Pulling out all the stops
Mar. 21st, 2014 09:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sawylFinally listening to Tuesday's concert to mark the inauguration of the restored Festival Hall organ, I found myself distinctly underwhelmed. Perhaps it was the way R3 chose to set up the microphones but the acoustic was far too dry, nothing seemed to resonate properly, the sound fell consistently flat and nothing really seemed to take flight.
I'm not sure the program really flattered either: too much of a mixed bag, with show pieces that weren't really showy enough to make a dazzling impression. That said, the Franck and the Dupré were good — although why the Prelude and Fugue in B was the closing piece and not the opener is a mystery!
The stand-out piece was Alison Balsom's arrangement of Bach's Concerto in D BWV972, itself an arrangement of Vivaldi's R230, which played to strengths of the acoustic, with soloist and organ well balanced, and which really served to demonstrate the capabilities of the instrument. The tutti opening the allegro was fantastic, the accompaniment in the larghetto was sweet and delicate with a nice feeling of dialogue between well chosen wind stops and the soloist, and nice crisp pedal work setting off the rest of the writing in the finale — all of which served to highlight the problems elsewhere in the program...
ETA: John Scott's solo recital — broadcast on Friday, but I actually listened to it on Sunday — was far more effective and engaging. The program was coherent, moving from baroque to late romantic, and if the setting continued to be less than flattering to some of the pieces, Dupré's two esquisses and Liszt's immense Ad nos, ad salutarem undam were far better served.
I'm not sure the program really flattered either: too much of a mixed bag, with show pieces that weren't really showy enough to make a dazzling impression. That said, the Franck and the Dupré were good — although why the Prelude and Fugue in B was the closing piece and not the opener is a mystery!
The stand-out piece was Alison Balsom's arrangement of Bach's Concerto in D BWV972, itself an arrangement of Vivaldi's R230, which played to strengths of the acoustic, with soloist and organ well balanced, and which really served to demonstrate the capabilities of the instrument. The tutti opening the allegro was fantastic, the accompaniment in the larghetto was sweet and delicate with a nice feeling of dialogue between well chosen wind stops and the soloist, and nice crisp pedal work setting off the rest of the writing in the finale — all of which served to highlight the problems elsewhere in the program...
ETA: John Scott's solo recital — broadcast on Friday, but I actually listened to it on Sunday — was far more effective and engaging. The program was coherent, moving from baroque to late romantic, and if the setting continued to be less than flattering to some of the pieces, Dupré's two esquisses and Liszt's immense Ad nos, ad salutarem undam were far better served.
