Thursday, August 7, 2025
Royal Albert Hall, London
It is usually documented that the premiere of the Dvořák (then billed as Symphony No.5, a numbering retained for decades) was on December 16, 1893, in Carnegie Hall – there’s a confirming poster – although the one above suggests it had been played the afternoon before, which we know it was (Anton Seidl the conductor of both), albeit under the guise of a rehearsal, as it was reviewed in the New York Times. Domingo Hindoyan and the RLPO gave a fine performance, taking nothing for granted, yet with no need for novelty if unexceptional tempos and phrasing, the first movement (repeat observed) linked-in if slightly tweaked in places; the Largo flowed, perhaps too easily, if warmly shaded and with a poetic cor anglais solo; the Scherzo was rhythmically adroit and detailed, the Trio continuing in animated fashion (it can sag); and the Finale surged forward thrillingly, while incorporating well-judged flexibility, journeying to a jazzy ending and a nicely practised ultimate diminuendo.
Opening the concert, the Hailstork, the eighty-four-year-old composer present, his energetic and noisy piece proving to be virtuosic in the writing if with little to engage in the listening. The Higdon, composed on the death of her brother, is gently expressive with an intense cinematic climax. Although the sincerity of the music is never doubted – stemming from her loss – it didn’t offer a defining creative character, nulling the appeal of this memorial in which “young percussionists”* took part. Excellent performances from the Liverpool Phil and its Venezuelan chief conductor, then joined by his countryman Pacho Flores for a trumpet concerto (of Autumn), which requires him to play four instruments – two trumpets, in different keys, flugelhorn, cornet – musically about repetitions of basically uninteresting material, the final movement particularly hollow, if astonishingly executed by Pacho Flores, impeccably blown and valved, and continued into the arranged Piazzolla encore.
The first half was a salutary reminder of what great music is, a friend for life, new details and secrets to be discovered, the Dvořák certainly an example, and if sometimes there may be a rendition too many, the ear of appreciation will soon be on-song again, and a strong bond restored. Depends on the performance though…
Adolphus Hailstork: An American Port of Call (European premiere)
Jennifer Higdon: blue cathedral
Arturo Márquez: Concierto de otoño
Dvořák: Symphony No.9 in E-minor (From the New World)
*”from Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Company and In Harmony Liverpool“
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002gdx6
I was at this concert and it was a wonderful experience.