Honouring music’s forgotten talent
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
This is quite a year for centenaries; there’s the ending of the First World War, the death of Claude Debussy, the birth of Leonard Bernstein, and votes for women in the UK, all of which the Proms have taken up with enthusiasm.
Last night it was the turn of two remarkable and neglected female composers, both of whom died young 100 years ago. But we should think of them as feisty rather than delicate. Lili Boulanger liked to party until dawn, despite her illness, and, as the performance of her two orchestral tone-poems last night proved, her music has a remarkable harmonic daring and emotional heft.
D’un Matin de Printemps (A Spring Morning) had a dewy freshness in this performance. The influence of Debussy was palpable, and yet the piece definitely found its own voice – as did D’un Soir Triste (A Sad Evening). Here, conductor Thomas Søndergård coaxed an entirely different sound-world from the orchestra, heavy and funereal, with dusky half-lights of harp and celeste.
Welsh composer Morfydd Owen didn’t have illness to contend with, but she had the handicap of being born in faraway rural Wales. Her Nocturne of 1913, never before played at the Proms, launched off in a mood of pregnant mystery, with descending harmonies and sinuous clarinet arabesques. Then a sort of benediction seemed to steal over the imaginary night scene, with an Elgarian tinge in the harmony and a tender viola solo, beautifully played by Rebecca Jones – before a sudden turn to dancing magic with harps and celeste. On a first hearing it was hard to discern how it all hung together, but the inventiveness was astonishing.
The evening also included the original 1841 version of Schumann’s Fourth Symphony. Söndergård did his best to make the slow introduction graceful rather than ponderous, and to round off the symphony’s awkward corners. But the orchestra wasn’t on its best form and the performance failed to catch fire.