Håkan Hardenberger Archives - Nick Holmes Music

A Memorable Year for Music: Highlights from Manchester and Beyond

*The BBC Philharmonic with Chief Conductor John Storgårds. Image © Chris Payne.*

Last year marked the 30th anniversary of the death of my father, John Charles Holmes, under whose benign and loving influence I developed a lifelong passion for music. He was the choirmaster and organist of the local church choir. I joined his choir at the age of six and went on to sing with several ensembles, including the choirs of Exeter and Worcester Colleges in Oxford, the BBC Symphony Chorus, the Hallé Choir and the John Powell Singers. Whenever I visit an English cathedral city, I always try to go to choral evensong, which remains part of the great choral tradition that has produced many great classical singers. Although it’s a while since I sang in public, I still appreciate choral music and several highlights of 2024 featured choirs.

I was honoured to be invited to review concerts by the superb Philharmonia Orchestra in London. I enjoyed Elgar’s choral masterpiece, The Dream of Gerontius, with a premiere of a wonderfully evocative new piece, Cusp, by the baritone and composer Roderick Williams, which describes end-of-life experiences in a powerful libretto by Rommi Smith. Another moving libretto, with war poems by Wilfred Owen, featured in another stunning concert by the Philharmonia with The Bach Choir in Britten’s War Requiem. The orchestra joined forces with Garsington Opera for a joyful, semi-staged performance of another Britten piece, his opera A Midsummer Night’s Dream conducted by Douglas Boyd at the BBC Proms.

The Bach Choir and the Philharmonia at the Royal Festival Hall — *The Bach Choir and the Philharmonia. Image credit Andy Paradise*

David Hill conducted both of the concerts by the Bach Choir. He appeared at Manchester’s Stoller Hall in another guise as conductor of Bach’s Mass in B Minor with the young student forces of Yale Schola Cantorum and Juilliard415, who brought joy and precision to a performance which seemed to reveal Bach’s soul in all its intellectual and spiritual glory. That weekend was very special for music-making in Manchester, as the previous day was the end of an era as Sir Mark Elder ended his tenure as Hallé Music Director, a position he held for nearly a quarter of a century. His final concert included the European premiere of James MacMillan‘s splendid new choral piece Timotheus, Bacchus and Cecilia, a performance of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, and a passionate, moving speech by Sir Mark. He is replaced by new Principal Conductor Kahchun Wong from Singapore, who I have only seen once so far, conducting a lively Rush Hour Concert in October in Tan Dun’s Violin Concerto: Fire Ritual and Stravinsky’s Firebird: Suite. He seems to be a bright prospect with an engaging stage presence.

I made two choral discoveries in Manchester in 2024. Firstly, The Apex Singers, a Manchester-based chamber choir of eight voices, founded and directed by Ollie Lambert, who directs this young choir remotely in his stunning folk song arrangements. Then Kantos Chamber Choir, under their conductor Ellie Slorach, brought Behold The Sea, a bold and innovative programme of maritime music to the Stoller Hall. I also discovered the fascinatingly intense music of Tim Benjamin, whose evocative pieces The Seafarer and The Wanderer were beautifully recorded by Kantos Chamber Choir.

Manchester Collective perform Rothko Chapel at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester — Manchester Collective and SANSARA in Rothko Chapel

There were more fantastic chamber music performances from Manchester Collective, who I have seen perform live probably eight or ten times in the last few years, at all sizes and shapes of venues from Salford’s White Hotel to the RNCM, the Stoller Hall, the Bridgewater Hall and even the Royal Albert Hall. The Collective makes choosing to go to one of their concerts an easy decision, as it’s guaranteed there will be high-quality music-making, inspired programming and fascinating collaborations. I saw them twice in 2024, first in the uplifting Rothko Chapel with SANSARA chamber choir at the Bridgewater Hall, then in Sirocco with the force of nature that is the cellist Abel Selaocoe at the Stoller Hall. Both concerts brought deep, life-affirming joy across time and genres.

Mark Padmore - English Song Recital Image Credit Joe Briggs-Price — *Mark Padmore and Libby Burgess. Image © Joe Briggs-Price*

I spent the August Bank Holiday weekend in the charming market town Southwell in the heart of Nottinghamshire, enjoying the delights of the tenth annual Southwell Music Festival directed by the indefatigable baritone and conductor Marcus Farnsworth. There was supreme artistry in all the concerts, not least from the artist in residence, Mark Padmore, whose word painting in his Recital of English Song with pianist Libby Burgess was astonishing. There was new music from Martin Bussey and Gemma Bass and a world premiere of With What Sudden Joy by Cheryl Frances-Hoad, with a text compiled by the poet Kate Wakeling from words of local people in Southwell about the power and effect of music.

The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra were on excellent form as well in 2024. Early in the year, under conductor Nicholas Kraemer they were joined by Manchester Chamber Choir in a moving and dramatic interpretation of Bach’s St John Passion, 300 years after the first performance. In the Proms the orchestra under John Storgårds (Chief Conductor) played a searing version of Shostakovich’s fourth symphony, and Cassandra Miller‘s viola concerto I cannot love without trembling with Lawrence Power a remarkable soloist. The next evening, they performed Messiaen’s remarkable Turangalîla-Symphonie with pianist an Steven Osborne an energetic and compelling piano soloist. Osborne was stunning in another Messiaen work, Des canyons aux étoiles… with conductor Ludovic Morlot and outstanding solo contributions from Martin Owen (horn), Paul Patrick (xylorimba) and Tim Williams (glockenspiel) in a concert that also featured a lively wind machine and an instrument invented by the composer himself, the geophone.

The BBC Philharmonic also shone in two themed concerts. In Mischief and Magic, the orchestra under John Storgårds played one of the best live performances of Stravinsky’s Petrushka I have ever heard, and veteran Swedish trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger brought incredible virtuosity and great charm to Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto and Betsy Jolas’ Onze Lieder, and a warm arrangement of Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides, Now. In A Hero’s Life the orchestra under Alpesh Chauhan celebrated the human spirit with: Richard Strauss’ description of a heroic life; Alban Gerhardt‘s fiercely dedicated performance of Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 2; and the UK premiere of This Moment by Anna Clyne, inspired by Buddhist writings and Mozart.

The Lovers from A Midsummer Night's Dream — *Peter Kirk as Lysander, Siân Griffiths as Hermia, Camilla Harris as Helena and James Newby as Demetrius in Opera North’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. Photo credit: Richard H Smith*

Not content with one production of Britten’s opera A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the year brought a second one, this time a fully-staged version by Opera North. It was fascinating to compare the production with the Garsington/Philharmonia version a month earlier at the Proms. The most striking difference was the role of Oberon, played in Leeds by countertenor James Laing. He played the character in the more imperious style of James Bowman in Peter Hall’s Glyndebourne production from the early 1980s, rather than the more troubled, argumentative character played by Iestyn Davies in the Garsington version. Opera North also revived Mozart’s Magic Flute, starring Emyr Wyn Jones as a very human Papageno. The lovely, warm rich tones of his voice matched the warmth of his personality.

Musical polymath Nitin Sawhney – producer, performer, and composer – joined the Hallé Orchestra for The Hallé and Nitin Sawhney in Concert. Last year wasn’t a good year for Sawhney – in early March, he announced that ‘out of nowhere’ he had suffered a heart attack.

Nitin Sawhney and Nikki Bedi — *Composer* *Nitin Sawhney in conversation with broadcaster Nikki Bedi. Image credit: Hallé/David Hughes*

Sawhney turned this experience into a new work for orchestra, Heart Suite. In this highly descriptive and powerful new piece, Sawhney drew on his vast experience as a film composer, taking us on a vivid, moving and immersive journey. On a personal note, I hope you will forgive me for quoting his lovely response on the new social network Bluesky to my review of the concert:

Finally, I would like to thank all my readers for sharing my musical journey in 2024. I hope you will join me again for more adventures in 2025.

For the year in Progressive Rock, click here.

Saturday 5 October 2024

The Bridgewater Hall Manchester

*****

A magical evening of virtuosity and merriment

Last Saturday’s concert by the BBC Philharmonic took magic as its theme from Stravinsky’s 1911 ballet Petrushka, in which a magician brings the puppets to life. But this imaginatively programmed concert began with mischief, the other theme of the evening, in Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks. Written in 1894–95 by Richard Strauss, the tone poem describes the practical jokes of the trickster of the title, a figure who has appeared in European literature since the early sixteenth century. A vast orchestra occupied the stage to illustrate his pranks, playing superbly, with playful enthusiasm, spirited soloists, and lots of detail and humour brought out by conductor John Storgårds who was active and expressive throughout. The piece had a false ending, illustrating Till’s death, after which Till’s theme returned but in a more lugubrious form as if he had returned to haunt us after death, asking him to mourn him. But before we got too sad, Till had the last laugh when he returned with a sparkling version of his theme – a jolly and inspiring start to the concert.

Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto (1796) continued the jolly theme, with lovely light orchestral textures in the first movement, stately strings in the second movement, and more of the jolly strings in the third. Those looking for magic could find it in the playing of the Swedish trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger. He played with a golden tone, rich and warm, with lovely articulation, sailing above the orchestra with lovely phrasing and great fluidity. His first movement cadenza, which he wrote himself as Haydn doesn’t provide one, was magical, leaping up and down the scale then becoming much simpler with subtle ornaments, ending with a tone that recalled the great Miles Davis. Hardenberger was a relaxed presence, joking with a violinist as he left the stage, and returning to a huge and well-deserved cheer.

Håkan Hardenberger playing trumpet — Håkan Hardenberger (trumpet) and John Storgårds (conductor). Image © Chris Payne.

The American composer Betsy Jolas was born in 1926 and is apparently still composing at the age of 98. She was born in Paris but moved with her family to the USA in the early 1940s, returning to Paris in 1946 to study with Darius Milhaud and Olivier Messiaen. She was Messiaen’s assistant from 1971 to 1974, and wrote Onze Lieder (Eleven Songs) in 1977. The piece showed some influences from Messiaen, including the opening chord and some of the piano writing which could have come from Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time (1941). But Jolas has found her own voice, influenced more by sixteenth century polyphonic vocal music by the likes of Orlando di Lasso than by the intellectual rigours of the Darmstadt School of composers. Her love of vocal music was shown in the structure of the piece, a series of eleven short songs. Hardenberger brought the magic of his virtuosic playing to the solo trumpet part. It was also easy to imagine him as a magician, leading the chamber orchestra players as their parts echoed his. Particularly effective were the passages where a muted, distant-sounding trumpet from the orchestra echoed the solo trumpet in a moving duet. And towards the end there was a huge outburst from the solo trumpet as the orchestra clattered to the floor in anguish. The variety of Hardenberger’s playing was stunning. Sometimes the trumpet had a low rasp like a didgeridoo. Elsewhere equalling the playing and tone of avantgarde trumpeter Markus Stockhausen. And at other times his playing was decorative with a filigree effect, reminding us of the cadenza in the Haydn Concerto.

Hardenberger introduced the encore as, ‘another piece by an old lady who is still writing’, Joni Mitchell who is 80 years old. He played a gorgeous arrangement of Mitchell’s Both Sides, Now (1969) for string orchestra and solo trumpet. The piece features in an emotional scene from the film Love Actually (2003), in which Emma Thompson’s character quietly weeps as she listens to it. Hardenberger’s playing was warm and rich in this lovely piece.

Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides, Now from Håkan Hardenberger’s 2012 album of the same name

The second half of the concert was a stunning performance of the 1911 version of Stravinsky’s Petrushka. If Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks is programmatic and episodic in structure and content, then Petrushka is even more so. Following along with a very detailed synopsis of the ballet by Robert Philip during the concert, it was possible to pick out each of the vividly characterised sections of the four Tableaus with ease, so expressive was the orchestral playing. Tableau One The Shrovetide Fair began with glittering woodwind and thrillingly fast chords illustrating the bustling of the crowd at the fair. Storgårds brought out every detail of the orchestral texture while maintaining momentum, with precise syncopation and perfect ensemble. The lilting flute solo from Alex Jakeman, illustrating the ‘Magic Trick’ of the magician introducing the puppets in his theatre was lovely. John Bradbury’s solo clarinet duetting with Ian Buckle on piano was colourful and vibrant. The Second Tableau Petrushka’s Room opened with excellent bassoon and trumpet solos, and Petrushka’s anger at the magician was stirringly drawn by the orchestra. The Third Tableau, The Moor’s Room began with a lurching evil-sounding dance created by unison clarinet and bass clarinet. The music of the flirtatious Ballerina, a slow waltz with scything lower strings, was a moment of quiet magic. There was virtuosic trumpet playing as Petrushka appeared, followed by brilliant flute and bassoon solos as the Moor and Petrushka fought. The fierce dissonances of muted trumpets brought out the tension between the Moor and Petrushka. and there were savage chords as the latter was beaten, the music still sounding fresh in this performance even though the piece is more than a century old. The final Tableau The Shrovetide Fair (Towards Evening) began with a bustling recreation of the opening of the First Tableau. Again, the orchestra excelled. It was fascinating to hear how Petrushka was a bridge between The Firebird (1910) and The Rite of Spring (1913). Some of the crunchy, fiercely rhythmic orchestral chords cast forward to Stravinsky’s Rite which used the whole orchestra as a percussion instrument, and the quiet orchestral chords near the end cast back to the more romantic style of The Firebird. At the very end, Petrushka’s ghost appeared, bringing us back to the death of Till Eulenspiegel at the beginning of the concert. The ending of Petrushka was strangely ambiguous and unresolved, but the audience on Saturday were left in no doubt about the quality of the BBC Philharmonic, both as individual solo players and as an ensemble, bringing this special evening to a magnificent end.

Performers

BBC Philharmonic
John Storgårds conductor
Håkan Hardenberger trumpet

Repertoire

Strauss Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks
Haydn Trumpet Concerto
Betsy Jolas Onze Lieder
Joni Mitchell Arr. R. Pontinen Both Sides, Now
Stravinsky Petrushka (1911 Version)

Source

Philip, Robert The Classical Music Lover’s Companion to Orchestral Music (Yale University Press, 2018)

The complete concert will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 at 19.30 on Monday 14 October and will be available on BBC Sounds for 30 days after that.

Tag: Håkan Hardenberger

Review of the Year – 2024 – Classical Music

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