Photo, BBC/Chris Christodoulou
REVIEWED FROM LIVE RELAY ON BBC RADIO 3
Sunday, September 6, 2026
Royal Albert Hall, London
Take three musicians with big followings, probably even known to the man on the Clapham omnibus, commission Gwilym Simcock to write some music, probably a synthesis of classical and jazz, and you have a Triple Concerto for an unlikely combination of instruments. Well, the score itself is no more than note-spinning, I’m afraid, for just over a long half-an-hour, with nothing whatsoever to latch onto. This premiere performance was no doubt well-prepared, even so each soloist had intonation difficulties, and the instruments themselves were competing instead of gelling, the orchestra another layer of combat. Open this particular musical box only to find it empty. By the way, the piano part was played by the composer. The Bach encore, not that he wrote much for sax, found the trio (and this Trio Sonata Largo, from BWV529) harmoniously interacting.
First up, Britten’s Young Person’s Guide cast as a Theme (Purcell), Variations and final Fugue that tours orchestral hierarchies and instruments with mastery and imagination, splendidly brought off by Sakari Oramo and the BBCSO, with some interesting divergences to Britten’s own recording (LSO/Decca) which I couldn’t stop playing back in the day, for the music rather than the tutelage, the latter came hand-in-hand with discovering repertoire: the first music I heard in a concert by a professional orchestra, Dukas’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice, LPO/Walter Weller; given the immediacy of the sound I was literally shaking.
Dvořák’s ‘New World’ Symphony was another early discovery, via Ormandy’s LSO recording, I played it complete every day for a fortnight. Oramo says he only remembers conducting it once before, during his Birmingham days. This BBCSO account, detailed and dynamic, freshly articulated, had a first movement (with exposition repeat) that vied between lingering (the flute tune) and joyous uncovering, followed by a Largo that included an almost vocal cor anglais solo as part of a hypnotic traversal, not unduly spacious but focussed intently on feelings, enrapturing the listener. The Scherzo danced vigorously, with a bubbly Trio that swung agreeably along, and a final movement of certainty and contrasts, the ear receiving many new vibes, with the ultimate (diminuendoing) chord as long-held as ever it has been. A performance to treasure.
Benjamin Britten: The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra/Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell
Gwilym Simock: Triple Concerto for Soprano Saxophone, Horn and Cello (BBC co-commission: world premiere)
Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No.9 in E-minor, ‘From the New World’
Jess Gillam (saxophone)
Ben Goldscheider (horn)
Sheku Kanneh‐Mason (cello)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0030v9x
Sargent also made the first commercial recording of YPG, with the Liverpool Philharmonic.
Hardly surprising that Bach wrote very little for sax as he died around 1750 and the sax was invented around 1840! This review smacks of disinformation from the start with no understanding of how the new concerto was composed. Please do more research before you write your tripe
You really think I don’t know when JS Bach died, or when Adolphe Sax patented the saxophone? Respectively, 1750 and 1846. The sentence regarding Bach and the sax was tongue-in-cheek and required the reader to have a sense of humour.
Of course I know the background of the Triple Concerto – written for the three finalists of the 2016 BBC Young Musician – but you assumed otherwise, and were also unnecessarily rude.
Well replied, Colin. It was perfectly obvious that you were being tongue-in-cheek in your comment, and your response is authoritative, without being rude.
Indeed..good response Colin.
A friend (who is also a composer and conductor) attended and also wasn’t much impressed with the concerto. However, he qualified his views because, from his seat, the soloists were not well balanced. He suspected the radio balance would be superior.
I have not heard it yet, but I will be catching up with it via the ‘web’, and look forward to being able to judge for myself.
Like other contemporaries I do bemoan technology from time to time, but a facility such as “BBC Sounds” is a blessing, especially in such circumstances.