Stream: RSNO - The New World Symphony
The RSNO digital series continues to expand our ideas of what is achievable in online streaming. The three pieces in Friday’s concert could hardly be more varied, yet the links between them, and with other works this season provide much food for thought. The concert begins with ‘Mighty River’ by Errolyn Wallen, the first of two works by black female composers in consecutive concerts, with Florence Price’s Violin Concerto coming up soon. Errolyn Wallen’s subject matter is appropriately “from the new world.” It was commissioned in 2007 by the Rector of Holy Trinity Church, Clapham Common, where Abolitionists met, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act. Wallen is from Belize in Central America and has lived in the UK since she was two years old. The commission resonated with her as her ancestors lived in slavery.
She worked with the RSNO in rehearsing the music, and in her spoken introduction, she says that the image of the river represents freedom – it’s a human instinct to be free, just as it’s in the river’s nature to rush towards the sea. James Lowe, the conductor, says that it’s “a rhythmic piece with a great heart”. Her music has a sense of freedom and leaves the players some leeway with the rhythms. Wallen also points out that the music is full of instrumental solos, with some complicated faster passages for full orchestra.
The work starts with ‘Amazing Grace’ played on French horn, quickly joined by piccolo. Soon the orchestra embarks on a development of the theme with swirls and pulses in the winds. The rhythm here is maintained by repeated small phrases on the strings, giving a sense of perpetual motion similar to minimalist writing by Glass or Adams. It’s not a huge orchestra – smaller than the forces for the New World Symphony - but it includes natural trumpets and enough work for two percussionists as well as Paul Philbert on timpani. There’s a quiet section for harp, with high strings and tambourine. We hear solos by various wind instruments, and brief sections for muted trumpets and trombones. In fact, apart from that steady beat, the work is certainly not minimalist! The leader, Sharon Roffman, has a lovely solo, while the horn often seems to act as the originator of new ideas. The spiritual, ‘Deep River’, is played quietly by the cello then picked up by the brass. After an extended section in which snatches of other hymn tunes can be heard, we eventually return to ‘Amazing Grace’, this time accompanied by bells, and picked up by the full orchestra in variations. A last horn solo leads to a throbbing final chord on the strings.
The programme continues with Wagner’s ‘Wesendonck’ Lieder, sung by mezzo Karen Cargill. We are very fortunate in Scotland that Cargill, with an international career, gives so many of her performances here. Unusually she stands at the back, to the left of the orchestra, but this has no effect on her audibility. Her voice remains as full and rich as ever, as she confirms in the wonderful legato lines of ‘Der Engel’, the first of these songs, all settings of poems by Wagner’s mistress, Mathilde Wesendonck. ‘Stehe Still’, the impassioned second song initially invites comparison with the dramatic writing of ‘The Ring’ or ‘Tristan’. Cargill controls beautifully the transition to the quiet middle section and then the concluding surge, with brass accompaniment. In his introduction James Lowe has commented that this setting of the five songs for chamber orchestra by Hans Werner Henze includes some unexpected sounds and difficult passages for the orchestra. The cor anglais (Henry Clay) plays a major part in the reflective third song, ‘Im Treibhaus’ (In the Glasshouse) with its imagery likening the “trapped” lovers to a foreign plant trapped in a hothouse. Cargill sings without a score – always a welcome sight in a lieder performance, so we can see the expressiveness in her face as well as hear it in her voice. The bassoon picks up the accompaniment as she moves to a pianissimo conclusion. It’s noticeable in these online concerts that conductors can quieten the performers’ sound in a way which may be harder in a crowded hall. ‘Traume’, (Dream) the last song, perhaps the best-known of the set, is given a gentle floating quality. A terrific twenty minutes! Karen Cargill’s performance in last year’s Festival, ‘My light Shines’, is still available in a free download online.
In his introduction to Dvorak’s Symphony No 9 in E minor ‘From the New World’, James Lowe says he believes that this is a piece about nostalgia and homesickness. It was written in New York, and there are themes with new world links, but tunes from his homeland are very much present too. Charlotte Gardener in her excellent programme note explores this idea further.
This is a wonderful performance, the large orchestra (for these times) sounding (almost) as good as a full-sized one in a concert hall. Solo moments are, as often, enhanced by the social distancing- the cor anglais in the slow second movement theme, “Going Home”, sounding particularly poignant. Despite its conventional separation into four movements, a feature of the work is the repetition of the themes from one movement to the next, with the three main melodies being repeated in the dramatic end to the Symphony.
Last year I wrote about the black British composer, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Much influenced by Dvorak’s music, he sought out folk melodies, and like him, believed in the importance of the African American field tunes which we now call spirituals. (One of his arrangements of these, recently popularised by Sheku Kanneh -Mason, is ‘Deep River’ – a tune referenced in Errolyn Wallen’s piece) Dvorak was also interested in the rhythms and tunes of Native American music, and, like Coleridge Taylor, had enjoyed Longfellow’s poem ‘Hiawatha’, a section of which, the description of the whirling dance at the wedding feast, provides the inspiration for the Scherzo, with vigorous music which swirls excitedly to its conclusion – much like Coleridge-Taylor’s later choral setting of Longfellow’s words.
This concert has all that anyone would want, outstanding performances of great music, and much to think about, while watching and later. The concert is available on the RSNO website for £10, but, as ever, further donations help to maintain live music for the future.
