Review: Autumn Greats – Darwin Ensemble Chamber Orchestra & Jack Liebeck

How I came to be writing this review is quite a story in itself, in that one day I happened to start talking on Twitter to a guy who shared my interests in TV talent shows such as Strictly Come Dancing. I liked his honest and often hilarious comments about performances and we became Twitter pals. The man was none other than Alex Laing, Artistic Director of Darwin Ensemble Chamber Orchestra (DECO).When I saw that the Orchestra were performing a concert of Autumn Greats at Lichfield Cathedral, which included works by some of my favourite composers and featuring as their special guest the Classical Brit award winning violinist Jack Liebeck, I just had to go!

Lichfield Cathedral

Despite living in nearby Burton on Trent for many years, I don’t think I have ever visited Lichfield Cathedral until now. It is a magnificent imposing building, very gothic in style and so intricately decorated with carvings of saints and apostles as well as other adornments – the detail in the stonework is quite remarkable. It is a stunning and beautiful piece of architecture that also has the most amazing acoustics inside and was a highly suitable venue for the evening’s performance as it really enhanced the sound of the orchestra.

Darwin Ensemble Chamber Orchestra with Artistic Director Alex Laing

The Orchestra started the evening by playing Mozart’s Overture to Cosi fan tutte; a piece I am familiar with having seen the opera performed previously by Opera North. Despite being a fan of Mozart’s music, this opera isn’t one of my favourites as the storyline seems overly melodramatic. The music nevertheless is quite spectacular and in this performance, DECO brought out all the characteristics of the piece; the oboe solo, the frenzy of the strings as they build to a crescendo and are joined by the entire orchestra in quite a triumphant flourish. The sound quality was superb no doubt enhanced by the acoustics of the building which made it all very enjoyable.

Classical Brit Award Winner Jack Liebeck

The Orchestra were then joined by Classical Brit Award winner Jack Liebeck. I had seen Jack win his Classical Brit for Young British Classical Performer in 2010 at the Royal Albert Hall and had met him and his wife briefly afterwards. This was the first time that I had heard him perform live though and was eager to see just how good he was. He was accompanied by the orchestra in playing the sublime Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor. This is a well-known piece that always features high in the Classic Fm Hall of Fame and is considered to be an essential piece to master by all concert violinists. That’s not to say that piece is easy but it is a great opportunity to showcase the violinist’s technique and talent. The first movement opens with an almost immediate entry of the solo violin which is then repeated by the orchestra building up to some quite elaborate and intricate passages. At times Jack’s bow just seemed to fly across the strings in quite a frenzied manner and yet the sound produced seemed so effortless.

Jack Liebeck in rehearsal with DECO

I often think that the sign of a great piece of music is when you get so totally absorbed by it that everything else around you is lost and you get transported into the piece itself. Sitting in the Cathedral listening to this was just like that for me, the music was so exquisite and so wonderfully performed that you were totally transfixed by it.

The second movement is linked by one note from the bassoon and is so serene it has a great calming effect and is sublimely beautiful and almost sorrowful in places but this only adds to the beauty of the piece. In 1906, the year before his death, celebrated violinist Joseph Joachim told the guests at his 75th birthday party:
“The Germans have four violin concertos. The greatest, most uncompromising is Beethoven's. The one by Brahms vies with it in seriousness. The richest, the most seductive, was written by Max Bruch. But the most inward, the heart's jewel, is Mendelssohn's.” Listening to this piece being performed on Saturday, it was easy to see why this was considered the heart’s jewel.

The third movement starts in a similar vein to that of the second but soon builds up to a lively and quite vibrant finale which seemed so fast in places that it looked like Jack was playing twice as many notes than everyone else. It was a spectacular piece which Jack and the orchestra brought to life and had the audience in rapturous applause at the end. Truly spectacular!

After such an energetic performance, it was time for a break but the second half of the concert proved to be just as enjoyable in that it was Beethoven’s Symphony No 7.Whether consciously done or not I don’t know, but it linked well to the previous piece by Mendelssohn given the association between the two composers. In 1821, Beethoven had heard Mendelssohn play and had made quite a prophetic entry in one of his conversation books “Mendelssohn - 12 years old- promises much."

Anyone who knows me will know how much I love Beethoven and having grown up listening to his music have always enjoyed his symphonies particularly the 5th and 7th.I can still picture the 33” LP we had of his 7th symphony and when being asked as a child what I liked about Beethoven said that it was because you could play it loud! Listening to this performance tonight, transported me back to my childhood and the stories I would imagine in my mind whilst setting it to this music. For me, the piece is so expressive and full of emotions and I think the orchestra did a brilliant job in portraying this in their performance. I could go on in much more detail about this, detailing each movement but I would probably go on for longer than the concert itself!! Suffice it to say, each of the four movements was performed superbly and was incredibly emotive and poignant. Again the acoustics played an important part in the overall sound of the piece, but the orchestra did an outstanding job in bringing the music to life.

The concert lasted almost two hours but seemed to fly by so quickly, which was obviously a sign that it had gone well. Having now discovered this incredibly talented set of musicians for myself, I can assure you it won’t be the last time of seeing them perform.

For more information on their upcoming concerts: www.darwinensemble.co.uk/deco


Follow them on twitter: www.twitter.com/darwinensemble


Or on Facebook: www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Darwin-Ensemble-Chamber-Orchestra/135743199796317

Review - Classic Brit Awards 2011

The annual Classic Brit Awards are a reflection and celebration of the critical and commercial successes within the classical music industry. For me, it is also an opportunity to see some of the greatest names in the industry perform on stage – for a fraction of what it would cost in an Opera House.

Now in its twelfth year, the awards ceremony itself has evolved not only with its change of name (formerly known as the Classical Brit Awards) but also in the areas of music it covers. Previously this ceremony had been exclusively for classical music and opera – and in fact any album up for consideration for an award had to be at last 60% classical in content – now the category has been expanded to include musical theatre and orchestral music written for soundtracks. The aim being to appeal to a wider section of music fans and hopefully make classical music more accessible.

All Angels

This would probably explain therefore, the high number of what are termed Classical Crossover artists that appeared and performed on the night. They are artists who combine both classical and popular music in their performances and who appeal to a broad cross section of the audience.

Il Divo

Whilst I enjoyed many of the performances on the evening; particularly Alfie Boe & the cast of Les Miserables, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Eric Whitacre and the Eric Whitacre singers, I would have liked to have seen more classical and operatic performers take to the stage. Last year’s awards were heavily dominated by the world of opera with performances from Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Rolando Villazon, Angela Gheorgiu and Bryn Terfel which for me was a dream come true. This year, the programme appeared to be more Crossover and I feel that a more balanced programme between the two genres would have been better received.

Part of the problem within the classical music industry, at least in my opinion, is that the industry itself want to appeal to as broad an audience as possible and thereby sell more albums, but the purists within the industry want to maintain the exclusivity of the classical and operatic genres and see the introduction of crossover artists as effectively dumbing it down. It was interesting to note though, that in the past three years when I have attended, the hall has been completely sold out. This year there were still many seats available in the higher levels. Now whether this is due to the economical climate, or the fact that the awards have changed to appeal to a wider audience is difficult to say, but for me, this year it lacked the splendour and excitement of former years.

That’s not to say that the evening wasn’t enjoyable as I did enjoy it immensely. I arrived in time to see many of the artists arrive on the red carpet and enjoyed watching the reaction of both the crowds and artists as they took to the red carpet. One criticism of this would be that some of the artists didn’t spend time with the fans and yet again, the placement of the Classic Brits backdrop meant that many fans had an obscured view of the artists arriving. What I found interesting is that whilst all eyes were on the red carpet, just behind the crowds were other musicians just walking up and down almost unrecognised. I took the opportunity to talk to my friend, tenor Thomas Spencer Wortley who was attending the awards for the first time. Thomas is relatively new to the music scene but is incredibly talented and with any luck will be nominated in the Best Newcomer category next year. As we chatted we started our own alternative commentary to the arrivals on the red carpet which proved quite entertaining and if the organisers are short of people to interview next year, we’d be more than happy to oblige! I also had the opportunity to meet Gareth Malone, the genius behind projects such as The Choir. Gareth has also attended for the last four years and yet despite his huge success on TV, mingled happily with the crowds and was a delight to talk to being as he is genuinely charming and funny. He and Thomas were sitting on the same table during the awards and I would dearly loved to have joined them for I’m sure the conversation would have been highly amusing all evening.

Alfie Boe arriving at the awards.Photo courtesy of Hilary Sargeant

Gareth Malone & I watching the arrivals on the Red Carpet

My own seat though afforded an excellent view of the stage and the orchestra. There is nothing quite like the sound of a live orchestra and The London Chamber Orchestra under the superb direction of Christopher Warren-Green performed spectacularly. Indeed at times it felt like I was part of the orchestra I was sat so close, and the sound that we experience d was truly spectacular. It was also a thrill to be so close to the stage and to see the emotion and effort that each singer or performer put into their performance. You could see the nerves of some and yet also the excitement and anticipation of others. Thanks to a technical fault following the performance of Alfie Boe and the Les Mis cast we also got to hear their reaction as their mics stayed on and we heard the backstage shouts and squeals of “that was so much fun”, “amazing”, “let’s do it again”. This provided a huge response from the audience who had also clearly enjoyed their medley of songs from the show.

As mentioned before, the highlight for me was Anne-Sophie Mutter’s performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (Winter).She seemed to play so effortlessly and we watched in wonder as her bow seemed to fly over the strings, barely touching them and yet producing such an amazing sound. Eric Whitacre and his singers provided a more calming and almost ethereal performance with their rendition of “Sleep”. They captivated the audience’s attention so that at the end of the performance you could almost hear a pin drop. Alfie Boe and the Les Mis cast were another triumph and received possibly one of the biggest cheers of the evening with their medley of hits from the popular musical. Alfie’s rendition of”Bring Him Home” always manages to bring a tear to my eye and that night was no exception. Their finale in which they sang “One Day More” also gave me goose bumps as their performance really brought out the beauty of the music and the poignancy of the lyrics.

The cast of Les Mis

The final award of the evening was the Outstanding Contribution to Music awarded posthumously to the late John Barry OBE. John was well known for the number of film scores he composed and as a tribute, artists and orchestra performed some of his better known tracks. Katherine Jenkins and Alfie Boe sang the beautiful “Here’s to the Heroes” from Dances with Wolves which was quite fitting and a perfect tribute to the man and his genius.

Katherine Jenkins & Alfie Boe perform Here's to the Heroes

The show ended with the incomparable Dame Shirley Bassey who sang the theme tune to the James Bond film Goldfinger. Judging by the audience reaction as she took to the stage, this was the one they had been waiting for. It seems incredible that this lady doesn’t seem to age and can still belt out the tune with as much power and glamour as she did the first time she sang it. She seemed to enjoy every minute just as much as the audience and it certainly ended the evening on a high note.

Dame Shirley Bassey performing Goldfinger

It seemed to be over all too soon and whilst many of the artists made their way to the after show parties, there was just time for me to catch up with the Spencer-Wortley brothers and get Thomas’s take on how the evening had gone before heading back to the hotel.

It was a wonderful evening and I look forward to next year when hopefully there will be a more balanced mixture between all of the music they are trying to promote and celebrate.

(Thanks to Hilary Sargeant for the photographs)