United Kingdom Promenade 32 – Pejačević, Grace Williams, Holst: Geneva Lewis (violin), Girls of the London Symphony Refrain, BBC Nationwide Orchestra of Wales / Jaime Martín (conductor). Royal Albert Corridor, London, 8.8.2023. (CC)

Dora Pejačević – Overture, Op.49 (1919)
Grace Williams – Violin Concerto (1950)
Holst – The Planets, Op.32 (1914-17)

The BBC NOW has already proven itself to be in effective fettle this season, with BBC Promenade 22 (Prokofiev Third Piano Concerto with Isata Kanneh-Mason as soloist, and Tchaikovsky Fifth Symphony below Ryan Bancroft, evaluate right here). Ten Proms later, the orchestra nonetheless dazzled.

Pretty to see a bit by Dora Pejačević, whose music has lately been championed by each Chandos and cpo. Born into the Aristocracy (her father a Croatian depend, her mom a Hungarian countess), Dora was surrounded by music in her childhood: her mom was a singer and a pianist. She obtained personal classes on the Croatian Music Institute, supplemented by examine in Dresden and Budapest. A self-proclaimed Wagnerian, her music shows grace and allure; however deeper feelings lie under the floor. She was the primary Croatian composer to write down a piano concerto. She died of kidney failure in 1923 a month after giving delivery to a son.

The Overture in D minor, Op.49, was meant as a live performance opener. It’s dramatic, its preliminary jittery power coming from a sequence of syncopations. Brightly scored, the rating requires actual self-discipline from its gamers, and the BBC NOW responded with excellent crispness of assault. Strings particularly had been disciplined. In a way, that is the proper Proms piece: melodic, instantly interesting, briskly rhythmic. There’s a sure the Aristocracy to among the aspirational string phrases, to stability, woodwind pipe pastorally at instances.

The recording on cpo, by the way, is price in search of out: Howard Griffiths conducting the Brandenburg State Orchestra, Frankfurt and paired with the fantastic Piano Concerto (with Oliver Triendl as soloist). Rob Barnett’s evaluate of this disc over on Music Internet Worldwide is price studying (right here) for his ideas on what (or who) the music seems like; I definitely agree there’s a Beethovenian slant right here.

Again in 2004, after I spent a while exploring the Lyrita catalogue, one of many nice discoveries for me was the music of Grace Williams. MWI has some in-depth sources for her music (right here), which I hyperlink to on the backside of my evaluate of her Second Symphony, Fairest of Stars and Ballads (Lyrita SRCD327).

Written in 1950, Williams’s Violin Concerto begins with a gradual motion (marked ‘Liricamente’); the ultimate two actions are linked, an Andante sostenuto resulting in an Allegro con spirito.

To be trustworthy, it’s troublesome to decide on which is the best discovery: Williams’s concerto, or the enjoying of New Zealand born Geneva Lewis. At solely 25, Lewis is a BBC New Technology Artist who has studied on the New England Conservatory and who at the moment is with Mihaela Martin on the Kronberg Academy. She performs a composite violin by Giovanni Battista Guodagnini from round 1776; her sound is stunningly lovely, The primary motion of Williams’s concerto is mostly a rhapsody, and it was exactly the sense of music on the fly that Lewis and Martín caught so completely. Melodic strains had been tenderly sculpted by the soloist as woodwind flickered round her. A few of Williams’s scoring is ultra-delicate, and the way the gamers of the BBC NOW relished the problem. Moments of lush Impressionism sat towards passages of astringency, themselves towards moments of actual simplicity. Lewis gave an ideal account of the cadenza, her tuning unbelievable. Williams prepares the music for the cadenza correct by beginning with solo violin towards a sustained horn notice; once more, on the finish, cellos play whereas the violin sits clearly nonetheless in cadenza mode. It’s a fascinating tackle integrating the cadenza into the motion correct, and Lewis and Martín clearly understood it completely.

The Andante sostenuto that follows mines particularly Welsh music for materials, particularly the hymn tune Yr Hen Dderby. A keening oboe shadows the violin’s lengthy line earlier than the 2 devices alternate gestures. The melodies right here appear to final endlessly in a heavenly unfolding, and Lewis’s candy tone was excellent. Expansive and completely lovely, that is music that’s completely cherishable, as was this efficiency. Neither Lewis nor Martín put a foot mistaken; the finale, in distinction, is characterised by a kind of astringent but witty manner. Lewis and Martín laudably allowed the music house to talk, to their everlasting credit score. The efficiency stays on BBC Sounds, and will, I humbly recommend, be eagerly sought out.

Lastly, Holst’s The Planets, a Proms favorite if ever there was one. Nary a 12 months goes by with out its presence being felt. It’s a masterpiece, though it doesn’t at all times seem as such. Right here, it most definitely did in a efficiency of razor-sharp readability and energy. ‘Mars’ was overpowering, and rightly so, nevertheless it was the element that made it depend, crescendos and diminuendos completely judged, horns completely on type. In ‘Venus,’ it was the balancing of the wind chords that was so spectacular. A disproportionate quantity of element was audible; this was no run-of-the-mill outing for Holst’s masterpiece. Gossamer-light articulation characterised ‘Mercury’ whereas, for all its ‘huge tune’, ‘Jupiter’ was notable for its fantastical, vibrant edge. Martín allowed the modernity of Holst’s writing in ‘Saturn’ to essentially register, the trombones extremely spectacular of their weight. ‘Uranus’ moved from lightness to diablerie. Lastly, the long-lasting ‘Neptune’ with its offstage feminine refrain, in one of many higher containers, the singers strolling away on the finish. This was actually lovely, the management of the BBC NOW’s wind devices in pianissimo an actual contributory issue to the motion’s success.

Each Martín and Lewis had been making their Prims debuts on this event. Let’s hope it’s a mixture that returns, and shortly.

Colin Clarke