Forum Theatre, Malvern – 23rd February 2024
Reviewed by Courie Amado Juneau
5*****
I have had the good fortune to enjoy many a City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra concert, both at Birmingham Symphony Hall and on the road. They have never failed to delight and the chance to catch them again at Malvern with a very strong programme was a mouth watering prospect.
The first piece tonight was Beethoven’s Violin Concerto (1806). The timpani gave us what amounts to a count in before the winds played the first of the works gorgeous melodies, the strings agitating themselves in soon enough… As with many a Beethoven work, there are great shifts in mood and he does like an abrupt change of pace too – at once being both beguiling and slightly unsettling (in the best possible way, it’s a bit like falling in love).
In this concerto it seems like an eternity for the soloist to come in, but when she did it was well worth the wait! María Dueñas is a prodigious talent whose playing totally blew me away. I was transported to a far off place (probably Spain, where she hails from). Her cadenzas had the requisite fretboard gymnastics and I loved her use of harmonics and double stopping. But far beyond the exemplary histrionics, her playing was romantic, soulful and full of Iberian passion all with a tone to die for. For a young performer she has a commanding stage presence, way beyond her years. My favourite bit was the yearning violin playing over the pizzicato strings in the Larghetto movement. Gorgeous!
The orchestra were on sparkling form under the agile baton of their Chief Conductor Kazuki Yamada. He imbued the music with an impressive momentum, sense of purpose and sensitivity. His obvious love of the music and this orchestra was palpable and highly infectious with his personality positively leaping from the podium. This looks and sounds like a match made in Heaven.
I absolutely loved the Beethoven (my favourite composer) but the Enigma Variations (1899) were a revelation tonight – it seemed as if the CBSO hit a whole new level. Or perhaps it was hearing Elgar’s work in Malvern..? Either way, it was rather magical.
The highlight (predictably enough) was the Nimrod variation with that soaring melody that is recognisable to all. I loved the way the violins held over from the previous variation, at a volume that was just barely perceptible. A spine tingling moment made even moreso as it lead to the power and majesty that unfolded. This music really is the epitome of the Malvern hills; the town is very well served by having (arguably) England’s greatest composer as one of their local sons. These variations have just about everything in them: humour, an almost filmic quality (I could definitely hear romcoms a plenty and martial forces a la echoes of Williams’s Stormtroopers) and an explosive ending that left one breathless.
Two masterpieces from two giants of Classical music, one astonishingly accomplished young violinist whose star is in the ascendant giving her all and the incomparable and ever wonderful CBSO, on paper it looked like a winning formula. It actually proved to be far better than I had even hoped. ¡Enhorabuena a todos! And thank you for another wonderful night’s thrilling entertainment.