A heady mix of musical delights
Classical Extravaganza Welsh Prom, St David’s Hall, Cardiff
IMAGINE you are in an elegant club and the bartender serves you a glass of the finest champagne.
This generous bartender then serves you a glass of the best single malt whisky, followed by a vintage red wine and then a pint of beer. Hopefully, you come away in a happy mood but feeling that perhaps you should have stuck to just one or two types of drink. Certainly, you would need some aspirin in the morning.
It felt a little bit like that as far as the music was concerned at this Welsh Prom. The bartender was conductor Owain Arwel Hughes who, along with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, served up a cornucopia of musical delights, ranging from Rossini to Barber.
There was such a variety of musical delights that one began to feel tipsy, one’s head spinning as Barber’s reflective Adagio for Strings was quickly followed by Bizet’s lively Carmen Suite.
This year’s Welsh Proms has Classic FM as its “media partner” and at times at this concert it felt like one was listening to an hour or two of Hall of Fame favourites.
The champagne moments came with the orchestra’s playing of Rossini’s William Tell Overture, the Intermezzo from Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, which ended the concert. One needed a nip of whisky to take Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries, while listening to John Williams” music for Jurassic Park, and Khatchaturian’s Gayane, Sabre Dance was like imbibing some exotic cocktail. The more sombre single malt whisky moments came with Barbers Adagio for Strings and Elgar’s Nimrod, from the Enigma Variations.
By the end of the week Owain Arwel Hughes will have taken charge of three orchestras, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Given that rehearsal time must have been relatively short, it is remarkable how he draws such fine playing from each of them.
The near-capacity audience was more than willing to drink in the wide variety of musical genres and gave conductor and orchestra a standing ovation at the end of an evening of dizzying delights. Now, where is the aspirin?
Peter Collins