Beethoven 5, CBSO, Symphony Hall, Birmingham, Wednesday 24 January 2024, also Thursday 25 January 2024. 4****: David Gray & Paul Gray.

Beethoven 5, CBSO, Symphony Hall, Birmingham, Wednesday 24 January 2024, also Thursday 25 January, 2024.

4****: David Gray & Paul Gray.

“An uneven evening with a Mozartian gem at its core.”

Mendelssohn – Overture: The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave)

Mozart – Concerto for Flute and Harp

Carlos Simon – Fate Now Conquers

Beethoven – Symphony No. 5 in C minor

The CBSO’s admirable practice of inviting players from within the orchestra to take solo roles in concerti brings with it a bonus. There can be a sympathy and understanding between soloist and band, which can sometimes be a little lacking with external soloists, no matter how stellar these players might be. This advantage was very prominent during a glittering performance of Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp.

Flautist, Maire-Christine Zupancic and harpist, Katherine Thomas, clearly had a mutuality of understanding and intent, sharing phrases and musical ideas with needle-sharp precision and shoehorn tightness. Their playing was elegant, poised and delicate, particularly during the achingly lyrical Andantino. The final movement bustled with energy.

Conductor, Maxim Emelyanychev, directing from a physical position deep within the orchestra, acted throughout as an attentive, discrete intermediary between the forces at play. This was a beautifully set jewel of a performance.

The Mozart shared its central position in the evening with a modern piece, Carlos Simon’s Fate Now Conquers. Taking its inspiration from the final work of the concert, this is a big bold composition which, despite being rather gestural, hangs together by virtue of its energy and skilful use of the orchestra. Simon impressively manages to deal effectively with big ideas in a short timespan.

The concert started less certainly. The opening of the first piece, Mendelssohn’s Fingal’s Cave, was rather careful and perhaps a little too well thought-out. It lacked the brooding menace the music seems to suggest. Early lyrical passages seemed overly sedate. As a result, the later, more tempestuous, sections came from nowhere. Slow tempos meant the work never gathered momentum and this accentuated a rather episodic feel.

In contrast, the opening movement of Beethoven’s iconic 5th Symphony took off at a ferocious speed. Initially, this was very exciting. However, large scale symphonic music at this speed requires an attention to detail not always evident. There were some ragged corners. Occasionally instrumental colouring blared through the texture a little too garishly. This was a shame because it detracted from a reading with a strong and muscular narrative running through it.

The performance settled down during the inner movements, which were well balanced in terms of tempi and detail. Emelyanychev captured the grandiose tragedy of the composer’s vision and the orchestra played with power and presence. There were some wonderful, almost ‘breathy’ textures from the strings towards the end of the Scherzo, which led nicely into a well-handled transitional passage, before the explosion of a triumphant & exuberant Allegro Finale.

CBSO

Maxim Emelyanychev – Conductor

Marie-Christine Zupancic – Flute

Katherine Thomas - Harp