Belgian National Orchestra
Usher Hall - 06/11/22
‘Two Organ Symphonies in a month?’
That’s what my reviewers said when I offered them press tickets for Sunday’s Usher Hall concert with the Belgian National Orchestra because the main work Saint-Saens’ Symphony No 3 (better known as the Organ Symphony, as an organ plays alongside a large orchestra, a piano and lots of percussion!) had been performed only the month before by the RSNO at the Usher Hall. So when an editor meets critical resistance there is only one thing to do, and that is review it yourself! Our critic Brian Bannatyne-Scott had heard it a month ago and gave it a very favourable review and pointed out that it was originally commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society and given its premiere in London in 1886. Since then it has been a popular work but it does require big orchestral forces and a good organ. I didn’t see the RSNO concert in October but I can report that the Belgian National Orchestra did a good job on Sunday under the baton of Roberto Gonzalez~Monjas. The programme began with a prelude by Respighi and the Mozart piano concert No 25, played by Paul Lewis. It made for a pleasant musical Sunday afternoon at a half full Usher Hall.
The Usher Hall are to be complimented on their policy of bringing orchestras from abroad on Sunday afternoons. We have some very good orchestras in Scotland as our reviewers regularly report but it’s good to hear some overseas orchestras to compare them with. As I know from my time as an MEP in Brussels, Belgium has a strong classical music culture and The Brussels Philharmonic and the Belgian National Orchestra are both very good. Their Usher Hall concert was part of an eight concert tour and was their first visit to Scotland. The orchestra came with 90 plus players on Sunday ready for the major Saint-Saens work, but needed fewer players for the first half of the programme. The concert began with Respighi’s prelude choral and fugue which was published in 1901. It is not as well-known as his tone poems the ‘Fountains of Rome’, the ‘Pines of Rome’ and ‘Roman Festivals’ but is a very pleasant melodic opening work. Paul Lewis is a big favourite in Edinburgh as he has appeared many times at the festival or at the Usher Hall or the Queens Hall. I have recent memories of him playing Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations splendidly at the Queens Hall. His account of Mozart’s Piano Concert No 25 was perfect and while it isn’t as well-known as Mozart’s 21st (known these days as the Elvira Madigan theme), critics reckon it is perhaps his finest piano concerto. There are also echoes of Mozart’s great operas such as ‘Figaro’ and ‘Don Giovanni’ which he was writing at the same time. The programme concluded after the interval with the Saint-Saens’ Organ concerto, with Darius Battiwalla playing the mighty Usher Hall organ very sensitively at the beginning before unleashing its mighty power later. It was backed by great work from the big brass section and the fine strings of the orchestra firmly conducted by the young Spanish conductor whose tall figure commanded the orchestra.
The Concert was given a warm reception by a half full Usher Hall audience and hopefully these visiting orchestras will continue on a Sunday afternoon. Next up that ‘foreign’ orchestra from Glasgow, the BBC SSO, doing Wagner on the 20th of November and the Romanian National Orchestra doing Tchaikovsky on the 27th. With the RSNO on Fridays and the SCO on Thursdays Edinburgh is set for a busy orchestral month in November!
