Brass in the Abbey

I went to hear the Bath Philharmonia (like the Festival, it’s gone in for abbreviating itself, as BathPhil) in the final concert of their summer series, in Bath Abbey. We lost the programmed Borodin overture, so the first half consisted of Beethoven’s 3rd piano concerto, with Peter Donohoe as soloist. I can’t really decide whether this concerto or no. 4 is my favourite – I think no. 4 may just have the edge. I was happy with the performance except I thought that the final movement was a little rushed.

After the interval came Tchaikovsky’s 4th symphony, with Peter Donohoe now conducting. I’m not very well placed to judge this performance, because I was sat in the quire, behind the orchestra and this distorted the sound considerably in this particular piece. With more players and some general rearrangement, the brass and percussion dominated to such an extent as to smother the wind and strings when they were playing. Let’s just put this down to the quirky acoustic of Bath Abbey, which (as a veteran of singing there) I know well. So before buying a ticket for the quire, check the programme! I’ve found it fine acoustically for early music, a few months ago V-W’s Tallis Fantasia sounded lovely, but Beethoven’s is perhaps the latest full orchestra for which it will work.

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