I went to only one Bath Festival concert this year because most of the other interesting ones were around the first weekend of the Festival when I was away or busy. There were certainly some other concerts I’d have gone to if I’d been free, such as the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, who are really on good form at the moment.
After a day out at the Royal Bath & West Show I went to hear the Bath Phil conducted by Gavin Carr (replacing Jason Thornton at short notice) in the Forum. Of course I can hear the Bath Phil all through the year, but this programme appealed, mainly because of Les Nuits d’Été, sung by Anna Huntley. Hearing these songs with orchestra brought out all the more the links to Berlioz’ Requiem; I noticed the two-note motif from the Offertory in the latter turning up in Sur les lagunes. However, I felt the performance was wanting in communication, and ensemble between soloist and orchestra seemed to slip in some places.
The concert opened with Mendelssohn’s overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. which was considerably longer than I thought it was. It was a rather curious way to start a programme that otherwise consisted entirely of French music, though I’m told that the programme was not chosen by the orchestra. In the second half Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante défunte was followed by Bizet’s Symphony in C. I don’t know whether Bizet ever intended to write more symphonies, but he’s ended up as a monosymphonist. For some reason the last movement was much more familiar to me than the rest.
Although there were occasional wobbles in the woodwind and brass, there was also some beautiful solo playing, including a lovely oboe solo in the slow movement of the Bizet, which rightly earned a curtain call for the oboist.
The only other family member to go to any Festival concerts was my husband who heard I Fagiolini play the first three Brandenburg concertos at the Assembly Rooms – reported as enjoyable, but a bit of a scramble to get to his cricket match afterwards as the concert overran.
I hate to make a negative comment on your wonderful weblog at which I sneak glances at from here in Oregon, but I’m pretty sure there are two symphonies — one in C which I encountered as a ballet score years ago, and another one subtitled Roma, which he wrote when he was older but which seems not to be the success the juvenile work is.
I stand corrected! Roma seems to have been more popular once than it is now. When the Symphony in C was discovered Roma was eclipsed by it, and as far as I can tell, no distinguished conductor of today has recorded the work (I’m willing to be corrected on this too if I’m wrong!)
Good to know I have readers out there anyway. I am a bit behind but hope to post on some Cathedral visits, Promenade concerts and other matters in the next few days.