REVIEW: Beethoven and the BPO

THE first Brighton Philharmonic concert of 2009 may have been all Beethoven but there was no shortage of variety from the master's pen.
By The Newsroom
Published 20th Jan 2009, 10:07 BST
Updated 8th Jun 2018, 00:58 BST

Music director Barry Wordsworth was back on the podium and leading the excellent BPO through their paces on Sunday, January 18, after his Christmas in Australia.

Beethoven's No 5 is said to encapsulate his inner emotional life, from rage and despair through to a triumphant struggle against his destiny.

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Certainly the rage of the first movement is finally resolved in the end.

Completing the first half of the programme was Ah! Perfido, a concert piece for soprano.

The text belongs to a long tradition of laments of abandoned women and was effortlessly performed by Elizabeth Atherton.

The wonderfully evocative Symphony No 6 (Pastoral) made up the second half the programme and despite Beethoven's caution about seeing it as a literal interpretation of country life, it nonetheless perfectly conjures up images and thoughts of rustic scenes.

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Whether that has been honed by years of conditioning, or would create such pictures at the first time of hearing, is probably impossible to guage.

But there can be no doubt in my mind that Cheerful impression awakened by arrival in the country; Scene by the brook, Merry gathering of country folk; Thunderstorm, tempest and Shepherd's song, glad and grateful feelings after the storm could not have a more vivid musical manifestation.

The master's memorable Symphony No 7 is included on the next BPO concert programme on Sunday, February 8, when the mighty Bach and Mozart are also represented by the Suite No 2 in B Minor and the Violin Concerto No 4 respectively.

Stephanie Gonley is the violin virtuoso for the Mozart offering, while the BPO's excellent principal flautist Christine Messiter takes centre stage for the Bach work, conducted by Wordsworth from the harpsichord.

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