Scottish Symphony, CBSO, Symphony Hall, Birmingham, 08 November, 2023. 4****: David Gray & Paul Gray.

Scottish Symphony, CBSO, Symphony Hall, Birmingham, 08 November 2023.

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

Mozart – Marriage of Figaro Overture

Sibelius – Violin Concerto

Sweeney – Glisk

Mendelssohn – Scottish Symphony

It is surprising how, in a hall as acoustically receptive as Symphony Hall, speakers can often struggle to be heard without the aid of amplification. This was not the case for violin soloist, Ray Chen. Introducing and explaining his encore, his booming voice filled the space. As did his easy-going antipodean charm and big warm personality.

It was a far cry from the anguished and emotionally tortured persona he had been inhabiting for the previous 30 minutes or so, performing Sibelius’ Violin Concerto. This is a mountain of a work; everything you want from a late romantic concerto: Big tunes, big emotions, and tons of virtuosity. It is a technical and expressive stretch for the soloist. Chen has a distinctive core tone, uniformly rich with a husky snarl in the lower register and adamantine power in the upper.

His performance was characterised by degrees of intensity. He drove through the expansive melodies of the opening movement and built with unshakable resolve through the rising chromatic passages of the slow movement to searing climaxes. The final dance-like movement, overshadowed by the immense emotional struggle we had all been through, carried a bitter-sweet quality. This was an exceptionally rich and nuanced performance. Exhausting and exhilarating to experience.

Both halves of the concert were kicked-off by short works. One very well known. The other not so. Conductor, Cristian Macelaru’s reading of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro Overture was on the slow side of the tempo marking and on the rumbling chuckle end of the laughter spectrum. Sedate and measured, it never quite caught fire. However, there were some revelations. Previously unnoticed inner wind melodies shone through, descant-like, to charming effect.

Aileen Sweeney’s Glisk, one of the CBSO’s centenary commissions had a familiar feel. Brightly coloured orchestral textures and some nicely counterpointed melodic writing over feverish, layered, sustained ostinati. It was very effective in what it set out to do. There is a lot of this around at the moment: the post-minimalist school seems to be gaining ascendancy.

Mendelssohn’s vision of Scotland is imaginative and romanticised. Think impossibly rugged mountains, tragic queens, ancient quarrels settled with the business-end of a cudgel, flashing dirks, and Prince Albert’s interior design tartan frenzies at Balmoral. His Scottish Symphony is enormous fun, by turns brooding and rollicking. Maestro Macelaru - with an engaged and responsive CBSO -gauged the changes of mood to perfection. An atmospheric and detailed performance. The horn section’s heroic Alpine offering added sheen to the work’s fantastical climax. I positively yearned for haggis.

Cristian Macelaru – Conductor

Ray Chen – Violin

CBSO