Photo, Thomas Jackson / TyneSight Media
These composers go well together – partly historical given Mendelssohn helping to rescue JSB’s music from the doldrums. A few words on the these performances, my intention was to be silent, but nagging doubts continue. In Bach’s D-minor Keyboard Concerto (BWV1052). apart from pianist David Fray’s changes of touch and observances of dynamics, and a well-drilled RNS, this was a monochrome account, the slow movement meandered, and the Finale lacked spark. Fray’s encore was a mannered JSB ‘Air’, the really famous one, arranged Siloti, Fray introducing unconvincing hesitations within phrases. Mendelssohn’s Symphony No.2/’Lobgesang’/’Hymn of Praise’ in its first three movements was a little staid at times, unengaging despite fine playing, becoming more elevated in the vocal/choral final movement, uplifting in the ultimate pages, the choirs’ contribution a joy. Yet as an entity, the work has had greater impact/enlightenment from those accounts below.
Hera Hyesang Park (soprano), Adèle Charvet (mezzo-soprano), Benjamin Hulett (tenor), Chorus of Royal Northern Sinfonia, Huddersfield Choral Society, Voices of the River’s Edge
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002g1gp