Jakob Peters-Messer staged a fine Tote Stadt for the NEDERLANDSE REISOPERA (May 2019, p. 592). This season he returned for the grandest of Korngold's operas: Das Wunder der Heliane, seen on November 9 at the ROYAL THEATRE CARRÉ. This was its first staging in the Netherlands, postponed from 2021 because of Covid. It was an outstanding production, proof that small companies can stretch their limits and produce opera worthy of any great stage in the world.

The story is overloaded with symbolism. Peters-Messer, Guido Petzold (scenery and lighting) and Tanja Liebermann (costumes) set it in surroundings that were almost abstract, timeless and at the same time very much of 2023. Ukraine and Gaza never seemed far away, but this didn't distract from the essence of what Korngold and Hans Müller-Einigen, the librettist, wanted to convey. The direction of each character was as clear as it was simple and Peters-Messer drew out the best imaginable acting from all the singers. Perhaps the only drawback was the ending. Did Heliane and her Stranger ascend to heaven together or not? For once the few video projections were not at all intrusive and added to the drama.

When Heliane had her (almost) erotic encounters with the Stranger, the projections showed Hedy Lamarr in the 1933 Czech film Extase, the first ever film to depict a female orgasm. Nicole van den Berg danced the Angel, in her own choreography; she did not really contribute to our understanding of the story but didn't disturb except in the intermezzo before the third act, which I would have preferred to hear with the curtain closed. There were no weaknesses in the cast. Sander de Jong, Ross Ramgobin, Wiebe-Pier Cnossen, Lucas van Nierop, Aleš Jenis and Artur Janda were a very fine ensemble of Annemarie Kremer (centre) in the title role of 'Das Wunder der Heliane' with the Nederlandse Reisopera

Judges, and Paul McNamara excelled as the Blind Judge, as did Zachary Altman as the Porter. As the Messenger Ursula Hesse van den Steinen was vocally very fine but had minor problems with her rhythms early in the third act. One could not imagine a finer Ruler than Darren Jeffery. Diction from all the soloists was exceptional, so that the surtitles were hardly needed. This was especially true for Tilmann Unger, who sang the Stranger, and for the Heliane, the Dutch soprano Annemarie Kremer. Both gave marvellous performances in heavy roles, showing great stamina even at the end. Perhaps Kremer's voice is a little dark for the part, but she mastered it nonetheless, and built her solo 'Ich ging zu ihm' with the utmost tension and superb breath control to an exciting climax.

Fergus McAlpine reduced the original score so that it could be played by an orchestra of around 80 (rather than 110). The Noord Nederlands Orchestra gave a superb performance, although the strings could have had just a little more glowing warmness in tone. The conductor Jac van Steen brought tranquillity and clear detail to a score that could easily sound overwhelming. The extra brass band, high up in the galleries, sometimes overshadowed the main orchestra but this didn't spoil the overall performance. The chorus, Consensus Vocalis, excelled itself. McAlpine's reduction, initiated by the Reisopera and published by Schott, is now available so that other smaller companies can take up this work.

For a complete overview of the Heliane reviews, scroll down

December 2023

JS Bach's Christmas oratorio created an atmosphere of joy and inner harmony

Prague Symphony Orchestra | Jac van Steen conducting

Programme
Johann Sebastian Bach: Christmas oratorium BWV 248
Georg Friedrich Händel: Concerto grosso op. 6 nr. 7

As soon as the audience arrived at the Smetana Hall, it was clear that this was not going to be an ordinary concert by the Prague Symphony Orchestra, as the stage was filled with a variety of instruments, including the theorbo, harpsichord and organ. Conductor Jac van Steen invited musicians who are masters of historical instruments, namely Kateřina Maňáková on the theorbo, Ondřej Bernovský on the harpsichord and Daniela Valtová Kosinová, organ. but also baroque clarinets and baroque trumpets. The clarinet produces a thin and high tone, suitable for solo passages. Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Friedrich Handel were among the composers who liked to write for the clarinet. In this concert they are played by Marian Magiera, Stanislav Majerski and Petr Jurášek.

The second cantata was followed by Handel's Concerto grosso op. 6 no. 7 , one of the twelve concertos for string orchestra and basso continuo.  .

The concert concluded with Cantata III from Bach's Christmas Oratorio . In it, the performance of the Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno again stood out. The entire concert was firmly in the hands of Dutch conductor Jac van Steen, regular guest conductor of the FOK. He is inextricably linked to Bach's music, having been music director of the Nijmegen Bach Choir in the past. His approach to the informed interpretation of works from the Baroque period was highly inspired and professional. His energetic attitude and cordiality towards all performers clearly showed that this is a musical field close to his heart.

The Christmas Oratorio is a work that appeals to listeners not only with its beautiful music, but also with a deep spiritual message. A satisfied audience emerged from the Smetana Hall to Prague's festively lit city centre in an upbeat mood with feelings of joy and inner harmony, graced with this deep cultural experience.

NOMINATED FOR OPERA OF THE YEAR '23 AND SCHAUNARD AWARD

Erich Wolfgang Korngold << Das Wunder der Heliane >>  --  Nederlandse Reisopera - Noord Nederlands Orkest

MUSIC DIRECTOR JAC VAN STEEN

Korngold's fourth opera, The Miracle of Heliane, was undoubtedly his most ambitious project. The libretto seems a little bizarre; it has to be seen through the eyes of the 1920s zeitgeist. It is a fiercely symbolic story, very much in the spirit of the interbellum, which Korngold captured in decadent and revelatory music. The mysterious, the unearthly, the supernatural, the divine, the heightened emotions and the blatant eroticism were all part of the zeitgeist. So was the spirit of sacrifice and the motto that love conquers all: if not now, then in the hereafter.

Fragments of the performance can be found under 'VIDEO'.
Full recording conditionally available on request for professionals only.

*****

Overweldigende Heliane bij de Reisopera
Place de l'Opera | Franz Straatman
2/10/2023
Het getuigt van artistieke moed om als Reisopera met een voor Nederland volkomen onbekend werk de regionale theaters langs te gaan. Deze moed werd beloond en bekroond met een nieuwe productie van internationale topklasse tijdens de premiere in het Enschedese Wilmincktheater van het Wonder van Heliane van Korngold. Annemarie Kremer als absolute ster in de titelrol. Maar ook de uitwerking van de groots opgezette orkestpartituur door het NNO onder Jac van Steen leverde een geweldige muzikale belevenis op.


Overwhelming Heliane at the Reisopera
Place de l'Opera | Franz Straatman
2/10/2023
It shows artistic courage for the Reisopera to tour the regional theatres with a work completely unknown to the Netherlands. This courage was rewarded and crowned with a new production of international top class during the premiere at the Enschede Wilmincktheater of The Miracle of Heliane by Korngold. Annemarie Kremer was the absolute star in the title role. But the NNO's elaboration of the great orchestral score, conducted by Jac van Steen, was also a great musical experience.

*****

Geen opera, maar een ervaring
Dagblad van het Noorden, 2/10/23
"Heliane" is een langdurig vergeten opera - aan de muziek kan het niet liggen, die is magistraal.Juist die muziek is zinvol voor het vormen van de klankkleur en het leren volhouden van lange spanningslijnen. Onder Jac van Steen speelt het orkest hier op het allerhoogste niveau


Not an opera, but an experience
Dagblad van het Noorden, 2/10/23
"Heliane is a long-forgotten opera - this cannot be due to the music, which is magisterial, especially when it comes to shaping timbre and sustaining long lines of tension. under Jac van Steen, the orchestra plays at the highest level.

*****

Korngolds merkwaardige opera waarin soms opeens alles klopt
NRC 3/10/23
Maar het echte wonder is de bij vlagen sensationele muziek van Korngold, uitstekend gespeeld door het NNO onder Jac van Steen. De inventiviteit, de orkestrale kleuren, de momenten van psychologisch inzicht en contrast.

Korngold's remarkable opera in which everything suddenly makes sense
NRC 3/10/23
But the real wonder is Korngold's at times sensational music, superbly played by the NNO under Jac van Steen. The inventiveness, the orchestral colours, the moments of psychological insight and contrast.

*****

Korngolds Europese zwanenzang beleeft een gedenkwaardige wederopstanding
De Theaterkrant 02/10/2023
De originele versie van Das Wunder der Heliane vraagt om een orkest van meer dan honderd musici. Om de uitvoerbaarheid te vergemakkelijken voor kleinere podia is een aangepaste orkeststratie gemaakt, met nog steeds 85 musici in de orkestbak. Maar ook met deze bezetting weten dirigent Jac van Steen en het formidabel spelende NNO alle kleuren uit de partituur tevoorschijn te toveren. En dat werkt wonderwel bij dit magische sensuele verhaal met deze bedwelmende muziek!

Korngold's European swan song enjoys a memorable resurrection
De Theaterkrant 02/10/2023
The original version of The Miracle of Heliane requires an orchestra of more than a hundred musicians. To make it easier to perform on smaller stages, a modified orchestral transcription was made, still with 85 musicians in the pit. But even with this instrumentation, conductor Jac van Steen and the superbly playing NNO manage to conjure up all the colours of the score. And that works wonders for this magical, sensual story with this intoxicating music!

*****

Das Wunder der Heliane
Online Musik Magazin
9/10/23
Dirigent Jac van Steen findet mit dem zuverlässigen NNO einen unsentimentalen erzählerischen Tonfall, der das Pathos der grossen Momente nicht unterschlägt, aber bewusst ansteuert und der Gefahr einer Dauerüberwältigung entgegensteuert. Sicher gibt es eine Näh zur Filmmusik (damit wurde Korngold bekanntlich später in Hollywood berühmt). Aber das umstrittene Werk erweist sich auch in dieser Version als facettenreich und musikdramaturgisch spannend

The miracle of Heliane
Online music magazine
9/10/23
Conductor Jac van Steen finds an unsentimental narrative tone with the reliable NNO, which does not hide the pathos of the great moments, but consciously steers towards them and counteracts the danger of being permanently overwhelmed. There is certainly a connection with the film music (with which Korngold later became famous in Hollywood). But even in this version, the controversial work proves to be multi-faceted and musically dramatically exciting.

*****

Het wonder van de Reisopera
Sander Boonstra,
Blog 22/10/2023
Tot slot een woord over de muzikale leiding die in deze productie in handen is van (ook uit Nederland) Jac van Steen. Absolute held van de avond, een dirigent die Korngold begrijpt en weet te doorgronden. Een ware leider die koor, orkest, solist en zelfs een blik koperblazers op het balkon vanaf de bok stevig in handen weet te houden, maar die iedereen de ruimte geeft ten volste te presteren en te laten genieten van wat hij of zij doet. Bravo Maestro!

Sander Boonstra,
Blog 22/10/2023
The miracle of the Reisopera
Finally, a word about the musical direction, which in this production is in the hands of (also Dutch) Jac van Steen. The absolute hero of the evening, a conductor who understands Korngold and knows how to fathom him. A true leader who knows how to keep the choir, the orchestra, the soloists and even a can of brass on the balcony firmly under control from the rostrum, but who gives everyone space to perform to the full and to enjoy what they are doing. Bravo Maestro!

*****

Sobere opera "Das Wunder der Heliane" van de Nederlandse Reisopera werpt vragen op
Volkskrant 3/10/2023
Het libretto is wellicht wat mager- de regie van Jakob Messer is van een vergelijkbare signatuur, sober, licht, tijdloos. Hiertegenover staat de broeierige, soms zware muziek van Korngold. Deze klare regie en uitstekende musici, het koor en het weeldering spelende NNO onder Jac van Steen hebben een zware taak om de boel in balans te krijgen. Maar dat alle musici een topprestatie neerzetten, staat vast

Dutch Reisopera's sober opera The miracle of Heliane' raises questions
Volkskrant 3/10/2023
The libretto is perhaps a little thin - Jakob Messer's direction is similarly austere, light, timeless. This is contrasted by Korngold's brooding, sometimes heavy music. The clear direction and the excellent musicians, the choir and the lushly playing NNO under Jac van Steen have a difficult job to balance. But there is no doubt that all the musicians gave a top-class performance.

*****

Basia con fuoco
2/10/23
Dirigent Jac van Steen en het orkest leverden een fantastische prestatie, geweldig wat er uit de bak op klonk..!

Basia con fuoco
2/10/23
Conductor Jac van Steen and the orchestra gave a fantastic performance. It was amazing what came out of the pit.

*****

Gedonder in de Spiegelzaal
Trouw 11/11/2023
Ik zal u het verhaal besparen, maar de enscenering van Jakob Messer van Heliane raakte de ziel.
En zoals in 2018 bij zijn interpretatie van Die Tote Stadt, stond er opnieuw een fantastische
dirigent op de bok: Jac van Steen. Grote klasse!

Thunder in the hall of mirrors
Trouw 11/11/2023
I will spare you the story, but Jakob Messer's staging of Heliane touched the soul. And as in 2018 with his interpretation of Die Tote Stadt, there was again a fantastic conductor at the helm: Jac van Steen. First class!

Translation spoken text in Dutch by Annemarie Kremer:

The role of Heliane is very close to my heart. I have had the opportunity to sing it several times. I expressly say "opportunity" because it is not performed very often. So when you get the chance to do it, it's really fantastic. Also because the role suits my voice incredibly well. I am also a singer who is well suited to Strauss, and Strauss also has a lot in common with Korngold. When I started to study this role and eventually sang it in concert a few times - it fits like a glove, even though it is quite an extreme role. I've sung a lot of demanding roles, but this one really sits with the very demanding ones, because it's very high, with long phrases, and then yet another step higher, and then again another step higher. It's also hard because it's sometimes quite low.

The role of Heliane gives me a lot of satisfaction because there is a great development in her character. And that's what I really enjoy... For me, opera is where singing and acting come together. If you can combine that in one role... that’s really my thing to portray Heliane as she is. Besides, I love Korngold's music - it engulfs you, embraces you, overwhelms you. You are completely swept away by it - I love it.

Translation spoken text in Dutch by Jac van Steen:

If I were to leave out the image, the music is so strong that the characters, the atmosphere, the celestial, the dark dictatorship that's in it, all of that already portrays the drama, all the way through as a kind of image, a musical cartoon with leitmotifs, like in Wagner, or with colors about love and nature in Ravel. That's Korngold!

It is so well written, remember, Korngold was a child prodigy. So writing something difficult, for us, was not difficult at all for him. He could play anything, he was a brilliant pianist. And now I'm quoting Gustav Mahler! I think that just the charisma and the fun that we have as a kind of Korngold family for a few weeks, that the audience can take that vibe with us, and I hope everyone has a wonderful evening with beautiful music. It's like Tristan & Isolde four times over, with really beautiful, great romantic music.

The story behind Nederlandse Reisopera's latest production:

Korngold's Das Wunder der Heliane

29 September 2023

Nederlandse Reisopera’s latest production of Korngold’s Das Wunder der Heliane will be the first staged production of this opera in The Netherlands despite the work receiving its premiere nearly 100 years ago. Why is this Korngold opera performed so rarely when other operas have found success?

I was curious, so after attending a rehearsal early in the production phase, I spent a very sunny, late-summer afternoon chatting to Fergus McAlpine, the young British arranger and conductor, to find out more.

The history of Korngold’s Das Wunder der Heliane

Korngold was a prolific Czech American composer and pianist, latterly known in America for his pioneering work in the world of film music, winning two Oscars for his efforts. Today though, Korngold is perhaps more known for his classical music. Premiered nearly a hundred years ago in 1927 in Hamburg, Das Wunder der Heliane, is Korngold’s fourth opera and one with a somewhat chequered history. Written for an orchestra of over 110 musicians, most opera houses in Europe simply do not have a pit big enough! The opera is therefore rarely staged.

For many years, the music of Korngold lay dormant, but gradually at the end of the twentieth century, his work started to gain prominence all around the world. Performances of Das Wunder der Heliane were still few and far between. Indeed, the three performances at the Volksoper, Vienna in 2017 with Annemarie Kremer in the title role conducted by Jac van Steen, were concert performances and not staged.

However, ideas were brewing in the corridors of Nederlandse Reisopera based in East Netherlands. After their successful stage production of another Korngold opera Die Tote Stadt in 2019 directed by Jakob Peters-Messer, Nederlandse Reisopera actively started to explore the possibility of bringing this lesser known opera, Das Wunder der Heliane to the stage.

The birth of a new score

How to overcome the hurdle of the immense forces needed to produce Das Wunder der Heliane? As with many stories in recent years, the 2020 lockdown played it’s part, and gave birth to this new score created by Fergus McAlpine. The result is a score for a reduced numbers of players, with exactly the same music, lasting exactly the same time and leaving the vocal lines untouched – and most definitely not an arrangement!

Many students from all over the world come to The Netherlands to study conducting on the National Masters in Orchestral Conducting at the Amsterdam Conservatory and the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague. In 2020, when the world closed its doors to orchestral music, Jac van Steen, a teacher on the course gave his students the task of producing a version of Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony for reduced forces to replace the original large orchestration.

Task complete! What next for the young conductors? A request from Nederlandse Reisopera to produce a reduced score for Korngold’s opera, Das Wunder der Heliane. One student was given the task.

And so after a number of twists and turns, requesting and receiving the necessary permission from the Korngold family and collaboration with the publisher – Schott, we arrive at the premiere in Enschede on Saturday 30th September 2023, of an opera produced by Nederlandse Reisopera, directed by Jakob Peters-Messer, with singers from Consensus Vocalis, and scored for just 70 orchestral musicians from the North Netherlands Orchestra.

The Original score V the New score

How does the new score differ from the original?

Is this new score an arrangement, or is the score faithful to Korngold’s original intentions?

McAlpine is very clear on this point. The opera we will hear on stage is not an arrangement of the work. It is instead a reworking of the score for a smaller orchestra. The work will still have the same power and majesty as the original format, just written for a slightly smaller orchestra.

Where the original score indicated four flutes, three oboes and four clarinets, McAlpine reduces these numbers. Percussion is halved from seven or eight players to just three or four, with players doubling up on instruments. The original four keyboard parts are likewise halved to two by doubling the piano part with the celeste, and the organ with the harmonium. Brass numbers are similarly reduced. The score also allows flexibility for the six, (yes six!) additional off-stage fanfare trumpets and three off-stage trombones to be incorporated into the orchestral parts. The vocal parts remain the same.

The new score

The newly commissioned score published by Schott

Interestingly, McAlpine’s work was not just to reduce the number of players. The original score had over 1,000 errors – hopefully they are now all correct! Even the date on the title page was incorrect, originally indicating 1923 – 1296 as the date of composition!!

Will other opera house across Europe now stage this opera using the new version? Only time will tell!

So, why should we go and listen to Nederlandse Reisopera’s latest production of Das Wunder der Heliane?

What is so special about this Korngold opera?

After my visit to the rehearsal, I am starting to understand the appeal of Korngold and why so many musicians hold his work in such high esteem. The opera sounds almost symphonic such is the scale, technical difficultly and long musical lines. This is not a fast moving opera. Much like Wagner, singers languish over small amounts of text and movements in the plot. Korngold presents us with a tonal palate that we are familiar with, but adds that extra musical twist to distort the sound without us being immediately aware of what he is doing.

In this modern world where we are constantly searching for something which goes beyond our expectations, perhaps we can look to a work written nearly 100 years ago to satisfy our needs. The North Netherlands Orchestra is the ideal partner, creating a big orchestral sound. They were certainly not holding back when I heard them in rehearsal with Jac van Steen at the helm.

The cast

Dutch soprano, Annemarie Kremer was a natural choice for the role of Heliane, a role she knew well after her performances in Vienna in 2017 and subsequent recording in 2018. She is known to audiences in The Netherlands after joining the 2015 Nederlandse Reisopera production of Puccini’s Madam Butterfly and was keen to join this production.

The set

Photo: Quite an extraordinary set created by Guido Petzold ©Marco Borggreve

The chorus

So, on Saturday, I will join the audience for the premiere of this latest production from Nederlandse Reisopera and dive deep into a 1920s world where nothing is certain, where we question the reality of all we see before us, and where we can wallow in the rich orchestral sound of a composer who later became one of the most influential film composers of his generation.

SYNOPSIS

In mythical times, the ruler of the realm visits the stranger in his cell to deliver a death sentence for incitement of the people. When the ruler has departed, his wife Heliane slips into the cell, she lets down her hair and exposes her bare feet. When the ruler returns he sees his wife standing naked in front of the prisoner, Heliane informs the executioner that she desired the stranger, but did not touch him. The stranger is asked to make a statement but only agrees if he can first be alone with Heliane for a moment. Once the court has left the chamber, the stranger kisses Heliane and takes his own life with her dagger. Heliane is accused of murder and without witnesses the ruler proclaims to the enraged crowd that only God can prove Heliane's innocence and that she must bring the stranger back to life. The resurrection is however not undertaken: Heliane considers it presumptuous to act in the manner of God giving back life and is prepared to be burnt at the stake. At the last minute, a miracle does however occur: the stranger rises from the dead and embraces Heliane. The ruler stabs her in a blind rage and loses all his powers. The stranger becomes the new ruler, sends the king into exile and liberates the people. He then ascends to heaven together with Heliane.

A Formidable Creation.

Roderic Dunnett experiences the first performance of the opera 'Anna' by English composer David Matthews

classicalmusicdaily.com - Roderic Dunnett - 24 August 2023

RODERIC DUNNETT experiences the first performance of the opera 'Anna' by English composer David Matthews

David Matthews, whose opera Anna has just been given its concert premiere at The Grange Opera, is one of the most inventive, sensitive and thoughtful composers in England today. Experience of the Czech Republic and especially Moravia, both formerly Czechoslovakia, is possibly the most important influence, certainly on his life, at times on his music. Another experience was working with Benjamin Britten in his later days, near the end of the 1960s.

Photo: David Matthews, who turned eighty in March 2023

His technique, though not necessarily his actual voice, one tangibly less Modernist than that of his brother Colin, owes something to both. Indeed he has written, 'Schoenberg's non-vernacular language I believe to have been a sidetrack in musical history' (although he is not wholly averse to Sprechstimme). He knows his Tippett (on whom he has written an invaluable book). Most amusingly, in his multicolour attire, orange tinge, soft shoes and shambling gait, at the curtain calls he actually looked like Tippett: 'I agree with Tippett that our living vernacular is jazz, blues and above all, rock'; his own vernacular above-all would doubtless be vivid, sometimes thrilling East European (especially Czech and Slovak, but Hungarian and Romanian too) folk-music, and possibly Jewish Klezmer - each evident, not just in passing, in this pioneering opera score; and surely Bartók - a crucial trailblazer for any composer of string quartets, of which Matthews has composed, incredibly, some twenty. An extraordinary achievement, indicating his typically consistent innovation and determination.

This commitment to Eastern European culture, lifestyle and indeed politics made the late Roger Scruton's libretto, written shortly before the philosopher's death specially for Matthews, a perfect draw for him. 1989 has clearly just passed - it is not acknowledged as such - and we are in an unnamed city - surely really Communist Brno; though the advertisement for Anna clearly shows central Prague.

Here a brother, Peter, Alex Otterburn, intensely moving, but explosive too, with the voice and aggressive timbre to match, and sister, Anna, Rhian Lois, sensible, feisty, and sensational at full stretch, which Matthews is not afraid to demand, both deprived in their teens of tertiary education and reduced to more menial jobs: he electrical, she a little better - librarian, due to their father's being accused, rightly or wrongly, of anti-state activity, and dying under interrogation - are coming to terms with their ill-fortune, a deep sense of grievance, and below that, even at their grown-up ages, surely a feeling of orphaning and deprivation.

Photo: Baritone Alex Otterburn, the vexed central figure of Peter, Anna's pessimistic brother

But they treat the present situation differently: he harbouring an urge for 'justice', to take revenge retrospectively on his father's torturers; she more positive and optimistic: 'I wish we could move on from all that happened, and begin to live'.

Anna's dissidence from her brother's understandable (perhaps, in the newly freed states, quite common) obsession is much-repeated: 'You cling to the past when the future beckons': she in a reverse (fresh) way almost obsessive herself. His is an insistence - 'Forgiveness? Never!' - hers in effect a compromise, even denial. The 'freedom' she anticipates, more or less welcomes, is to him more godless than the atheist Communists themselves. 'We're all free now: everything is for sale.'

Photo: Soprano Rhian Lois, who commandingly sings the title role in Anna

'What is deserved is only half of justice: there is mercy, too', says (I think) the loyal friend, Marta. His is a fairly virulent dream of vindication and revenge; Anna's, a dream of freedom: 'We have lived through a time of darkness', she concedes - a reason for self-liberation. 'Stop it, Peter, we were romantic children then.' Then - not now. An effective verbal counterpoint, which opens the door to much in the music.

This dialogue, the pair interacted with by two other characters - a third at the end - forms the basis for the opera. Scruton's text is not surprisingly permeated by a philosophical and moral exploration or underlay, which is something Matthews is able, time and again, to bring out in his music. At certain stages during Act I, one felt the author's script slipped attractively into the poetic, rich in imagery; at others, however, mainly later on, some of that delicacy seemed to yield to a more prosaic, dialectical approach which left a great deal for composer and indeed singers to engage with. It lugubriously rabbits on, one might suggest. Too repetitive.

Photo: Roger Scruton, himself the composer of an opera, whose libretto was set by David Matthews as Anna

If anything lingers in the mind after this memorable first performance, it is the orchestra. And this means the conductor. Jac van Steen is surely one of the most powerful, authoritative, deeply researched and skilled maestros today. One thinks of Carlos Kleiber. His ability to nurse and steer his players of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra was visible: his transitioning from almost a total hush to a dazzling scherzo was nothing less than electrifying; in his unique, astonishing way, he motivated them. Here was evidence of Matthews' score's range.

At relevant moments van Steen rose to his full, towering height; at others he could crouch down like a kitten, almost hiding behind the lectern. He would moderate the length of his baton, to achieve a different effect. If he could generate, more obviously, a fortissimo - way beyond the size of his still ample ensemble - he could take the strings down to not just pianissimo, but quadruple piano. It was a lesson. We were watching a master at work.

The great Dutch conductor Jac van Steen, who has recorded several of David Matthews' symphonies, was Musical Director of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and acclaimed for his galvanising appearances at Garsington Opera.

Not just the orchestral, but every cue his soloists needed he gave, immaculately, swivelling to them, just as he arched over to the players at the rear.

Time to acknowledge the two other main characters: Marta Fontanals-Simmons providing the heartening, understanding (as it happens) Marta, and tenor Oliver Johnston quite superb as the much-resented, undesirable returnee, Miro(slav).

Photo: Tenor Oliver Johnston brings superb tone and musicianship to the interloper, Miro

(Peter: 'What is he doing in his home town?' ... 'I hold you to blame for my father's death; and the greed and corruption that are destroying our country.') Both these two soloists were searing, but also alleviating, and Matthews' writing for them appropriately so.

Photo: Highly praised mezzo-soprano Marta Fontanals-Simmons, who sings the role of Marta

The vocal ensembles - duets, and an exciting, telling trio, for instance - were superbly managed. When Father Antonín - the ever-powerful, here tender bass-baritone Jonathan Lemalu - arrives as a (hopefully) steadying influence, his contribution is small but his vocal presence magnificent. (NB: Antonín is a Czech name.)

Photo: Bass-baritone Jonathan Lemalu gives presence and weight to the role of Father Antonín

But it is still the orchestration that utterly dazzled and inspired. 'My music for Anna is symphonic', Matthews has said. Well, a real symphony - albeit in multi-movements - we were treated to. The instrumentation is sensational, indeed by its constant variety explored the imagery the libretto never quite managed to. Frequently, it made us shiver with its nervy activity, fretful in solos - insistent clarinet, whining trumpet, and the rest. The strings - violins over double bass, scratchy, pretty nasty. Cellos, surely divisi, in more than one salient moment, and together in some gripping pizzicato. The woodwind was used to miraculous effect: packed together, assuming a chromatic tinge; flute soloist plucked out from the textures to glitter, or grieve. A brass interlude - there were several, Debussy-like - breathing fire; a well-turned, unexpected sad fugue; or everyone breaking out in a kind of Klezmer dance with all the associations that might carry. The use of tympani and percussion was consistently clever, marvellously judged, and mesmerising. A small chorus, pianissimo, added a welcome layer.

And here and there, one heard not Janáček's unmistakable, jabbing voice, but maybe aspects of his technique. Matthews has allotted, he says, its own Leitmotif to each character, but surely he goes beyond that. Perhaps several, more likely; plus virtual Leitmotifs for the orchestral units, deftly and sometimes insinuatingly passed around by them. It was all very appetizing, at times intense, absorbing, and strangely thrilling. Matthews has composed (nearly) ten symphonies, nine of them already recorded on NMC, Nimbus, Dutton and Chandos, in addition to several recorded concertos - one, double.

He has surely exported his mastery of the string quartet (all adopted by Toccata Classics) into this score, hence the marvellous ranging use of orchestral sections in intimate exchange, fiery aggression, perky interplay or tumbling counterpoint. But possibly one is rightly reminded of the vivid colours - are they watercolours or acrylics? - with which he clothes his quite frequent Symphonic Poems: In the Dark Time, The Music of Dawn, Towards Sunrise, or A Vision of the Sea (his latest): there, not least, one discovers what a sensationally expressive orchestrator he is, all of it reflected here.

Matthews' (and Scruton's) Anna - supported by the Matthias Corvinus Collegium, named after the great renaissance king of Hungary, 1458-90 - is a formidable creation. Its writing was spread over three years. If one had to look for composers with whom his idiom might be paired, or with whom he has (to a degree coincidental) kinship, they would not be from our half of the twentieth century (although Tippett is arguably his most important springboard, and John Joubert comes close; Nicholas Maw offered a keen sense of encouragement), but from the primarily tonal works of the early twentieth century, composers with whom, I admit, I myself am obsessed: Schreker - one besotting passage is a dead ringer for his 1924 opera Irrelohe - Korngold and Krenek, while in more lyrical spots, as gorgeous as Samuel Barber. Diatonicism runs through his symphonies, and if anything has become more marked in his writing. Matthews has made it a mission to renew and revitalise interest in tonality, or rather tonality itself. Time and again, he succeeds.

This semi-staged (really non-staged) premiere, with a full audience, came about from a chance, and happy, meeting with The Grange's Artistic Director, the superlative countertenor Michael Chance. Would it be sensible to consider staging it, in a summer season or two? Quite possibly worthwhile. Welsh National Opera throve on mounting (from Bregenz) David Pountney's bold undertaking, André Tchaikovsky's The Merchant of Venice. It triumphed.

Photo: The Grange, Northington, near Winchester, UK, seen from above

Anna will gain enormously from an intelligent staging, its four chief characters interlocked in their contrasting worlds, in this respect, rather like an intimate Janáček opera based on those Ibsen-like texts by female Czech playwrights, or indeed one by his Bohemian-Moravian contemporaries Foerster and Novák. It's worth giving it a go.

Henley Standard, 24 July 2023

Acrobats, trapeze artists and innovative scene changes were visual treat

DESPITE being the most popular of Czech operas and being full of recognisable tunes, Smetana’s opera, the Bartered Bride, is not so frequently performed and comes as a welcome delight to those seeing it for the first time. It’s a case of “so that’s where this tune comes from...”, the familiarity stemming from the opera’s overture which is often played in concert programmes. The overture in this instance is skilfully employed in setting the scene — the hustle and bustle of preparations for a celebration taking place in the village hall, with entries and exits of various characters.

Meanwhile, the vicar comically conducts along to a new recording of the music being played on the community’s gramophone.

The opera is essentially a romantic comedy, yet there are surprising emotional depths, too, delivered through passionate arias and duets juxtaposed among the joyful, light-hearted dance numbers. Indeed, the most memorable scenes are based around the wonderful singing and choreography (Darren Royston) displayed by the chorus, as in the furiant, skona and range of different polkas. A particularly clever routine takes place in the local bar, with a sequence of early Sixties jive routines co-ordinated with polka rhythms and interspersed with sections of balletic waltz music.

Another highlight comes at the beginning of the third act and involves a colourful circus number performed by accomplished acrobats, jugglers and trapeze artists, synchronised with the frenzied Dance of the Comedians music. The plot centres on the struggles of the central characters, Marenka (Pumetza Matshikiza) and Jevit (Oliver Johnstone), who are betrothed yet face challenges, deceit and heartbreak along the way before things finally work out for them. The setting, originally a Czech, rural village, has been moved to England during the Sixties, with past English traditions, such as dancing around the Maypole (on-stage) playing a key role in the festivities. Despite this transposition, the opera is performed in Czech. Matshikiza has a remarkable voice with glorious top notes, particularly evident in her heartfelt outpouring of “Ten lasky sen” (That dream of love). Johnstone is a good match and the voices blend beautifully in their duets together.

Another fine voice is that of David Ireland who plays the part of devious businessman Kecal, who plans to marry off Marenka to the son of a wealthy businessman. Elsewhere, the other characters are also excellent, notably that of John Findon’s stammering Vasek and the illustrious Yvonne Howard as Marenka’s mother, Ludmila. As is to be expected with Garsington, there are visual treats in store. The scene changes are innovative and seamlessly merged into music and storyline — the set change between the community hall in the first act into a public bar for the second act was remarkably slick, receiving well-deserved applause.

The production, originally by Paul Curran and revived by Rosie Purdie, is undoubtedly enhanced by the superb playing of the philharmonia. Under the direction of Jac van Steen, they capture entirely the earthy, full-bodied spirit of the rustic dances, yet also accompany the singers with warmth and sensitivity; always fully present yet never obtrusive. This is a first-class production all round.

The Bartered Bride, Garsington Opera review - brilliant revival of a comedy of cruelty

Stephen Walsh - The Arts Desk, July 2023

Smetana’s enchanting bitter-sweet comedy is probably on the danger-list for cancellation by the modern guardians of our moral sanctity. The plot hinges, like Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge, on the cash-sale of the hero’s bride (in Hardy, the wife and daughter): not nice, and surely a risky hint to any young men in the audience teetering on the brink.

These closing scenes are particularly well handled in Rosie Purdie’s revival of Paul Curran’s 2019 production. This is a brilliant revival tainted only by some minor ensemble problems between stage and pit in the first and last scenes. Curran had transplanted and updated the action to 1950s England (as confirmed by a portrait of the newly-crowned Queen Elizabeth on designer Kevin Knight’s pub wall).

But somehow a sense of 19th-century Bohemia survives, partly I suppose because of the Czech language, partly because of the somewhat unBritish antics of the chorus, sparklingly directed as a fine set of individuals by Purdie and choreographer Darren Royston, dancing in very mixed couples round the (indoor) maypole in the village hall, then cavorting uninhibitedly with the circus acrobats in Act 3. And what a stunning team of circus performers, almost worth the ticket price on their own!

Jac van Steen, in the pit, seems to have this music in his veins. The orchestral sound has a sort of rustic vigour, but infected with the precision one expects of the Philharmonia orchestra. The ensemble slips were due, I think, to the complexity of the chorus movement. But the choral singing itself is crisp and invigorating. One longs to join in.

‘The Bartered Bride’: Czech wit at Garsington

The article.com - Mark Ronan
July 2023

Smetana’s The Bartered Bride, from the later days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but written in the local vernacular of the Czech lands, is a romp. As in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, we all know that the outcome will be a happy one, and like the Italian pathos of I pagliacci it features a stage within the stage, where sadness and disappointment help drive the plot.

Garsington’s merry production by Paul Curran, revived from 2019, gives a wonderfully detailed portrait of a village community, and the singing performances were superb. Pumeza Matshikiza sang beautifully as a very feisty Mařenka, showing excellent chemistry with Oliver Johnston as a boldly sung Jeník. Star of the show in the first part was David Ireland as the self-important and rather slippery Mayor, acting as a marriage broker. Of course his machinations are soon rendered otiose by the confusion introduced by the circus troupe and its effect on the dopey-looking Vašek of John Findon, who played a blinder in a Tommy Cooperish sort of way. Fine singing by everyone, musically driven forward with passion under the baton of Jac van Steen. The circus scene was a delight, and the whole performance huge fun.

February 2023 Bachtrack
Korngold and Rachmaninov glow in Cadogan Hall with van Steen and the RPO
Roy Westbrook

Wagner’s Prelude to Lohengrin reveals the essence of the ensuing drama. Liszt, who conducted the first performance, noted the scoring of the Prelude evoked three elements: woodwinds for Elsa, brass for the King, and high-lying divided strings for the Grail. That last element was well played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra last night at Cadogan Hall, though something of its gleaming radiance eluded them. The piece runs between eight and ten minutes and here was much nearer the swifter timing, to its advantage. The long crescendo was ideally paced by conductor Jac van Steen, flowing towards the climax in which the woodwinds and brass were not all quite dead centre in their tuning. Satisfying enough, if not at the level that leaves one longing for the curtain to rise.

Instead, Wagner here provided a preface to music by one of the most gifted of European Jewish exiles of the 1930s. Korngold went from Vienna to Hollywood and there wrote only film music, vowing not to return to concert music until Hitler was defeated. So in 1945 he could produce his Violin Concerto in D major, which draws its material from several of his successful movie soundtracks. Richly scored, with an array of percussion including cymbals, gong, tubular bell, glockenspiel, vibraphone, xylophone and celesta, it unfolds a fund of melody too good to languish in cinema archives. Soloist Rosanne Philippens, in her debut with the RPO, played beautifully, as if she believed in every note of a still sometimes disparaged concerto. The exquisitely phrased opening theme is from the film Another Dawn (1937), but in spanning two octaves in five notes suggests more the world of Viennese expressionism Korngold left behind. No need to turn down the lights and serve popcorn, but perhaps van Steen did not indulge the music‘s origins quite enough initially. But he warmed to the task more in the touching central Romanze, and especially the finale with its brazenly Technicolor orchestral tuttis, repurposing The Sea Hawk (1940) among others.

Rachmaninov is a composer used by Hollywood rather than writing directly for it, and his Second Symphony used to get the soundtrack treatment, suffering frequent cuts. Now we hear it all, except that as here the first movement’s exposition repeat is often omitted. This typically reduces a 60-minute score to 55, but either option works well if the conductor realises that those rich harmonies and stirring tunes benefit from keeping the score flowing, which Steen certainly did. In a pre-concert speech he suggested that if you can count the occurrences of the Dies irae in the score and send that number to him, he could enter you in a lottery. So he knows how tightly this work, once accused of meandering, is constructed. He displayed its incidental glories, and managed its tricky transitions of mood and tempo, in a completely persuasive long view. The RPO responded magnificently with their finest playing of the evening.

Stilstaan bij oorlog en vrede: Benoit’s De Oorlog

Klassiek Centraal
Jessy Baeken

3 december 2022

125 jaar klassieke muziek in de Koningin Elisabethzaal te Antwerpen: het geeft een blik in het verleden van de Belgische muziekcultuur. Erbij stilstaand mogen wij absoluut niet klagen, want tot op de dag van vandaag kunnen wij ons tegoed doen aan een groot aanbod – van opera tot filmmuziek. Zo klein als dat wij als land zijn, zo groot is onze liefde voor (muziek)kunst. Om dit alles te vieren brachten het Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Groot omproepkoor, Laurens Collegium, Octopus Kamerkoor, de Waelrant kinderkoren, en talloze solisten een uniek productie van een – jammer genoeg – weinig uitgevoerd werk: Peter Benoit’s De Oorlog (1869-1873). Dit onder leiding van dirigent Jac van Steen.

Vlaamse klanken

Het oratorium van Benoit kan op zijn minst massief genoemd worden: meerdere koren – waaronder een kinderkoor –, symfonieorkest en solisten. Maar wat dit Magnum Opus – voor mij althans – uniek maakt is dat de teksten van Vlaamse dichter Jan Van Beers er vloeiend, mooi uitkomen in dit werk. Nederlands als een gezongen taal in de klassieke muziek, werkt dat wel? Het is een vraag die ik als musicologe de afgelopen jaren al meermaals heb gehoord. Dankzij De Oorlog kan ik deze kwestie eindelijk beëindigen: jazeker. De elegantie van de vocale compositie van Benoit is niet te onderschatten. Het is een scenische verhandeling over het Pruisisch-Oostenrijkse conflict van 1866, en de eerdere Amerikaanse Secessieoorlog (1861-65). Conflict, gruwelen, verdriet en uiteindelijk het begin- en eindpunt in rust en vrede gaf een grote bron van kracht en inhoud aan deze compositie.

De persoon Benoit

Peter Benoit (1834-1901) was een Vlaamse componist en muziekpedagoog. Een korte sectie mag gewijd worden aan het belang van een negentiende-eeuwse componist in wat nu nog altijd (maar dat is gewoon de geschiedenis) een sterk internationaal muzieklandschap is in België. Tussen de Italiaanse, Franse en Duitse operacomposities die in België hun eerste stappen kenden stond Peter Benoit als een soort figuur ter vervlaamsing. Deze verwoording (vervlaamsing) heeft tegenwoordig een nogal nationalistische bijsmaak, maar toen betekende het zoveel als de muziekcultuur terug naar onszelf brengen. Benoit heeft zijn invloed niet alleen in zijn composities gestoken, maar ook in zijn onderwijs: hij werd uiteindelijk de eerste directeur van het Koninklijk Vlaams Muziekconservatorium te Antwerpen.

Benoit’s oorlog

De Oorlog is een Belgische compositie, maar heeft stilistisch zijn mosterd wel gehaald bij de verscheidene Duitse en Franse romantische muziekstromingen. Muzikaal was de negentiende eeuw echt een prachtige smeltcultuur van klank- en compositiestijlen! Het resultaat is een verhalende compositie met een massa aan vocale kracht, en een collectief van strijkers. De uitgebreide bassectie – acht celli en zes contrabassen, als ik juist ben – gaf een voorbode aan de donderende kracht die te verwachten viel eenmaal als de muzikale oorlog begon. 

Het opvallende aan de kwaliteit van deze productie was dat iedereen op een gelijk hoog niveau zat. Alle solisten waren uitstekend gekozen – sterk, vocaal en hoorbaar tot ver achterin de zaal. Een klein extra applaus voor de stemkracht en -kleur van alt Cécile van de Sant. Een vibrato als een klok komt wel vaker voor bij klassieke zangers (en, maar dat is een andere discussie, is niet altijd even wenselijk), maar de overgangen naar niet altijd even makkelijke intervallen waren vlot en beklijvend. De koren waren aan beiden kanten tegenover elkaar geplaatst in de ruimte op het eerste balkon. 

De vraag was of dit een dialoog ging zijn, of een tweekamp – de opstelling creëerde een ambigue sfeer hieromtrent. Het resultaat was een geheel eerder, waarbij de verschillende koren op verscheidene momenten herhalingen zongen van de gedichten van Van Beers. Minder gevecht, meer complexe klankkleuren dus. Aan deze recensente is het kinderkoor een beetje verloren gegaan, maar dat kan ook gewoon aan de plaatsen hebben gelegen. Van wat ik hoorde was het een leuke extra om de stem van de jeugd en onschuld in de oorlogscompositie te betrekken. De typische percussie- en kopersecties (oorlogsinstrumenten) waren ook alvast van de partij.

Dat deze compositie weinig is uitgevoerd (25!) is jammer. Na deze avond hoop deze recensent alvast dat het een frequentere plaats krijgt in het oratoriumrepertoire. Het is een beklijvende, romantische compositie waarin je als luisteraar wordt meegesleurd. En over deze uitvoering? Er zijn eigenlijk weinig woorden nodig: proficiat tutti!

About the performance as a whole, few words are really needed: congratulations tutti !

Place de l’Opera, 29/11/2022 – Franz Straatman

Glorieuze koorzang in Benoits ‘De Oorlog’

De concertzaal van Tivoli/Vredenburg bleek vrijdagavond 25 november de perfecte plek voor de uitvoering van het oratorium ‘De Oorlog’. De Belgische componist Peter Benoit zette het enorme werk op als een stereofonische aanklacht tegen machthebbers die volkeren tegen elkaar opzetten, en steeds weer oorlogen beginnen met alle ellende als gevolg. Vijf koorgroepen benut Benoit om strijdende partijen tot klinken te brengen, vooral in het tweede deel van het driedelige oratorium.

De verzamelde uitvoerende´troepen´voor De oorlog van Peter Benoit in Tivoli Vredenburg onder leiding van Jac van Steen. F

Dankzij de vele balcons in de amfitheatervormige zaal konden de koren prachtig over de ruimte worden opgesteld rond het orkestpodium. Leden van het Groot Omroepkoor zongen links en rechts flink uit elkaar opgesteld, terwijl het uit Rotterdam afkomstige Laurens Collegium het middenkoor vormde achter het Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, het symfonisch orkest van Antwerpen. Veel hoger op de middenbalcons een forse combinatie van drie Belgische koren: het Octopus Kamerkoor op de achterste rijen, en daarvóór het Waelrant Meisjesjeugdkoor en het gelijknamige kinderkoor. Bijelkaar zo’n 250 instrumentalisten en vocalisten, waarbij ook nog zeven solisten, die door dirigent Jac van Steen in goede banen moesten worden geleid. Dat lukte hem uitstekend.

Bastiaan Everink

‘Oorlog en vrede’ zo luidde het motto dat de programmeurs van het AVROTROS Vrijdagavondconcert aan de uitvoering hadden gehecht. Het genot van vrede komt in het eerste deel beeldend tot uitdrukking in de lieflijke beschrijving die tekstschrijver Jan van Beers geeft van de vreedzaam opbloeiende natuur in de lente. ‘Beken en vlieten verbreken hun hun boeien, en schieten, en vloeien, met tintelende glans. Kabbelend, en babbelend, hunne oevers langs’, zo zongen koren links en rechts elkaar toe op idyllisch klinkende melodieën die Benoit bij de teksten bedacht. ‘Welkom, Lente!’ jubelen het solistenkwartet en de koren van kinderen en volwassenen. Dan voert Van Beers ‘De Mensch’ op die zich op de borst slaat: ‘Ja, mijn is de aarde! Ik ben half koning’! Bij een trots klinkende begeleiding van blazers zong bariton Bastiaan Everink met élan. Maar het koor in de rol van ‘Spotgeest’ strafte hem af: ‘Hoor den trotsaard brallen’.

Einde eerste deel, weg idyllische sfeer. Het tweede deel begint meteen met donkere klanken uit altviolen, celli en bassen aangevuld met dreigende blazers. De ‘Geest der duisternis’ treedt naar voren. De bas Charles DeKeysere zette een flinke keel op om de ‘pestwalm uit der Helle kolken’ door de zaal te verspreiden. In spannende koorpartijen beschrijven ‘Aardgeesten’ de rollende wagens en roffelende trommen die daarna op gang op komen. De allegorische figuur ‘Geweld’ (de heroisch zingende Everink) hitst: ‘Macht is het enige recht op aarde.’ In steeds fellere bewoordingen en klankuitbarstingen wordt de oorlog harde werkelijkheid. Benoit zorgde met de ritmisch op elkaar botsende veelkorigheid en de dramatische oorlogsgeluiden uit het orkest plus extra blazersgroepen op de bovenste balcons van de zaal, voor een geweldige schildering van de verschrikkingen van de oorlog.

Aaklige raven!

Het derde deel opent met de Dood. In een meditatieve vertelling bezongen de koren, begeleid met een eenzame hoorn boven een intieme orkestpartij, de sfeer van ontreddering: ‘Wreed is de Mens, genadig is de Dood’. In dit deel geeft librettist Van Beers het woord aan personages zoals ‘De Gewonde’, ‘De Moeder’ en allegorische figuren: ‘Spotgeest’, ‘Geest der Duisternis’ en ‘Menschheid’ Tenor Frank van Aken zong zijn klacht van de stervende soldaat met ontroerende intensiteit: ‘Aaklige raven! Kunt ge niet wachten tot mijn licht is uitgedoofd?’

Aansluitend zong mezzo-sopraan Cécile van de Sant gepassioneerd de met snijdend klinkende strijkers omspeelde uitroep ‘Mijn zoon! Waar ligt mijn zoon?’ Een tweede stervende (bariton Lars Terray) beleefde visioenen van gelukkige tijden thuis, lieflijk omspeeld door een klarinetsolo. Bariton Ivan Thirion zong aansluitend met duivelse uitdrukking het commentaar van de ‘Spotgeest’.

Het aangrijpendst bleek het afsluitende, grote koordeel ‘Menschheid’. Unisono ingezet door een vrouwenkoor, en begeleid door een orgel, ontplooide zich een tekst vol verzuchtingen over zoveel domheid. ‘Wat baat de stem, in uw gemoed luid roepend: ‘elk bemin zijn broeder gelijk zichzelf’, als gij, verwoeder dan duivelen, dorst naar broederbloed?’ Het middenkoor zong deze in sobere zetting verpakte verzuchting met intense uitdrukking. In het dubbelkorige vervolg klonk enige hoop door, maar aan het slot bleef vertwijfeling bestaan. Benoit liet de koorzang niet oplossen, maar stelde een muzikaal vraagteken.

Extase

Hier had het oratorium wat mij betreft mogen eindigen. Maar de negentiende eeuw kon niet om God heen. ‘Geesten des Lichts’ zetten een massale lofzang in: ‘Looft den Heere! Wanhoop niet, maar denk: daarboven waakt mijn God en Opperheer!’ Weliswaar dichtte Van Beers regels die nog steeds actueel zijn zoals ‘Geef gelijkheid, vrijheid, rede over alle volk beheer’ maar het pathos van de muziek eromheen, was mij een tikje teveel. De extase werd hoog opgevoerd met een batterij trompetten op een van de bovenste balcons. Dirigent Jac van Steen hield de klankwervelingen goed in de hand.

De glorieuze zang van de koorgroepen, waarin ook de jeugd- en kinderkoren zich met frisse klanken zich mengden, bereikte hier zijn hoogtepunt. Met de solisten, waar in sopraan Katrien Baerts het vocale kwartet aanvoerde, en voortreffelijk spelende Antwerpse orkest, kreeg ‘De Oorlog’ een droomuitvoering. Het effect van de uiteen geplaatste koren bleek in de radio-opname nog spannender over te komen.

Opera Nederland, 27.11.2022

Unique performance of pacifist indictment 'The War'

In his 1873 oratorio 'The War', Peter Benoit composed an indictment of the madness of war. Now, almost 150 years later, the work is being revived by the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra with performances in the Netherlands and Belgium. And the work is more relevant than ever...

One of the extraordinary events in Flemish-Dutch musical life in the last 30 years of the 19th century was the performance of the oratorio 'De Oorlog' by Flemish composer Peter Benoit (1834-1901). The world premiere on 16 August 1873 in Antwerp and the Dutch premiere on 29 November 1889 in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw each involved more than 700 performers. The Antwerp Symphony Orchestra now brings 'The War' to Utrecht and Antwerp in a series of major choral works by Benoit. The first performance took place in Tivoli Utrecht with almost 300 participants, including seven vocal soloists, five choirs and a large symphony orchestra.

The poem by the Belgian poet Jan Van Beers has all the characteristics of the Flemish language and sometimes seems strange to our ears.  There is a certain artlessness combined with a tendency towards realism, which gives the work a clear language. In the first movement, the vocal quartet, like the spirits of the earth, sings of spring, the symbol of human youth. One hears the streams, the moors, the winds, the bees, and a warm-hearted joy comes from the chorus. Man stands up and declares that everything on earth belongs to him. The Dutch baritone Bastiaan Everink, with his heroic sound, interprets the arrogance excellently, even in the unpleasant low moments of the part.

In the second part, the idyll is disturbed by the Spirit of Darkness. The Flemish bass-baritone Charles Dekeyser, with his clear and crisp voice, whips the people into fighting each other for power. The music becomes screaming, harrowing, screeching and cutting. The Spirit of Darkness is supported by Violence, interpreted by Everink, who, in a cleverly sung baritone solo, shouts unaccompanied "Men! Enough sleep" to the weapons. Fighting warriors, weeping women and cursing workers then describe the turmoil of the approaching war. Finally, the mocking spirit - the lyrical Flemish bass-baritone Ivan Thirion - applauds the ravages of war with "Heisa! Jubilate! Spirits of hell!

Then the war begins and Earth Spirits and Spirits of Darkness outline what is happening on the battlefield in a musical exclamation of disorder. Cannon roars and war cries can be heard as the spirits cheer and mock the destruction of humanity. In a duet, the 'spoilers' sing the songs of sealing in their victory, and we hear the lamentations of the 'spoilers' in their downfall. The opening of the second act of Die Walküre is just around the corner. The section ends with the moving "Du, Jehovah Sebaoth" for children's choir with organ accompaniment.

The final section describes the scene after the battle. The language becomes more noble, uplifting and softer, exuding gloom and calm. The horrors of war are fully expressed in the visions of the first wounded. Here the Dutch tenor Frank van Aken turns his lament into a deeply moving moment with a whole range of vocal colours. The duet of a desperate mother - the beautiful alto of the Dutch Cécile van de Sant - and the Second Wounded - the bright baritone of the Norwegian Lars Terray from the Groot Omroepkoor - makes you feel the displacement intensely. Finally, Menschheid asks why the Lord's curse is so cruel on the world and concludes, "Everyone loves his brother as himself". Spirits of Light ends with the peaceful hymn "Do not despair, but think: up there my God and Supreme Lord is watching!

In 'The War', poet and composer have understood each other, and there is a fine correspondence between word and music. It is a work that - as Hannah Aelvoet describes in an essay - "screams and seduces, that whips and anoints [...] at times gentle, then combative choral work, to moving scenes, haunting solos and breathtaking orchestral outbursts". The Antwerp Handelsblad, on the other hand, wrote of the premiere: "it may already contain some sections that cannot be exonerated from tedium". Benoit took several colours on his palette and was not afraid to use strong colours. There is spirit and colour in his music, reminiscent of Wagner and Berlioz. In contrast to the anomalous combinations and dissonances, there are wonderful moments, for Benoit has a melodic gift that does justice to the lyrical passages.

All credit to the Dutch conductor Jac van Steen, who mastered the performance of this huge work.

The Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, the Great Broadcasting Choir, the Laurens Collegium, the Octopus Chamber Choir, the Waelrant Girls' Youth Choir and the Waelrant Children's Choir+ sounded full of inspiration and energy, while in the background the organ was played by Peter Van de Velde. Belgian soprano Katrien Baerts sounded beautifully clear in the vocal quartets.

The loud cheers and applause from the audience showed how much they enjoyed this unique performance.

In 2024, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra will release a CD box set with the complete series of live recordings of Benoit's major choral works, including this 'The War'.

BADISCHES STAATSTHEATER – BADISCHE STAATSKAPELLE KARLSRUHE

October 2022
Großartige Zusammenarbeit zwischen Solist und Orchester

Mittwoch, den 26. Oktober 2022 / Von Christine Gehringer

Zum Konzert mit Rudolf Buchbinder und der Badischen Staatskapelle Zu Gast in Karlsruhe beim jüngsten Sinfoniekonzert der Badischen Staatskapelle war der Pianist Rudolf Buchbinder: Die Beethoven-Einspielungen des großen österreichischen Musikers besitzen Referenz-Charakter, doch ähnliches lässt sich auch über seine Brahms- Interpretationen sagen. Unzählige Male hat er sich den Klavierkonzerten gewidmet – mit verschiedensten Orchestern. Das war in der Zusammenarbeit mit der Staatskapelle – die unter der Leitung von Jac van Steen außerdem die Haydn-Variationen und Hindemiths „Mathis der Maler“ spielte – sehr deutlich zu spüren.

Dabei waren die „Haydn-Variationen“ zu Beginn mitnichten nur ein Einstieg in diesen interessanten Vormittag. Diese Variationen (tatsächlich ist das variierte Choralthema allerdings mit großer Wahrscheinlichkeit nicht von Joseph Haydn) wirken vielmehr wie eine Hinführung zum späteren Klavierkonzert: Denn bereits hier zeigt sich der reife Orchesterstil von Johannes Brahms, dazu ein ausgeprägtes Formbewusststein, das sich ebenso in den dichten Bezügen des B-Dur-Konzerts niederschlägt.

Jac van Steen und die Badische Staatskapelle gewinnen diesen acht Variationen immer wieder neue Gesichter ab; sie lassen sie in strömender Eleganz erscheinen oder im ruhigen, gedämpften Fluss, zwischendurch erhaben und kraftvoll, mit festlichen Bläsern. Das „Siziliano“ der siebten Variation kommt tänzerisch leichtfüßig, zudem werden die Verbindungen zwischen Bläsern und Streichern (etwa in Variation Nr. 3) so fein ziseliert,
dass man alles genauestens verfolgen kann. Formbewusstsein, dieses aber nun angereichert mit Klangbildern in Anlehnung an die Tafeln des Isenheimer Altars – das gilt für die Sinfonie „Mathis der Maler“ von Paul Hindemith. Die Sinfonie ist überreich an Symbolik und Andeutungen – nicht nur in Bezug auf die Gemälde von Matthias Grünewald, sondern auch, was die christliche Tradition und ihre Ausprägungen in der Musikgeschichte angeht. Doch auch ohne diese Bezüge zu kennen, gewinnt man der Sinfonie einiges ab - auch wenn mancher Konzertbesucher (dies entnimmt man aus Gesprächsfetzen) deutlich mit dem Werk „fremdelte“.

*Jac van Steen and the Badische Staatskapelle give these eight variations new faces again and again allowing them to appear in flowing elegance or in a quiet, subdued flow, between elegance or in a calm, subdued flow, in between sublime and powerful, with festive winds. The "Siziliano" of the seventh variation is light-footed and dance-like, and the connections between the between winds and strings (for example, in Variation No. 3) are so finely chiselled that you can follow everything very closely.

Aus dem „Engelskonzert“, nachdem sich der Vorhang der langsamen Einleitung gehoben hat, formen Jac van Steen und die Staatskapelle ein Bild aus Helligkeit und Heiterkeit – trotz polyphoner Dichte. Grau und düster schleppt sich danach der Trauermarsch der „Grablegung“ dahin, wobei aber gegen Ende schon die Hoffnung durchschimmert, und besonders eindrucksvoll gelingt der dritte Satz, „Die Versuchung des heiligen Antonius“: Immer wieder greifen die Dämonen an, plötzlich flirren aufreizende Trillerfiguren in den hohen Streichern, doch am Ende bricht der Sieg durch – und zwar mit derart lautem Getöse, dass kein Stein mehr auf dem anderen bleibt: Die Versucher werden von Jac van Steen förmlich zerschmettert.

** “The Temptation of St Anthony": The demons attack again and again, suddenly tantalising trill figures shimmer in the high strings, but in the end victory breaks through - and with such a loud roar that no stone is left unturned: The tempters are literally crushed by Jac van Steen literally smashes them to pieces.

Ein Beispiel bester Zusammenarbeit zwischen *** Orchester, Dirigent und Solist *** ist schließlich nach der Pause das zweite Klavierkonzert B-Dur von Johannes Brahms: Hier wird deutlich, dass es sich um ein Werk mit kammermusikalischem Charakter handelt. Rudolf Buchbinder gestaltet die aufschäumenden Passagen einerseits knorrig und widerspenstig - doch phasenweise wird er mit geschmeidigem Ton zu einem Teil des Orchesters; Gedanken werden bruchlos aufgegriffen, auf beiden Seiten. Herrlich ist zudem die Kantilene des Solocellos im "Andante". Einen geradezu betörenden Zauber hat schließlich das luzide „Allegretto grazioso“: Dem von Beginn an hellen, leichten Satz gewinnt Buchbinder gegen Ende – nach einigen
Trübungen und Einbrüchen - nochmals eine weitere, gleißend-triumphierende Nuance ab. Großer Beifall.

***  Finally, after the interval, an example of the best collaboration between orchestra, conductor and soloist is Johannes Brahms' Second Piano Concerto in B-flat Major, a work of chamber music. On the one hand, Rudolf Buchbinder gives the effervescent passages a gnarled and unruly quality - but at times he becomes part of the orchestra with a supple tone; thoughts are thoughts are taken up without interruption, on both sides. The solo cello's cantilena in the Andante is also wonderful. Finally, the lucid 'Allegretto grazioso' has an almost beguiling magic.A movement that is bright and light from the start, Buchbinder brings it to life towards the end - after a few clouds and dips, Buchbinder adds another glittering, triumphant nuance.

Huge applause.

Kultur - Isabel Steppeler - Montag, 24. Oktober 2022

Wo Sehnsucht zu Klang wird

Mächtig viel Wallung, und das schon am Vormittag. Zunächst, wie ein Tor ins Reich klanglicher Fülle, Johannes Brahms’ „Variationen über ein Thema von Haydn“.  Brahms, der hart Arbeitende, zeigt mit diesem Zyklus, dass auch komplex verzahnte motivische Arbeit berauschend klingt. Auf seinem mühevollen Weg zur ersten Sinfonie, die 1876 in Karlsruhe uraufgeführt wurde, mag Opus 56a eine Studie gewesen sein für gelungene Orchestrierung. Denn der Orchesterfassung geht eine Version für zwei Klaviere voraus. Überaus einfallsreich verästelt Brahms das Thema, den wohl irrtümlich Joseph Haydn zugeschriebenen „Chorale St. Antoni“. Zugleich schimmert es durch alle 17 Variationen. Beide Künste aber auch erfahrbar werden zu lassen, das steht und fällt mit der Interpretation.

Jac van Steen kann das ganz hervorragend: Unter seiner Leitung erlebt das Publikum im zweiten Sinfoniekonzert am Badischen Staatstheater geschickt im komplexen Knäuel verflochtene musikalische Fäden wie unter der Lupe. Bevor dieser großartige Aspekt in der Interpretations­Kunst van Steens im zweiten Teil des Konzertes auf die Fingerfertigkeit und Routine des Pianisten Rudolf Buchbinder trifft, geht es noch einmal um den Heiligen Antonius: diesmal in der Tonsprache Paul Hindemiths. Der im Nazi­Deutschland geschmähte Komponist, dessen Werke die National-sozialisten 1936 unter Aufführungsverbot stellten, hinterlässt mit seiner Sinfonie „Mathis der Maler“ (1934) schillernde Klangbilder. In drei Sätzen bezieht er sich auf vier Szenen auf dem Isenheimer Altar des Renaissance­Malers Matthias Grünewald, dem er im gleichen Projekt eine Oper widmete.

Jac van Steen is an excellent conductor: under his baton, the audience at the second symphony concert in the Badisches Staatstheater experienced a complex tangle of skilfully interwoven musical threads, as if under a magnifying glass. Before this magnificent aspect of van Steen's interpretive art meets the dexterity and routine of pianist Rudolf Buchbinder in the second part of the concert, the focus is once again on St Anthony, this time in the musical language of Paul Hindemith. From the Angel Concerto and the Entombment to the diabolical and monumental sounds that surround St. Anthony, Jac van Steen lets the music, rich in imagery, shine through and, last but not least, lets the brass players of the Staatskapelle give their best.

Vom Engelskonzert über die Grablegung bis hin zu den diabolischen und monumentalen Klängen rings um den Hl. Antonius lässt Jac van Steen die bilderreiche Musik strahlen und nicht zuletzt die Bläser der Staatskapelle auftrumpfen. Nach einer Pause, in der es Unmut innerhalb der für viele unzumutbar langen Schlage zur Damentoilette gab, folgt der Höhepunkt im Programm: das zweite Klavierkonzert von Johannes Brahms mit Rudolf Buchbinder. Über 200­mal hat der 75­jährige renommierte Pianist das Konzert in seiner schon sieben Jahrzehnte dauernden Karriere gespielt. Man spürt die Selbstverständlichkeit, mit der Buchbinder zugange ist. Nur manchmal bewegt er sich aus der sicheren Zone seines zwar inbrünstigen, gleichwohl routinierten Spiels.

Die Zwiesprache zwischen dem Klavier und den einzelnen Orchesterinstrumenten liegt ihm am Herzen. Im ersten Satz stellt er sein Spiel fast hintan. Zieht aber spätestens im folgenden Allegro appassionato die Aufmerksamkeit auf seinen leidenschaftlichen Zugriff. Derart gebannt, überzeugt im langsamen dritten Satz sein ästhetisches Fingerspitzengefühl für die intimen, fast kammermusikalischen Momente. Sehr schön hier auch das Cello­Solo von Thomas Gieron. So klingt Sehnsucht. Der berühmte Besuch am Klaviermacht neugierig: In seinem Album „Soirée de Vienne“, das am 25. November 2022 bei der Deutschen Grammophon erscheinen soll, kehrt Buchbinder zur Musik seiner Heimatstadt „Wien“ zurück.

Noch zuvor, am 19. November, ist er Solist im Karlsruher Meisterkonzert mit der Deutschen Radiophilharmonie und spielt das Klavierkonzert a­Moll von Edvard Grieg.

National Youth Orchestra of Scotland

NYOS young talent shone brightly at Caird Hall

By Stephen Fraser

The National Youth Orchestra of Scotland has developed into a superb group of players. With a maximum age of 25, something like a hundred of them were able to fill the wide stage of the Caird Hall on Friday for an excellent concert of masterpieces from the first half of the 20th Century.

Dutch maestro at the helm

The orchestra’s high reputation allows it to attract some excellent conductors to work with them, and this summer the guest was Dutch maestro Jac van Steen.

Photo: Guest conductor, Dutch maestro Jac van Steen.

He did appear in the Caird with the RSNO a few years ago, and works with most of the major British orchestras. He also makes something of a speciality of performing with young musicians from the various colleges.

Hugely ambitious programme

He conducted a hugely ambitious programme of works by Prokofiev, Bartok and Ravel. All three were great orchestrators, though ironically Bartok’s death prevented him from completing his beautiful Viola Concerto. It was commissioned in 1944 by the Glasgow-born virtuoso William Primrose. He began his career as a violinist, touring Britain in the 1920s. He appeared many times in concerts at the Caird Hall before moving to the USA, where he switched to the viola. He became regular collaborator with such eminent soloists as Jascha Heifetz (violin) and Gregor Piatigorsky (cello).

When he died of leukaemia in 1945 Bartok had completed the solo part but had not done more that sketch out the orchestration. This was completed by his friend Tibor Serly for the 1949 premiere.

Showcasing the beautiful tone

It is a beautiful piece, using the instrument’s full range, but always centred on its wonderful full-bodied tone. The orchestra is also given many attractive solos to interplay with the viola. It seems it was Bartok’s tribute to Primrose’s Scottish background that he introduced references to the popular Scottish song ‘Comin’ through the Rye’ – a popular encore piece sung by all the famous sopranos of the day.

The soloist was a brilliant young player rapidly making a reputation for himself. Timothy Ridout is a BBC New Generation Artist and has been given a wide range of opportunities to gain experience as a result. His performance was superb, making this little-known work immediately attractive and the audience lapped up what seems likely to have been the Concerto’s first performance in these parts.

The main item in the programme was the compilation of two suites from Ravel’s orchestral masterpiece Daphnis and Chloe.

This was commissioned in 1912 for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, for a Paris premiere the year before the mould-breaking Rite of Spring of Stravinsky.

It is a fabulous piece taking us from a wonderful depiction of dawn through dramatic events that conclude with a celebratory general dance.

Prokofiev’s Cinderella

The huge orchestra sounded great in the famous Caird acoustic, with a rarely-heard wind machine and three harps adding to the sound.

The concert began with some excerpts from Prokofiev’s ballet Cinderella. Not as famous as his Romeo and Juliet, composition was interrupted when the Nazis invaded Russia in 1940. The composer switched his attention to his operatic masterpiece War and Peace. When peace was restored he returned to it, and much of the music clearly celebrates that peace, with a particularly delectable waltz sequence.

August 8, 2022     The Courier

International Conducting Masterclass – June 2022 - Belfast

That's a wrap on the international conducting masterclass with Kenneth Woods and Jac van Steen. Congratulations to all who took part - it has been a privilege seeing the progress each of you has made in just a few short days. Thanks to Ten Square Hotel Holohans Pantry and Maldron Hotel Belfast City for their generous support towards making this event possible.

International Conducting Masterclass – June 2022 - Belfast

Jac van Steen with the Ulster Orchestra in collaboration with Cardiff International Academy of Conducting

In early June 2022, 8 individuals in the early stages of their conducting career travelled from all over the world to Belfast, meeting mentors Jac van Steen and Kenneth Woods, conductors to undertake a conducting masterclass with the Ulster Orchestra in cooperation with Cardiff International Academy of Conducting. Over an intensive 4 day period, participants developed their skills while working with the orchestra and mezzo soprano Sarah Richmond. Practising repertoire by Schumann, Mahler and David Matthews, the conductors then demonstrated their progress in concert for Ulster Orchestra subscribers on the final day of the course.
Thank you and congratulations to all who participated in the masterclass: Matthew Lynch, Kay Salomon, Karen Ni Bhroin, Simon Robertshaw, Chris Clark, Oi Ching Chan , Paul McCusker and Martijn Pepels.

Special thanks to our funders for this project Maldron Hotels, Ten Square Hotel, Holohans Pantry, QUB Music, and to Man Made for providing baked goods.

We spoke to the participants and their mentors about the whole experience. WATCH BELOW.

In concert – BBC Philharmonic Orchestra & Jac van Steen – David Matthews Symphony no.10 world premiere,

Brahms Piano Concerto no.1 in D minor Op.13 (1854-8)
Schubert Overture to Rosamunde D797 (1820)
David Matthews Symphony no.10 Op.157 (2020-21) [World premiere]

Stephen Hough (piano), BBC Philharmonic Orchestra / Jac van Steen 

MediaCity UK, Salford Quays
Friday 20 May 2022, 3pm

Written by Richard Whitehouse

A substantial programme was the order of the day for this afternoon’s studio concert from the BBC Philharmonic with Jac van Steen, given at the orchestra’s regular base in MediaCityUK and that featured a first performance anywhere for the Tenth Symphony by David Matthews.

Whereas his previous symphony was written for relatively modest dimensions, the Tenth marks a return to larger forces: triple woodwind (with doublings), four horns, three each of trumpets and trombones, tuba and four percussionists alongside timpani, celesta, piano, harp, and strings. It also finds Matthews (above) retackling the one-movement format that dominated his earlier symphonies, allied to a subtle process of developing variation such as ensures unity across a varied and eventful discourse. Not least when that massive opening chord sets out a long-range tonal and harmonic trajectory for this work overall, and to which a pensive (offstage) cor anglais solo then intensifying string fugato provide both continuation and contrast by anticipating the types of expression and motion as variously come to the fore.

Distinctive in themselves yet drawn into a tensile and cohesive entity, the constituent sections take in a wistful intermezzo then an agile scherzo on the way to a central culmination whose increasingly explosive energy likely marks a point of greatest engagement with that opening chord. The music duly heads into a slower episode of sustained emotional raptness, elements heard earlier gradually being recalled through an unforced while never discursive process of reprise towards a coda whose ending seems the more conclusive for its poised equivocation. An absorbing and often gripping exploration of symphonic tenets such as Matthews has long pursued, persuasively realized by the BBCPO and van Steen – whose support of the composer – having already recorded the Second, Sixth and Eighth Symphonies – hardly needs restating.
Before the interval, Stephen Hough was soloist in Brahms’s First Piano Concerto – a piece he has given many times (not least a memorable reading at London’s Royal Festival Hall in the early 1990s, Andrew Davis also giving a seismic account of the Symphony by the late Hugh Wood). There was emotional breadth aplenty in the initial Maestoso, but also latest energy as came to the fore in a combative development and tempestuous coda. Nor was the symphonic aspect underplayed in what is still the most monumental opening movement of any concerto.

If the central Adagio lacked a degree of repose in its orchestral introduction, Hough’s take on its almost confessional solo passages brought the required inwardness, with the course of this movement towards its agitated peak or enfolding serenity at its close never in doubt. Nor was that of the closing rondo, especially a central episode whose string fugato was deftly rendered then the piano’s gentle response enticingly conveyed. After the cadenza, horns and woodwind emerged as if leaving a benediction prior to the triumph that coursed through those final bars.

Throughout this performance, van Steen was an alert and responsive accompanist – then put the BBC Philharmonic through its paces with an animated account of Schubert’s Rosamunde (a.k.a. Die Zauberharfe), which made for an engaging if unlikely entrée into the Matthews. 

Fanfare 17-082022 USA

WEILL Symphony No. 2. Violin Concerto¹ — ¹Tamás Kocsis (vn); Jac van Steen, cond; Ulster O — SOMM 280 (57:25)

Five stars: A superb new recording of two major piece by Kurt Weill

Both of these works have been recorded before, but rarely as successfully as this recording made in Belfast in October 2021. Kurt Weill’s “serious” music, meant for the concert hall instead of the theater or cabaret, is difficult for performers to get right.

Symphony No. 2 and the Violin Concerto mix elements of the two worlds that Weill traveled in, and very few of the recordings I am familiar with manage to balance those contrasting components effectively. In most cases (for example, the ones led by Gary Bertini and Mariss Jansons) the jazz and music-theater elements are shortchanged, and the performance comes off earthbound.

Happily, Jac van Steen manages to bring together the various moods and contrasting styles of these works. He makes a persuasive case for Weill as a composer for the concert hall whose stature is greater than history has granted him. The symphony’s lyrical passages (quite plentiful in the second-movement Largo) are played expressively, while its turbulent moments are quite forcefully rendered.

Symphony No. 2was premiered in 1934 by the Concertgebouw Orchestra under Bruno Walter, who admired the score and performed it subsequently as well. It is unfortunate that no recorded Walter performance survives. The influence of Hindemith is clearly evident, though the music is less dour than much of Hindemith. What makes van Steen’s performance so successful is how naturally the jazz-influenced sections merge with more symphonic passages, making them sound as if they belong to the same work.

The Violin Concerto performance is just as winning. The work was composed at the conclusion of Weill’s studies with Busoni, who became seriously ill while Weill was finishing the piece and died in 1924 before the premiere. Unusually, the orchestra consists of wind band, double basses, and percussion. It is in many ways a grim work—Weill quotes the Dies irae plainchant in the first movement. The second movement consists of three brief separate sections played attacca: a Notturno, a cadenza, and a Serenata.

After the weighty intensity of the first movement, the texture of these three segments is more transparent. Notturno has the delicacy one finds in the Nachtmusik movements of Mahler’s Seventh Symphony, although also reflecting Weill’s cabaret style. The central cadenza features an important trumpet solo, very well played by the Ulster Orchestra’s principal. The Serenata that concludes the second movement includes a playful dialogue between violin and various wind instruments.

The third movement is a dizzying tarantella, its mood recalling the Stravinsky of L’histoire du soldat.

The violin soloist, Tamás Kocsis, manages the concerto’s virtuoso demands handily. In keeping with van Steen’s conducting, Kocsis sounds equally comfortable in the score’s severe and populist elements. This performance is more angular than the often praised EMI recording by Frank Peter Zimmermann with Jansons and the Berlin Philharmonic. I find that angularity more suited to the score.

           

Excellently balanced recorded sound and very informative program notes round out the package. This is an outstanding recording of two important works from a composer whose brilliance in music theater and cabaret has unfairly caused his concert music to be ignored.

Henry Fogel

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/music/the-best-classical-and-opera-cds-and-dvds-of-2022-so-far-from-js-bach-to-kurt-weill/ar-AATJr3f

The best classical and opera CDs and DVDs of 2022 so far, from JS Bach to Kurt Weill

CD Kurt Weill – Symphony no. 2, Violin Concerto: Tamás Kocsis and Ulster Orchestra ★★★★★ five stars!….. excellent performance from the Ulster Orchestra under Jac van Steen both sides of the piece, the populist and the high-art [of the composer], shine out beautifully. The solo violinist Tamás Kocsis, who has a day job leading the Ulster Orchestra, flings off the extraordinary finger-twisting solo part with what sounds like ease, and the orchestral players match him for accuracy and finesse. In all it’s a marvel

The Telegraph, 23/7/2022

-------------------------------------------------- 

https://www.ludwig-van.com/toronto/2022/07/22/lebrecht-listens-new-recording-reveals-kurt-weills-seldom-heard-orchestral-brilliance/

LEBRECHT LISTENS | A New Recording Reveals Kurt Weill’s Seldom Heard Orchestral Brilliance

By Norman Lebrecht on July 22, 2022

Kurt Weill: Violin Concerto; Symphony No.2 (Somm)
★★★★★ A beautiful recording of an esoteric item It’s been a Weill, and well worth the five-star wait !

The present release by Jac van Steen and the Ulster Orchestra is by some distance the best I have heard, elegantly phrased and chock full of show tunes from the Brecht-Weill playbook. What’s not to like? The structure is totally secure and thematic development keeps the ear fully engaged for almost thirty minutes.

The ARTMusic Lounge

July 4, 2022

Kurt Weill’s Violin Concerto & 2nd Symphony

There appear to be at least seven other recordings of the Symphony, one each by Gary Bertini, Mariss Janssons, Anthony Beaumont, Julius Rudel, Marin Alsop, Lahav Shani, Jürgen Bruns and Michel Swierczewski. I sampled the Rudel recording but, although his tempi seem to be quicker than van Steen’s, he doesn’t capture the same swagger in the music. Alsop captures the swagger better, but her tempi are so slow as to practically kill the momentum in the music.

Swierczewski os really fast, but to my ears gets the whole feeling of the music wrong. I felt that Shani’s recording on Warner Classics, with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, was the only one as good as this one. Once again, van Steen conducts with excellent energy and a real feeling for the music. I found this a fascinating disc and the performances first-rate. Unless you have better ones in your collection, I say, go for it!—© 2022 Lyn n René Bayley

https://www.pizzicato.lu/fruher-kurt-weill/

Kurt Weill: Symphonie Nr. 2 + Violinkonzert op. 12 für Violine & Bläser; Tamas Kocsis, Violine, Ulster Orchestra, Jac van Steen; 1 CD Somm 280; Aufnahme 10.2021, Veröffentlichung 15.07.2022 (int.), 12.08.2022 (D) - (57'25) -

Wer diese Musik nicht kennt, wird als Komponisten kaum Kurt Weill identifizieren: die beiden Kompositionen des Busoni-Schülers sind wenig bekannt und entstammen einer ganz anderen Welt, als jener seiner späten Bühnenwerke, die nach seiner Auswanderung aus dem Nazi-Deutschland entstanden. Es sind aber ernst zu nehmende, ja sogar richtig interessante und gute Kompositionen, und es ist unglaublich, dass sie so wenig gespielt werden. Das gilt so gut für die angenehm melodische und rhythmische Zweite Symphonie von 1934 wie für das zehn Jahre zuvor komponierte Violinkonzert.

Jac van Steen und das Ulster Orchestra liefern von der Symphonie eine pulsierende und farbige Interpretation, die sich von der etwas schärferen und insgesamt spannenderen Lesart der Deutschen Kammerphilharmonie Bremen unter Antony Beaumont unterscheidet und letzlich etwas unterhaltsamer und charmanter klingt.

Das Violinkonzert des jungen Kurt Weill gehört ebenfalls nicht zum Standardrepertoire, aber das ungewöhnliche Werk, für Geige, Blasorchester und Schlagzeug geschrieben, ist durchaus hörenswert. Tamas Kocsis spielt es virtuos, freilich ohne sich mit vordergündiger Brillanz zufrieden zu geben. Sowohl der Solist als auch die Bläser des Ulster Orchestra werden dem Farbenreichtum und der dynamischem Vielfalt des Werks vollauf gerecht. Ich finde den ersten, sehr kontrastreich aufgebauten Satz sehr spannend, und das kapriziöse Notturno mit seinen Xylophon-Kapriolen ist nicht weniger attraktiv. Die Serenade wird mit einer berührenden Zärtlichkeit gespielt, während das Finale durch einen hinreißenden Schwung gefällt.

Die Tonaufnahmen beider Werke sind räumlich und sehr präsent.

Those who do not know this music will hardly identify Kurt Weill as the composer: the two compositions of the Busoni pupil are little known and come from a completely different world than that of his late stage works, which were written after his emigration from Nazi Germany. But they are serious, even genuinely interesting and good compositions, and it is incredible that they are so little played. This is as true of the pleasantly melodic and rhythmic Second Symphony of 1934 as it is of the Violin Concerto composed ten years earlier.

Jac van Steen and the Ulster Orchestra deliver a vibrant and colorful interpretation of the symphony that differs from the somewhat sharper and altogether more exciting reading by the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen under Antony Beaumont, and sounds altogether a bit more charming.
The Violin Concerto by the young Kurt Weill is also not part of the standard repertoire, but the unusual work, written for violin, wind orchestra and percussion, is well worth hearing.

Tamas Kocsis plays it virtuously, admittedly without settling for superficial brilliance. Both the soloist and the Ulster Orchestra winds do full justice to the work’s richness of color and dynamic variety. I find the first movement, with its rich contrasts, very exciting, and the capricious nocturne with its xylophone capers is no less attractive. The Serenade is played with a touching tenderness, while the finale pleases with a ravishing élan.
The sound recordings of both works are spacious and very present.

Remy Franck, 18/7/2022

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2022/Aug/Weill-sym2-SOMMCD280.htm

Musicweb International August 2022

Two rare concert works by Kurt Weill that demand our interest.

………….. As noted above, I did not know this music before reviewing this CD, so I have little to compare this performance to. On first and second hearings of the symphony and the concerto, I have been convinced by the superb performances by Tamás Kocsis and the Ulster Orchestra under Jac Van Steen. The sound quality is splendid.

John France

Strawinsky, Oedipus Rex 
Musikkollegium Winterthur
Winterthur, Juni 2022

«Le Grand Rituel» – Igor Strawinskys «Oedipus Rex»
Musikkollegium Winterthur
15. Juni 2022

Archaische Wucht und Wahrheit

Le «Grand Rituel» ist vieles, im Kern aber das Universum Strawinsky. Neben die umjubelte Aufführungen des «Sacre» ist nun ebenso fulminant ein weiteres epochales Werk gerückt, das Opern- Oratorium «Oedipus Rex» Die Halle 53 atmet in ihrer rohen entleerten Architektur noch immer den Geist kolossaler Kräfte, und wenn jeweils an den Konzerten die «Eisengiesserei», die stampfende, kreischende und dabei pathetische Farbrikmusik von Alexander Mossolow aus der frühen Sowjetzeit gespielt wird, erlebt man eine musikalisch konkrete Huldigung dieses aussergewöhnlichen «Konzertlokals».
Auch Strawinskys Musik fühlt sich wohl an diesem Ort der rohen Kraft, aber die rythmische Brachialgewalt und dissonante Härte, machen umgekehrt diese Hülle zum Raum eines musikalischen Geschehens von elementarer Expressivität. So herausfordernd die Halle 53 in akustischer und klimatischer Hinsicht ist, so sehr unterstützt er die Wirkung gerade der beiden gross besetzten szenischen Werke Strawinskys, die das Festival ins Zentrum stellt. Souveräne Musikalität Mauern, Fenster, Stahlträger und Rohrinstallationen reflektieren nur, was von den Ausführenden kommt, und diesbezüglich imponiert das Musikkollegium erneut mit einer Disposition auf höchsten Niveau in allen Belangen.

Mit den Herren des Slowakischen Philharmonischen Chors und dem vergrösserten Musikkollegium beeindruckt ein dynamisch expansiver Klangkörper, der so massiv wie differenziert und agil unterwegs ist. Am Dirigentpult steht Jac van Steen. Dass er über die Partitur souverän verfügt, ist zu sehen, Spannung und der Zug, die er vermittelt, sind körperhaft zu erleben.

Musikkollegium Winterthur

'Le Grand Rituel' – Igor Strawinskys 'Oedipus Rex'

Le 'Grand Rituel' ist vieles, im Kern aber das Universum Strawinsky. Neben die umjubelte Aufführungen des «Sacre» ist nun ebenso fulminant ein weiteres epochales Werk gerückt, das Opern Oratorium 'Oedipus Rex'

Die Halle 53 atmet in ihrer rohen entleerten Architektur noch immer den Geist kolossaler Kräfte, und wenn jeweils an den Konzerten die «Eisengiesserei», die stampfende, kreischende und dabei pathetische Fabrikmusik von Alexander Mossolow aus der frühen Sowjetzeit gespielt wird, erlebt man eine musikalisch konkrete Huldigung dieses aussergewöhnlichen 'Konzertlokals'.

Auch Strawinskys Musik fühlt sich wohl an diesem Ort der rohen Kraft, aber die rhythmische Brachialgewalt und dissonante Härte, machen umgekehrt diese Hülle zum Raum eines musikalischen Geschehens von elementarer Expressivität. So herausfordernd die Halle 53 in akustischer und klimatischer Hinsicht ist, so sehr unterstützt er die Wirkung gerade der beiden gross besetzten szenischen Werke
Strawinskys, die das Festival ins Zentrum stellt.

Souveräne Musikalität

Mauern, Fenster, Stahlträger und Rohrinstallationen reflektieren nur, was von den Ausführenden kommt, und diesbezüglich imponiert das Musikkollegium erneut mit einer Disposition auf höchsten Niveau in allen Belangen. Mit den Herren des Slowakischen Philharmonischen Chors und dem vergrösserten Musikkollegium beeindruckt ein dynamisch expansiver Klangkörper, der so massiv wie differenziert und agil unterwegs ist.

Am Dirigent pult steht Jac van Steen. Dass er über die Partitur souverän verfügt, ist zu sehen, Spannung und der Zug, die er vermittelt, sind körperhaft zu erleben. Mit dem Tenor Nikolai Schukoff als Oedipus, der Mezzosopranistin Martina Mikelić als Jokaste, Jörg Dürmüller als Hirte Darren Jeffrey als Teiresias und Jordan Shanahan als Kreon und Bote erlebt man eine formidable Besetzung des Opern-Oratoriums: eindringliche Rhetorik und Darstellung, aber auch überschwängliche ariose Musikalität.

Die Solisten mehr als Figuren einer Oper denn als Sänger eines Oratoriums zu erleben, legte auch die prononcierte Theatralik der Sprecherin (Sunnyi Melles) nahe. So sehr Strawinskys lateinisches Libretto das Geschehen in eine überhöhte Monumentalität entrückt, so nah kommt uns in dieser Aufführung die Geschichte.

Religion oder Seelenkunde

Der Sohn tötet unwissend den Vater und heiratet unwissend die Mutter – aller Versuch, das Orakel lügen zu strafen, scheitert – die kürzeste Zusammenfassung der antiken Tragödie weist in die höchste Sphäre göttlicher Allgewalt und – Stichwort Oedipuskomplex – in archetypische Seelentiefe. Die halbszenische Inszenierung (Benoît de Leersnyder) findet eine spannende Mitte zwischen abstrakter Statuarik und schauspielerischer Darstellung, und in dieser Mitte waltet Strawinskys ungeheure Imaginationskraft die in der Halle 53 zum einmaligen Erlebnis wird.

Herbert Büttiker - 15. Juni 2022 - www.roccosound.ch

The premiere performance of David Matthews’s
Tenth Symphony (Regeneration)

the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Jac van Steen
[BBC Radio 3 recording].

Recorded on Friday, May 20, 2022 @ MediaCityUK, Salford.....
and broadcast on Monday June 20 during Afternoon Concert, circa 2.30 p.m.,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001886b

Quite why Radio 3 didn’t broadcast David Matthews’s Tenth Symphony live, especially when it did transmit the rest of the concert as it happened – Stephen Hough playing Brahms’s First Piano Concerto – and when all else in that edition of Afternoon Concert was via recordings, will probably remain a mystery. So, a month late(r), and ironically in the same afternoon slot, here was DM10, conducted by Jac van Steen, a champion of Matthews’s music, http://www.colinscolumn.com/a-vision-of-the-sea-the-music-of-david-matthews-signum-classics/, and the dedicatee of this new Symphony Ten, which plays continuously for twenty-eight minutes (exactly the time advised by Matthews’s publisher, Faber).

An arresting opening suggests some sort of ‘big bang’, followed by a slow formation of something tangible, formally a fugue of rich expression – with a kinship to Tippett (whose Corelli Fantasia comes to mind), likewise for strings, before brass and woodwinds intertwine anxious chorale-like writing that heralds more-pastoral ideas – optimism countering pessimism, perhaps – although anguish isn’t far away; the tempo is now fast, rhythms are stealthy and the scoring colourful (including a piano), symphonic development apparent. A sudden change to lament and melancholy occurs, this is the heart of the Symphony, deeply affecting. The mood alters to dancing, briefly, and then a sense of renewal registers, if with doubts, before further terpsichorean measures and an effective sunset conclusion with arabesques of birdsong on clarinet and flute.

Whether the composer recognises a word of the above in relation to this Symphony I know not. On a first hearing the Tenth is certainly an impressive piece, one to listen to again, or for the first time, and given an excellent debut outing by the BBC Phil and Jac van Steen, in first-class sound, no doubt engineered by Stephen Rinker. I suggest that David Matthews’s Symphony No.10 should travel far, and maybe into Signum’s catalogue.

The composer's notes on his 10th Symphony can be found here

Jun 20, 2022

Symphony Orchestra of the Capital City of Prague

The Prague Symphony Orchestra and its principal guest conductor Jac van Steen offered their audience a varied and attractive programme at the fourth concert of the subscription cycle C (Smetana Hall, 30 March 2022).

The symphonic poem The Fiddler's Child by Leoš Janáček opened the evening. The literary model for this piece was Janáček's ballad of the same name by Svatopluk Čech about a poor fiddler who died, leaving only a violin and a child in a cradle, who was given to an old woman to watch overnight. When the grandmother falls asleep, the ghost of the fiddler visits the child and lures him by playing the violin to follow him "up above the earthly gloom" among the stars and angels. In the morning, the child lies dead in its cradle, and the fiddle of the fiddler has disappeared from its crib. Jac van Steen has managed to "tell" this gloomy story in an extraordinarily evocative way and with a remarkable attention to detail. He made excellent use of the darkened instrumental colours to convey the sombre atmosphere, with the deep breaths being particularly impressive. The solo violin of FOK concertmaster Roman Patočka sounded like a voice from heaven in this ballad.

César Franck was inspired to compose the seventh symphonic poem Psyche by the well-known story from Greek mythology about the love between the beautiful royal daughter Psyche and Aphrodite's son Eros. As a whole, this large symphonic poem is hardly performed, as the composer also included a chorus in the three movements. Quite often, however, four purely orchestral movements are performed (as a separate symphonic poem) - and it was in this version that the FOK also played Franck's Psyche for its audience. This masterfully instrumented work is surprisingly close to Impressionism in its sonic colour and harmonic texture. And under the hands of Jac van Steen and the FOK players, that "impressionistic" overlapping and blending of colours and harmonies sounded almost intoxicating. The first movement, entitled Sleep Psyche - with a beautiful singing clarinet solo right at the beginning - literally exhaled serenity. In the following movement, Psyché carried away by zephyrs, a refreshing breeze blew in on us right from the opening fast flute passages. The movement Gardens of Erot glowed with colourful, intoxicatingly scented flowers. And in the last movement, titled Psyche and Eros, the orchestra and conductor led us safely from the mysterious opening through the grand gradation before the conclusion to the reconciliatory ending.

The highlight of the evening was Dvořák's Piano Concerto in G minor. Listening to Lukáš Vondráček is always an exceptional experience, and this time was no different.

The pianist - but also the orchestra - perceived the first movement in a very dramatic way. However, there was not only an exciting tension, sometimes overt, sometimes as if hidden, but also many beautiful lyrical moments. The virtuosic cadenza of this movement, performed with great imagination, then sounded like a kind of "story within a story".

The horns at the beginning of the slow movement took the listener into the open air, and the soft, silvery tone of Vondráček's piano evoked moonlight from the very first bars. The captivating nocturne mood of this movement was later tempered by more excited parts, but at the end everything dissolved into a soothing pianissimo. The orchestra deserved special mention in this movement, offering an inspiring space for Vondráček's magic with sound. In the final movement, Vondráček set a hellish tempo that gave him the opportunity to flash a number of surprising sound effects. The second theme was not only beautifully polished, but I also perceived a certain interesting touch of the grotesque.

Again, I can write nothing about Vondráček's instrumental technique other than that it is fabulous. It was fascinating in the first movement, and in the final movement I even had the feeling of not being able to breathe at some dizzyingly fast points. The pianist's riveting performance elicited thunderous applause, stomping and loud cries of bravo. And after several more bows, the artist added the Dumka from Josef Suk's Piano Pieces Op. 7. What Vondráček did with sound colours and layers of colour in this piece was almost unbelievable. And the enchanted audience rightly awarded the pianist with a standing ovation. (Only backstage did we learn from Lukáš Vondráček that he performed this amazing and demanding concert with a broken right leg.)

Original text

Mussorgskis Boris Godunow" an der Wiener Volksoper:
Ein fesselndes Volksdrama

Eigentlich hätte die Premiere von Modest Mussorgskis "Boris Godunow" an der Wiener Volksoper in der Inszenierung von Starregisseur Peter Konwitschny schon im Mai 2020 stattfinden sollen. Aber die Pandemie machte, wie so oft in letzter Zeit, wieder einmal einen Strich durch die Rechnung. Jetzt im Jänner 2022 sollte sie nachgeholt werden. Aber wieder funkte Corona dazwischen und man entschied sich speziell wegen der umfangreichen Massenszenen und der damit verbundenen Ansteckungsgefahr seitens der Volksoperndirektion für eine konzertante, pausenlose Version des Volksdramas nach Alexander Puschkin.

Gespielt wird die sogenannte Urfassung von 1869, bei welcher leider der musikalisch wunderbare und beim Publikum so beliebte „Polenakt“ und das Revolutionsbild fehlen. Zudem erklingt die Oper in einer eigens für das Haus vom Dirigenten eingerichteten Kompaktfassung mit noch einigen weiteren Kürzungen, wie etwa der großen Wahnsinnszene, auf knapp zwei Stunden.

Was bei dieser Produktion aber in erster Linie fesselt, ist das erstaunliche hohe Niveau der Sänger, fast ohne Schwachstellen und mit meist hoher Textverständlichkeit. (Gesungen wird auf Deutsch in der Fassung von Werner Hintze): Albert Pesendorfer ist ein ausdrucksstarker Titelheld. Mit ihm wird ein Zar aufgeboten, der seine Zerrissenheit und seine Gewissenbisse glaubhaft zeigt und zudem den Titelhelden mit mächtigem aber auch emotionsreichen, weichen Bass intensiv und präsent zu singen versteht.

Besonders berührt er in seiner Todesszene. Yasushi Hirano als Chronist und Eremit Pimen verfügt über einen prachtvollen, kraftvollen und edlen Bass und kann so wie der Titelheld die Zuschauer in den Bann ziehen. Carsten Süss ist der Intrigant Fürst Schuiski mit einem feinen Charaktertenor. Vincent Schirrmacher als Grigori, der falscher Dimitri, singt die stark reduzierte Rolle mit hellem, höhensicherem Tenor. Marco Di Sapia ist ein ausdruckstarker Warlaam. Martina Mikelic macht als Schenkwirtin eine gute Figur.

Auch die vielen, kleineren Rollen gefallen. Ghazal Kazemi ist eine idealer Fjodor, Boris Sohn. Elisabeth Schwarz ist Boris Tochter Xenia und singt sie mit leichtem Sopran. Morten Frank Larsen ist ein vibratoreicher Geheimschreiber Schtschelkalow. Karl-Michael Ebner fungiert solide als entlaufener Bettelmönch Missail. Stimmgewaltig, eindrucksvoll und homogen singt der riesige Chor der Wiener Volksoper (Einstudierung: Holger Kristen),

Am Pult des ausgezeichnet aufspielenden Orchesters der Wiener Volksoper steht Jac van Steen: Sängerfreundlich und eindrucksvoll führt er souverän durch das Werk.

Mit ausgereizter Dynamik kann er enorme mystische Spannungen aufzubauen und die gewünschte Schroffheit der Originalpartitur (ohne der geschönten Bearbeitung von Nikolai Rimski Korsakow) exzellent rüberzubringen. Das Publikum im nur schwach besetzten Auditorium, was zweifellos der Pandemie geschuldet ist und was man derzeit an vielen Opernhäusern wahrnimmt, reagierte mit starkem Applaus und Jubel!

Dr. Helmut Christian Mayer - Opera-online - 16. Januar 2022

BORIS GODUNOW von Modest Petrowitch Mussorgski konzertant

Premiere der konzertanten Aufführungsserie

Der Rezensent hat es gerade noch rechtzeitig geschafft ins Theater zu kommen, da der Covid-Test wieder mit Verspätung kam und ein Antigentest im Notfall auch akzeptiert wird. Die nächste Überraschung ist dann der schwach besetzte Zuschauerraum, wie er in der Volksoper bei einer Premiere wohl noch nicht zu erleben war.

Eigentlich ist Boris Godunow ein Volksdrama nach Alexander Puschkin, das sich für die Volksoper ausgezeichnet eignet. Zuletzt gab es 1998 eine Aufführungsserie unter Harry Kupfer. Dennoch ist diese Oper, schon wegen ihrer Massenszenen, eine Herausforderung für jedes Theater.  Auf Grund von Covid 19 hat man sich zu einer kpnzertanten Aufführung der Erstfassung, oft auch Originalfassung genannt, entschieden. Mit einer Reduzierung der Chorszenen und dem Verzicht auf den Zusatzchor. Die Krönungsszene wird aufgeführt, die Revolutionsszene und der Kinderchor sind jedoch gänzlich gestrichen.

Die Entstehungsgeschichte der einzelnen Fassungen ist kompliziert. Nachdem das Werk jahrzehntelang in der moderner klingenden Rimsky Korsakov-Fassung gespielt wurde und später dann in der nüchterneren Instrumentierung von Dimitri Schostakowitsch, neigt man jetzt zu einer äußerst gestrafften Version, die sich hauptsächlich auf die Titelfigur konzentriert. Die einzelnen Szenen werden so homogener aneinandergereiht, und man spielt dann in der Regel auch ohne Pause.

Was dieser kürzeren Fassung zum Opfer fällt, ist vorrangig der beim Publikum so beliebte Polen-Akt, in dessen Mttelpunkt Marina Mnischek-Rangoni, ein Jesuitenpriester und Dimitri, der falschen Zarensohn, stehen. Mussorgsky hatte sich zur Einfügung dieses Akts entschlossen, nachdem man ihn damit damit konfrontiert hatte, dass der düsteren Männeroper eine strahlende große Frauenrolle fehlen würde.

Die jetzt in der Volksoper gespielte deutsche Fassung hat der Dirigent der Aufführung Jac van Steen eingerichtet und eingekürzt. Diese Kürzungen betreffen auch das sehr russische Klatschhändchenspiel der Zarenkinder und die große Wahnsinnsszene mit dem Glockenspiel. Den Zuschauer erwarten eindreiviertel Stunden spannendes Operntheater, das nur einige wenige Wünsche bei den Sängern offenlässt. Alle interpretieren sehr engagiert und frei von permanenten Blicken auf die Notenpulte, so dass das fehlende Bühnenbild nicht sehr vermisst wird.

Boris Godunow ist Albert Pesendorfer, der stimmlich wie darstellerisch überzeugt und es dem Publikum sichtlich leicht macht, die Tragik, Angst, Trauer und Hoffnungslosigkeit des Zaren nachzuvollziehen.  Pesendorfer erfreut durch eine in allen Lagen wohltönende Stimme, die auch das für die Volksoper geeignete Volumen besitzt. Es ist also nicht immer nötig, die großen russischen Stars zu rufen.

Einen sehr erfreulichen Eindruck macht Yasushi Hirano als Eremit Pimen, dessen große Erzählung von den Geschehnissen am Grab des Dimitri zum Höhepunkt des Abends wird. Er besitzt eine prachtvolle, lyrische Bassstimme mit sicherer Höhe, singt wortdeutlich und weiß auch den Zuhörer in seinen Bann zu ziehen.

Grigori oder der falsche Dimitri,  hat infolge der Kürzungen keine großen Entfaltungsmöglichkeiten. Was Vincent Schirrmacher zu singen hat, macht er gekonnt, aber durch den Wegfall des Polenaktes verliert auch er den schönsten Teil seiner Rolle.

Carsten Süss verleiht Fürst Schuiskij die notwendige Bedeutung des Bojaren und kann auch stimmlich punkten, doch auch ihm hat man einiges von seiner Rolle genommen. Vom Bettelmönch Warlaam, hier Marco di Sapia, hätte man sich eine saftigere Bassstimme, wenigstens für seine berühmte Ballade, gewünscht. Martina Mikelic macht als Schenkwirtin eine gute Figur mit ausbaufähiger Stimme.

Die drei, hier etwas reduzierten Rollen der Damen am Hofe des Zaren sind bei Annely Peebo, Elisabeth Schwarz und Ghazal Kazemi in guten Händen. Zu erwähnen sind noch der Schtschelkalow von Morten Frank Larsen und der Bettelmönch Missail von Karl-Michael Ebner.

Mit dem gut einstudierten Chor und dem Orchester gelingt Jac van Steen, trotz der eingeschränkten Möglichkeiten, ein spannender Abend, der dem anwesenden Publikum sehr gut gefällt.

Man hätte der Volksoper aber für diesen gelungenen Boris gerne einen größeren Publikumszustrom gewüncht!

Karlheinz Schöberl - Online Merker - 16.12.2021

Von der kleinen zur grossen Sinfonie

Jac van Steen ist in seiner Zeit als Chefdirigent des Musik-kollegiums von 2002 bis 2008 entschieden für die Modernen des 20. Jahrhunderts eingetreten. CD-Produktionen mit Berg, Webern, Schönberg und gleich drei CDs mit Musik von Frank Martin geben bleibend Zeugnis davon. Dass die grosse Sinfonik des 19. Jahrhunderts aber auch sein Ding ist, war nun bei seinem jüngsten Besuch in Winterthur wieder zu hören: Franz Schuberts «Grosse» in C-Dur erklang nach der Pause in ihrer strahlenden Kraft und weitläufi -
gen Gespanntheit, in ihrer Musizierseligkeit und berührenden Innigkeit, der Erschütterung auch, die der Katatsrophenmoment im zweiten Satz auslöst.

Die feinen Modifikationen des Tempos und ein weites Dynamikspektrum für die Dramatik, Gelöstheit für das liedhafte Melos zeichneten die Interpretation aus. Die historische Dimension In der ersten Konzerthälfte das 20. Jahrhundert: Begonnen hat das Konzert mit der «Kleinen Sinfonie» G-Dur von Hans Pfitzner, die in Berlin im November 1939 uraufgeführt wurde keine drei Monate nach Hitlers
Überfall auf Polen. Dass es schlechte Musik sei, kann man nicht sagen, aber ihre Beschaulichkeit und finale Heiterkeit kommt irgendwie schlecht an, wenn man nicht ausblendet, was sich nicht vergessen lässt: dass Pfitzner sogar darunter gelitten hat, in der Nazi-Kulturpoli
tik keine grössere Rolle spielen zu dürfen und sich schlecht und recht mit einiger Ehrung darunter die Aufführung seines «Palestrina» im besetzten Paris und der Status des «Gottbe gnadeten» – zufrieden geben musste.

Das Werk, das in Winterthur 1946 erstmals erklang, ist mit reizvollen solistischen Passagen, mit Harfe und Beckenschlag ein dankbares Stück für Orchester wie Hörerschaft, aber die Fortsetzung des Abends relativierte doch auch sein musikalisches Gewicht. Mit Heinrich
Kaminskis «Orchesterkonzert mit Klavier» folgte ein hoch anspruchsvolles Stück eines Komponisten, der schon als der «Tonale Avantgardist» seiner Zeit bezeichnet worden ist. Kaminsiki war zu seiner Zeit hoch geschätzt, gerade auch von Arnold Schönberg, der in seiner Harmonielehre schrieb: «Meine Auseinandersetzungen sollten den Glauben an die Notwendigkeit der Tonalität widerlegen,
aber nicht den Glauben an die Wirkung eines Kunstwerkes, dessen Autor an die Tonalität glaubt.»

Das «Orchesterkonzert mit Klavier» ist eine dichte, im Verbund von Streichern, fünf Bläsern und Klavier unerhört wechselvolle, flüssige Musik, wobei flüssig nicht im engeren Sinne der Taktgebung zu verstehen ist prägend sind eher komplexe rhythmische Verhältnisse, agogische Extreme, widerborstige Akzente –, sondern im Sinne des Klanggeschehens in seiner sprühenden Totalität. Ein kraftvolles fugenartiges Thema dominiert die Toccata, der zweite, mit Tanz überschriebene Satz kommt ausgesprochen lyrisch daher, rasant beschliesst das Finale das knapp halbstündige Werk.

Im Geist des Mäzens Kaminskis «Orchesterkonzert mit Klavier» entstand im Auftrag des Musikkollegiums und wurde im März 1937 in Winterthur uraufgeführt. Der Komponist mit polnisch-jüdischen Vorfahren überlebte, kalt gestellt, nach 1933 in Oberbayern auch dank
Werner Reinharts Unterstützung. Als Hommage an den Winterthurer Mäzen, der zu seiner Zeit eben gerade auch für die starke Präsenz von Pfitzners Schaffen im Musikkollegium eintrat, mag die schwierige oder auch schwer erträglich Vereinigung der beiden so gründlich
verschiedenen Künstlerexistenzen in diesem Hauskonzert zu verstehen sein. Doch wichtig dürfte das Plädoyer für den vernachlässigten Komponisten sein, das die engagierte Aufführung bedeutete.

Jac van Steen leitete sie mit fester Hand und Schwung, das Orchester und die Pianistin Simone Keller meisterten imponierend vertrackte Passagen und komplexes Zusammenspiel. Als «eine Art Weiterentwicklung der Form der Brandenburgischen Konzerte» verstand Kaminski das Werk, als pure starke Musik fand es nun grossen Anklang.

Herbert Büttiker

Winterthur, Musik Kollegium, December 2021

www.roccosound.ch

The British composer David Matthews (b.1943) has been loyal to the idea of the symphony all his creative life, even when fashion has led his contemporaries in other, non-tonal directions. His Eighth Symphony, Op 131, which pivots around a central, slow lament, is among the works in the BBC Philharmonic’s A Vision of the Sea (Signum Classics), conducted by Jac van Steen.

Having performed 11 of his works and commissioned five, the orchestra has a strong association with Matthews. You sense it in the precision and warmth of their playing. All the music here is steeped in spray and tide, as the title, taken from Shelley and used by Matthews for a four-movement work, suggests. Based in Deal, in Kent, with the sound and sight of the English Channel ever present, Matthews conjures a poetic seascape in this work, with the evocative calls of herring gulls never far away.

The Guardian - Fiona Maddocks - Sat 13 Feb 2021

The best classical albums released in 2020

“…Mahler’s Rückert Lieder (with an especially fine ‘Um Mitternacht’) and a focused, uncompromising account of Berg’s Altenberg Lieder – both well accompanied” ..............“Jac van Steen gets excellent, vivid playing from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales”

Hugo Shirley - February 2020

                                           Top 50 shows of 2019: Opera

From the best musicals and plays to spectacular productions from the worlds of circus, immersive theatre, opera and dance, The Stage’s critics choose the 50 shows that really stood out in 2019

In two productions during its 30th-anniversary season, Garsington rose to new heights: Paul Curran’s staging of Smetana’s Czech village comedy, and Louisa Muller’s production of Britten’s chiller The Turn of the Screw, conducted by Richard Farnes. The Bartered Bride arguably had the edge, with Jac van Steen drawing a superb performance from the Philharmonia and an ideal cast led by Welsh soprano Natalya Romaniw, US tenor Brenden Gunnell and Australian-American bass Joshua Bloom.

Classical CDs Weekly: Josquin, Tchaikovsky, Janet Sung

The Deeper the Blue Janet Sung (violin), Simon Callaghan (piano), Britten Sinfonia/Jac van Steen (Somm)

This disc’s title comes from a Kandinsky quote: “the deeper the blue becomes, the more strongly it calls one towards the infinite.” There's plenty of colour here, musical and interpretative, though violinist Janet Sung’s collection works best as an examination of links between teachers and pupils. Vaughan Williams’s rather lovely Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra would presumably be programmed more if it lasted an extra 10 minutes.

It's a terrific little piece, and not much longer than the ubiquitous Lark Ascending. A beautifully crafted mixture of Bach and English pastorale, it has a delectable slow movement and a surprising throwaway ending. Naturally it's paired with the composer’s one-time teacher Ravel, in this instance the Tzigane and Sonata for Violin. Sung wisely doesn't overplay the jazziness, she and pianist Simon Callaghan brilliantly deadpan in the hyperactive finale. Sung's Tzigane is as fiery as the best, Jac van Steen’s agile Britten Sinfonia game partners. You'll grin during the final minutes.

Somm’s sleeve notes are from British composer Kenneth Hesketh, whose Inscription-Transformation was written in 2015 for Sung. A celebration both of Hesketh’s late grandmother and his teacher, Henri Dutilleux, it's an absorbing single movement structure, brilliantly orchestrated. Orchestra and soloist bicker, reaching an uneasy agreement near the close.

Then there's Hesketh's idiomatic orchestration of an early Dutilleux piano work. Au gré des ondes was composed in 1946 as a sequence of interludes for French radio, each of its six movements dedicated to a friend of the composer. What Hesketh does with the piece is technically brilliant and highly enjoyable. Dutilleux's affection for Poulenc and Ravel is palpable, Hesketh’s treatment making the work glitter and smoulder: sample the fourth section’s perpetuum mobile and a divine “Hommage à Bach”.

If you do one thing this morning, download that one track. It's sublime. Then buy the CD.

https://theartsdesk.com    Saturday, 07 December 2019





Dominy Clements

This is an unusual but highly successful programme that has a bit of everything, from Vaughan Williams’ forthright bounce to the modern sophistication of Hesketh, and a wealth of French colour in the rest of this well produced recording. Jac van Steen as ever has a fine ear for the orchestral detail to make things work as they should, and I’m delighted to have made this disc’s acquaintance.         

Recreating a musical landmark for the Britten weekend

On Friday October 19 the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, under the baton of Jac van Steen, performed two substantial works, the first being Britten's Cello Symphony (significantly not a concerto). It derived some of its ideas from the Shostakovich concerto and also the exceptional playing of Msitlav Rostropovich who, with his soprano wife Galina Vishnevskaya became two of Britten's closest and warmest friends. The work is not especially approachable and there is little in the way of engaging or memorable tunes that one finds in the concertos of Dvorak, Elgar or, indeed, Shostakovich. Nevertheless, the cellist Alban Gerhardt gave a splendid performance, playing with a powerful authority and the orchestral playing was both incisive and eloquent.

Shostakovitch's tenth symphony contains much arresting music and the explosive second movement is often considered a portrayal of Stalin's 'reign of terror'. It was a thrilling experience; performers and listeners right on the edge. The expansive opening movement was carefully controlled and brought to a thunderous climax but without loss of clarity. The following afternoon recreated the 1960 concert, the Britten sounding as fresh and inspired as it did when first falling on young ears as the Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. BBC Young Musician winner Laura van der Heijden gave an excellent reading of Shostakovich's first cello concerto, engaging and witty in the outer movements but plumbing serious depths in the middle two movements. Her immaculate poise and control in the cadenza was quite exceptional.

To conclude the weekend Jac van Steen skilfully directed the orchestra in a brilliant display of virtuosity and elan with Rachmaninoff's third symphony. The inventive orchestration shimmered and glowed and the final bars were nothing less than breathtaking.

Gareth Jones / East Anglian Daily Times / 04 November 2019

A look back at some events of the 2019 Oxford Lieder Festival

<<............. The start to the whole Festival, which began with Norse Gods and Beowulf, was just as glorious. The first evening concert, at Oxford’s Town Hall, was orchestral: the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (BBCNOW) under the gigantic figure – and personality – of the orchestra’s ex-music director, Dutch conductor Jac van Steen. The pairing of here of Schubert and Grieg gained relevance from the former’s music for Rosamunde (disguised as Cyprian shepherdess, exiled, then restored as queen) in Brahms’s version; a daring orchestration of ‘Der Erlkönig’ by Berlioz; and the song ‘Prometheus’ D674 (later ravishingly orchestrated by Max Reger, D 674).

But the plum was swathes of music from Grieg’s Peer Gynt music – not just the Suites Op.46 and Op.55). Grieg had composed much ampler Peer Gynt music (Op.23) in 1874-5 for fellow-Norwegian Henrik Ibsen’s five-act play. The programme, ill-judgedly, emphasised the ‘hair-raising’ item ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’, and the ‘haunting’ number ‘Solveig’s Song’. Jac van Steen would have none of this. He proved, in a way he so distinctively articulates (think of Carlos Kleiber), that less familiar passages of Grieg’s complete 26-movement Peer Gynt music were phenomenal – and, one suspects, influential on younger composers. Camilla Tilling and Neal Davies were imaginative and compelling soloists. Van Steen drew from the Welsh orchestra marvellous precision, a finely instilled sense of style, intensity, dynamic, and rubato. So the 2019 festival launched out triumphantly, and this spirit endured throughout. .............>>

02/11/2019

Comments

1. Rob Harriessays:

   04/11/2019 at 10:17

   Having attended many of his concerts with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, I too am a fan of Jac van Steen. However, he was never the orchestra’s music director as stated in this review. He used to be their principal guest conductor.
   
   Seen and Heard International
   

****   Impassioned musicianship at Snape's “Britten and Russia” weekend

Snape Maltings alone has the key to Benjamin Britten’s wild parade, and the eponymous Britten Weekends every October rekindle the joy of hearing the local boy’s music in revealing contexts. Each three-day immersion brings a newly bottled concentrate of Aldeburgh Festivals gone by.

The 2019 vintage, labelled ‘Britten and Russia’, provided an opportunity for the German cellist Alban Gerhardt to explore links between Britten and Rostropovich as well as Britten and Shostakovich, with the latter’s Cello Sonata and sundry other works paired, variously, with the English composer's Cello Sonata, first and third Cello Suites and, at Saturday evening’s concert with Jac van Steen and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the great Symphony for Cello and Orchestra of 1963.

That use of ‘great’ is deliberate, because while few of the composer’s works have so many detractors there are plenty too who count it a masterpiece (although probably not the audience member who declared loudly at the interval: “Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto tomorrow night. At last some real music”). Why does the Cello Symphony divide people so? Perhaps because of that vexatious title. The name of, say, Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra kind of makes sense, but this?

There are numerous passages in which the orchestra shoulders the primary melodic material while the cello accompanies with a thrum-thrum-thrum, in an inversion of their usual concertante roles, but by the Adagio third movement the participants have reverted to type, first with a haunting solo melody that moves subtly between diatonic and chromatic intervals, through to an extended and thoroughly concertante solo cadenza. The best one can say for Britten’s provocative title is that it encourages us to listen with fresh ears; the best one can say for Gerhardt’s flawless account of it is that it will have made many friends for the music, if not that fellow at the interval. The descriptor 'symphony' may only hold up so far, but the German cellist played his part like a one-man orchestra.

Although Gerhardt’s impassioned musicianship sent the cello’s tangy timbre soaring round the brick walls of the Maltings, its volume couldn’t compare to the sonic spectacular of the 23-year-old Britten’s Russian Funeral with which van Steen and the BBC NOW had opened the concert. Horns, brass and percussion resounded with a thrill to compare with Janáček’s Sinfonietta in a six-minute piece that was way too much fun for a funeral dirge. Its insistent, Volga Boatman-esque melody sent shivers down the spine that were very much alive.

From fake Russia to the real thing, from booming Britten to music that all but tore asunder the fabric of the building, van Steen delivered a no-holds-barred account of Shostakovich’s mighty Tenth Symphony. The Dutch maestro’s musical shaping was testimony to his understanding of this repertoire, right from the vast opening movement’s dense, muscular strings that painted a desolate landscape until Robert Plane’s solo clarinet introduced a shaft of life. The ensuing second subject can be steely stuff but Jac van Steen ensured there was clarity amid the murk.

The Snape acoustic is ample, crystal clear and gripping, yet as a medium-sized venue it has built-in limiters against which Shostakovich’s massive score pounded and protested. The second movement, with its oh-so-eloquent marking of Presto inquieto, gave the ears a brief battering, while the ensuing Adagio, awash with the composer’s DSCH motif, sounded positively Mahlerian with its horn calls and edgy waltzes. Van Steen was nowhere more impressive than in shaping the closing Passacaglia: it began with a dark entry on cellos and basses, bleak and raddled with pain, that proceeded to spread like a virus through the entire orchestra. Then the chase began: jaunty at first, then hard-driven, and ultimately a showcase of orchestral virtuosity.

By Mark Valencia, 21 October 2019 - Bachtrack

****      Noble Elgar 2 from Jac van Steen in Belfast   

Jac van Steen, the Ulster Orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor, returned to Belfast in a programme to bridge time and emotion. Composed in 1991 for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Lento by Howard Skempton opened the concert.

It employs identical orchestration to the work it was conceived to complement: the prelude to Wagner’s Parsifal. The pristine intonation of the first violins marked the beginning of an exceptional evening of orchestral sound as an air of calm descended in Ulster Hall.

This expansive quasi-Sibelian piece uses just a few major and minor chords, which unfolded organically and atmospherically in Steen’s hands as he wove a tapestry of solemnity from the muted colours. Transcending time, the tranquil and hypnotic bubble of silence hanging in the ether when the piece finished was punctured by premature applause. The composer was welcomed to the platform and received warmly.

Aptly following the Skempton, Wagner’s Wesendonck-Lieder (orchestrated by Felix Mottl) which created another unique soundworld of heightened emotion. Replacing the advertised soloist of Christianne Stotijn was soprano Katherine Broderick. She brought an endearing innocence to the first song, Der Engel. An animated Broderick emphasised the turbulent nature of the text in Stehe still! whilst Steen mined the orchestral details, which had echoes of Tristan und Isolde.

Showing a different character in the third song, Im Treibhaus, Broderick changed the hues of her voice with subtlety and poise. Schmerzen was deeply expressive but without excessive emotion which heightened the impact of the final song, Träume, which was sung tenderly. Broderick’s clear diction was unfaltering, her voice had a rich and warm tone, projecting effortlessly over the orchestra. Steen managed the balance throughout not to overshadow Broderick, however it was the lush orchestral wash of sound which enchanted with its sheer eloquence, considered phrasing and beauty. 

Last season, Steen gave an exceptionally communicative rendition of Elgar’s First Symphony in Belfast, setting the bar extremely high for the Second. With a prevailing sense of nobility, this performance did not disappoint. An expansive work, needing careful pacing, Steen polished the jewels in this crown of Edwardian symphonic majesty to an iridescent sparkle. The tempo choices were not all as one might have anticipated, but throughout this highly engaging performance Steen knew the path he wanted to take. The first movement — Allegro vivace e nobilmente – evolved with grandeur, the darker moments present but not dwelled upon.

The undulating dynamics ebbed and flowed stylistically, each crest of sound controlled so as not to peak too soon. A reserved solemnity prevailed throughout the funereal Larghetto which had a momentum and natural breath-like phrasing. In the blink of an eye, colours changed for the third movement Presto, making the most of the central section contrasting against the Rondo theme, it was unhurried but still turbulent. Bringing the whole work fittingly to an end, with echoes of the previous movements, in the aptly taken Moderato e maestoso, Steen’s insight for the journey became apparent — deeply profound with insightful understanding. The diamond was the Ulster Orchestra itself, the sonorities, balance and connection with Steen sharing his vision for this symphony making the evening a triumph.

By Leighton Jones, 06 October 2019 on Bachtrack