Slaithwaite Philharmonic Orchestra
VENUE: Huddersfield Town Hall
By: John Avison
AN ambitious last-in-season programme named South Of Siberia conjured up icy blasts across withered vegetation for the many who sweltered in Huddersfield Town Hall as summer finally rolled up its sleeves and got busy.
This might be an occasion to review a concert back to front, the post-interval subject being Stravinsky’s rumbustuous score for the dark opera Petrushka, played by the Philharmonic in its original 1911 version.
Stravinsky had not yet become the icon for the throwing away of the musical rule-book and the violent, fractured discord that later typified 20th century music – but he was well on the way with the score for this typically Russian story of a puppet brought to life, falling in love and murdered by a jealous rival.
This was a mountain for the Philharmonic to climb and they climbed it superbly, held tightly in place by conductor Benjamin Ellin.
A screen poised above the orchestra enabled a poignant video to be played – sadly not entirely in sync with the performance – put together by Keith Cheetham.
It was an abstract ‘visualisation’ of the music, using snippets of home movies, children’s artwork and Colne Valley mills at work, and provided a stunningly evocative background to the music.
The Stravinsky piece put the much better known first half choices, Mussorgsky’s Night On A Bare Mountain and Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No 2, somewhat in the shade.
Not that either was poorly executed. Pianist Duncan Glenday played the difficult Rachmaninov with passion and rigour, providing a foil for the orchestra to develop the music’s turbulent emotions.
Mussorgsky was telling a story in his music – witches gathering for a satanic dance on the mountainside, anticipating the approach of the Black God, winding themselves into a frantic state, then being silenced by the church bells as dawn breaks.
The orchestra caught that feeling dramatically.
There are only two criticisms – and neither is serious.
The Mussorgsky first movement seemed a touch shy on strings and there appeared to be the slightest of trouble with Rachmaninov’s tricksy key and tempo changes.
Otherwise, a splendid evening – and not remotely Siberian.
