Deliciously loud: Beethoven and Barry with Adès and the Britten Sinfonia at Milton Court
Beethoven Septet, Barry's Five Chorales from The Intelligence Park and Beethoven's Piano Trio op.70 no.2
Thomas Adès, Gerald Barry and members of the Britten Sinfonia
Milton Court Concert Hall
Circle A67, £15
30 May 2017
Barbican page
I find seeing in the flesh composers whose music I like very exciting; I can rarely see Harrison Birtwistle without tearing up slightly and unnecessarily So you can imagine my excitement at seeing Adès and Barry not only standing about exuding eminence but actually creating music as well, right in front of me!
Barry worried me at the beginning, his hands appearing from where we were sitting to be shaking. But worry I should not have. The set of chorales is extremely cool, the arrangement for piano duet is also extremely cool and the rapport betwen the two of them was, you guessed it, really extremely cool. The hall's acoustics were also perfectly suited to this music, with Barry's stabs of sound emerging rich and gleaming and deliciously loud.
The acoustic wasn't quite so favourable for either of the Beethovens and I ended up feeling slightly annoyed with certain performers. I'm usually a huge fan of leader Thomas Gould but I felt he played the Septet as though it were a violin concerto, lavishing vibrato-heavy slathers of sound on us that sometimes risked smothering the sublime clarinet playing of Joy Farrall. Of all the ensemble I felt only she really managed to get to the heart of what makes this music interesting, and I'll admit my mind occasionally wandered into guilty imaginings of what the Nash Ensemble would have done differently.
The balance culprit in the Trio – and what a magnificent piece, by the way – was Adès, perhaps not too surprisingly. All credit to Gould and cellist Caroline Dearnley, who played with much sensitivity and accuracy, but I felt a more soloistic approach from the both of them was needed to match up to Adès. It ended up being a bit of piano steamroller, which this piece needn't be. Not to sound like a period nut but I also feel the mellow sound of a fortepiano is more appropriate to the character of this piece than a Steinway. Still, even with these caveats this was a very moving, engrossing performance, and a valuable opportunity to get a glimpse into Adès's understanding of this wonderful piece.
No comments yet.