RSNO: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Usher Hall - 15/03/24
RSNO | RSNO Youth Chorus | Thomas Søndergård, conductor
This week’s concert by the RSNO was a delightful celebration of the Mendelssohns, Fanny and Felix, as well as a showcase for the splendid RSNO Youth Chorus, who triumphed in a rendition of James Burton’s ‘The Lost Words’.
We started with Fanny Mendelssohn’s sparkling Overture in C Major, first performed in 1834 at one of her Berlin salons. By this time, she was married to the artist, Wilhelm Hensel, who encouraged her composition, as a talented amateur, although not going so far as to allow her to publish any music. Women at this time were not seen as serious composers, and despite her prodigious talents, her music was largely forgotten until quite recently. The Mendelssohn family was hugely wealthy, and both brother and sister were very close. What might have transpired musically later in life was tragically cut short, as Fanny suffered a fatal stroke in May 1847, aged 41, followed six months later, in the same way, by her brother on 4th November, aged 38. Their grandfather and both their parents died of the same apoplexies, and we can only assume there was some sort of genetic flaw.
The Overture was delightfully played with some flamboyance by the RSNO, conducted with his usual panache by Thomas Søndergård. I have written before how lucky we are in Scotland at the moment to have this excellent conductor in our midst, and he coaxed splendid playing out of the orchestra, in a piece with which I certainly was unfamiliar.
The next piece on the programme was also unfamiliar, a selection of seven songs from James Burton’s work for upper voices and orchestra, ‘The Lost Words’, a setting of 12 poems by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris. These poems were published in 2017 and were a creative response to the removal of everyday nature words from a contemporary children’s dictionary. Words such as acorn, newt, conker and wren apparently had slipped so far from children’s consciousness that the compilers of this new dictionary had excluded them altogether. It seems utterly extraordinary and shocking that these simple words might be lost, and it is to the credit of the poets and James Burton that this fine musical work should go some way to preserving them.
The witty and charming poems we heard tonight, set in a clever and easily accessible musical idiom by Mr Burton, were brilliantly performed by the RSNO Youth Chorus, who have been superbly trained by Patrick Barrett. They responded to Mr Søndergård’s baton with professional aplomb, words clearly pronounced and rhythms cleanly sung. I particularly enjoyed Newt, Conker and Wren, and I was delighted to find that the lighting in the hall seemed to be bright enough to read the words in the programme. Whether this was deliberate or a lucky break I know not, but it was great to be able to follow the words, as they are exceptionally clever, poignant and amusing. The children’s articulation was spot on, but in such a big auditorium, some words will inevitably get lost.
After the interval, most of the children returned to form the fairy chorus in Felix Mendelssohn’s incidental music to ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ with added soloists, Carine Tinney and Rosamond Thomas, and a narrator, Christine Steel. This music was first performed at Potsdam in October 1843 at the command of King Frederick William IV of Prussia, in a German language version of Shakespeare’s play.
The RSNO used an abridged version in English, which had been used by the orchestra in the Edinburgh International Festival during the Pandemic. I felt it worked very well in the Usher Hall, as we got the gist of the plot through the narration, and whenever Mendelssohn wrote pieces of melodrama (sections of dialogue in the play spoken over musical accompaniment), we heard the actual words in context and with the original cues from the full play. The decision to use the original Shakespeare words rather than the Potsdam German ones seemed eminently sensible in a concert in Edinburgh.
Mendelssohn’s music is gorgeous, and the orchestra played wonderfully. I have been involved in numerous performances and recordings of Benjamin Britten’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, as Snug, Theseus and Bottom, and love the English composer’s brilliant score. It was fascinating to hear how Mendelssohn (120 years earlier) responded to this astonishing text. Everyone knows the famous Wedding March, but I was surprised how much of the rest of the score was familiar to me. There was little for the two young singers to do, especially the mezzo, who had a very light evening, but they acquitted themselves well. The star of the show was the narrator, Christine Steel, whose clear articulation with a refreshing Scottish accent was exemplary. She spoke nervelessly without faltering, and, in the melodrama sections, she seemed fully aware of the musical pace and rhythm. It’s quite a difficult thing to do. Britten gets Puck to do it throughout his opera, and I have watched over the years when perfectly good actors have struggled to cope with speaking in time. In this performance, I thought Christine Steel did a fine job, only occasionally wanting a slightly more poetic declamation. I imagine the dictates of limited rehearsal time necessitated clarity over poetry!
There is a lot of work for the horns in Mendelssohn’s score, and the guest principal horn, Olivia Gandee, played splendidly. All the principals earned their money in this performance, and Thomas Søndergård showed his class once again.
The Usher Hall had provided a showcase earlier for students of St Mary’s Music School, an occasion, alas, of which I was unaware, but I did hear excellent reports of the high quality of the music making. After the comings and goings of the proposed move to the Royal High School building, and the abandonment of the idea, it is very important that this prestigious music school continues to receive support, in order that it can thrive in our city. I shall be writing an article about the future for the school in the coming weeks for the Edinburgh Music Review, so watch this space!
