The Hallé’s Artist-in Residence, Thomas Adès, conducts a programme centred on Finland’s greatest composer with two of his greatest symphonies, as well as two more pieces influenced by him...
With a history as rich as their artistic pedigree, Manchester’s Hallé Orchestra are a regular fixture on the Nottingham Classics circuit. Originally founded in 1858 by Sir Charles Hallé and still synonymous in most music lovers’ minds with the legendary Sir John Barbirolli, most recently their twenty-five year partnership with Sir Mark Elder culminated in a farewell tour which gifted the Royal Concert Hall with some of the most dazzling concerts in its 2023-24 season.
So it was great to see them back with a value for money programme featuring two symphonies, two serenades and a contemporary piece. Sibelius’s Seventh and Fifth Symphonies bookended the concert, towering works of dark dramatic import offset by the contemplative lyricism of Rautavaara’s Deux Serenades and the appropriately glacial Air (Homage to Sibelius) by Thomas Adés, currently the Hallé’s artist-in-residence, who also conducted.
Violinist Stephen Waarts presented an ethereal stage presence, his calm and controlled technique entirely suited to the solo violin passages in Deux Serenades and Air. And while I’m singing the praises of violinists it would be criminal not to mention orchestra leader Emily Davis, whose playing in the Sibelius symphonies demonstrated an intuitive engagement with the composer. Could she be a conductor in the making? I’d like to think so.
a study in contrasts
Adés’s own conducting style was a study in contrasts. Low key in the Rautavaara to allow Waarts the limelight, and very precise and economical in shaping his own work, he nevertheless adopted a flamboyant approach for the symphonies, channeling the ecstatic physicality of Bernstein with a touch of Rozdestvensky’s knife-like baton jinking. It was a performance to behold, one that reached its peak as the Fifth Symphony approached its finale, hand and baton parting company and the latter describing a propulsive arc before disappearing stage right. Adés, ever the trooper, powered along to the conclusion as if batons were perfectly overrated. The orchestra, true to the proverb, didn’t miss a beat.
Mind you, it’s hard to think of anything that would make the Hallé break their stride or deliver anything less than excellence, whoever is on the podium. They are a world-class orchestra and we are lucky to have them as such regular guests in Nottingham.
The Hallé with Thomas Adés played at the Royal Concert Hall of Tuesday November the 26th, 2024.
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