Invigorating and passion-fuelled | PSO turn up the heat

Whenever I am privileged to review any concert by our very own Plymouth Symphony Orchestra (PSO), I always like to glance back to what I’d written previously, just out of interest, and certainly with no hidden agenda.

Chilly

At last November’s concert, I mentioned ‘A not-overly-warm St Andrew’s Church …’, and was very disappointed to find that, some three or so months later, I was going to say the exact same thing, as it was distinctly chilly inside, a fact commented on by players and audience-members alike.

With the Guildhall still hors de combat, PSO has virtually no alternative to use the church as a concert venue, but unfortunately the current cold temperature is a problem, and worse, it’s beyond the control of the church authorities. The two ancient gas boilers have broken down, and C of E policy is to be as environmentally responsible as possible, which involves many discussions, surveys, feasibility reports, all of which takes for ever, and even then there are more hoops to jump through. The only real pay-off is that the church’s acoustics are infinitely better than the Guildhall’s.

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I’m glad to see that the recently-established idea of having an orchestra member introduce the evening’s programme, as well as give all the necessary warnings about security, evacuation, and general protocol, has now become a regular feature, and once more the task fell to front-desk violinist, Nathan Broomhead.

Warmth

Nathan, apart from being a fine musician as well as a Mathematics lecturer at the university, once again compensated for the decidedly chilly temperature by the warmth of his greeting which again he delivered in such a friendly, welcoming, yet thoroughly business-like manner. Apart from the usual mobile-phone caution, his advice about taking any pictures or videos during the performance was really sensible, with the result that no one felt like a foreign agent undertaking a little musical espionage, perhaps for a rival outfit.

Top form

Interestingly, the evening’s chosen opener was Mozart’s Overture to ‘The Magic Flute’, where the two trumpets and three trombones often combine for moments of great solemnity, in overall wind-band configuration – a highly effective and spine-tingling sound on the night. This effectively followed on from the previous concert, where Verdi’s ‘Force of Destiny’ Overture had some equally fine moments of brass-band scoring. Mozart’s overture, in fact, was one of the concert’s real highlights, where the string section was again on top form, led on this occasion, with great passion and enthusiasm by Cath Smith, who was clearly relishing every single moment, as was every member of the orchestra under the inspired lead from the front, in the shape of PSO’s indefatigable, and much-loved conductor, Anne Kimber.

Freedom

I’ve written frequently about PSO’s need to include a concerto that doesn’t involve the piano, since the instrument is currently hibernating a hundred yards or so away in Guildhall. At first, as a pianist, I did find this disappointing, but soon came to realize that the absence of a piano was actually a blessing in disguise, because it allowed for far greater freedom of choice and repertoire when engaging a professional soloist.

Again, and harking back to November’s concert, classical-guitarist Alexandra Whittingham completely won over everyone present – orchestra and audience alike – with her stunning performance of Rodrigo’s charmingly-iconic ‘Concierto de Aranjuez’, making her a really hard act to follow.

To attempt to achieve this, and with two fewer strings, might have proved a daunting task for tonight’s soloist, young British cellist and former BBC Young Musician Finalist, Maxim Calver, but, in the event, his performance of the Dvořák concerto eclipsed the Rodrigo by a significant margin although, to be fair, the former is a massive work for the instrument of true symphonic proportions.

Conviction and musicality

I recall a brief conversation with one of the violins, prior to the performance, where they had been literally bowled-over by Maxim’s phenomenal skill, allied to such a friendly and outgoing personality – which was so very apparent during the performance, where the orchestra were watching the soloist with the exact same attention they gave to the conductor. Furthermore, from my always-much-cherished vantage point, I could so easily see – and hear – the strong bond between Maxim and Anne, which was a real joy to behold. I will admit that, when my violin-friend was singing Maxim’s praises with such heartfelt enthusiasm, I did say that, of all the concertos for cello, Dvořák’s wasn’t top of my list. Well, if you are currently reading this, I wish to go on record by saying that Dvořák’s B minor Concerto is now very much top of my list – such was the conviction and musicality of Maxim’s performance, as well as PSO’s telling support – that he well-and-truly sold it to me, and for which I am exceedingly grateful.

Inspired

Maxim’s inspired playing really brought out the very best from the orchestra who provided such firm and reliable support, while, at the same time, allowing the soloist equal freedom to imbue Dvořák’s quite sublime creation with his own musicality in performance. His phenomenal technique made light work of the technical difficulties, especially the highly-impressive double-stoppings and rapid semiquaver passages, where Maxim’s strikingly precise articulation was always very much to the fore.

Rich tones

But what really distinguished this superb performance was the gloriously rich tone Maxim had in abundance when called for by the composer. No other string instrument has a perfect range like the cello, the ability to produce a deep, dark, sound, or go up and match instruments like the violin in higher registers. Maxim Calver’s tone-production literally took this vital facet of cello-playing to an altogether higher level, and well-deserving of the tremendous ovation he received at the close.

Even then, having given of his all for some forty minutes or so, Maxim returned to the platform for a generous solo encore – a work of lingering beauty, clearly folk-inspired, and a virtual enigma to all but the PSO cello section, who could have made a tidy sum, revealing the work’s identity to all of us who made a beeline towards them, once it was over.

Singing with joy

It proved to be a Catalan Christmas carol ‘El cant dels ocells’ (The Song of the Birds), which tells of birds singing with joy on hearing the news of the birth of Jesus. Spanish-born cellist and conductor, Pablo Casals, made his cello arrangement after leaving Spain in protest at Franco’s dictatorship in 1939. Casals played it in almost all his concerts thereafter, including a memorable performance for President Kennedy at the White House in 1961. The song became a musical emblem of Casals’s Catalan homeland, and his self-imposed exile.

Poignant

Maxim’s poignant encore, in fact, proved the ideal aperitif for what was yet to follow after the interval. One of PSO’s most endearing features is its real knack for effective and entertaining programming, something, of course, is ultimately down to conductor Anne Kimber’s many years of experience.

Outstanding music-making

Beethoven’s Symphony No 7 was an ideal choice to round off another evening’s outstanding music-making. Richard Wagner subsequently referred to it in his essay, ‘The Art Work of the Future’ (149), as ‘the apotheosis of dance’. But as this was over twenty years after Beethoven’s death in 1827, Wagner’s title never appeared to catch on – despite the fact that, all things being equal, it would seem a most apt description.

Anne initially drew every ounce of faux solemnity from the pretentiously long, slow introduction, before launching into the dance-like 6/8 ‘Vivace’, which PSO then despatched with considerable élan, her well-drilled players watching her every movement with hawk-like vision.

Continuing with the symphony’s ‘dance-like’ feel, the second movement is marked ‘Allegretto’ – ‘fairly quick’ – and yet in reality is still a ‘solemn dance’. The conductor’s main task here is to choose a speed that successfully accommodates both tempo indication as well as musical character – again something which Anne Kimber got absolutely right.

Vigour

If you were an Olympic athlete, you might be fit enough to dance the third movement – a vigorous scherzo initially marked ‘Presto’ – ‘fast’. In Mozart and Haydn’s time, however, this would normally have been a slow and stately ‘Minuet’, eminently danceable by the aristocracy at the local baronial hall, while the plebiscite were probably having a far better time at the nearest hostelry with its less pompous bedfellow – namely the Waltz.

Then along came Beethoven who transformed and popularized the scherzo, subsequently replacing the minuet as a standard movement in symphonies and other works. This movement drew some really articulate playing from the orchestra, despite the very brisk tempo.

The finale poses another question with regards tempo. It’s not marked ‘Presto’, merely ‘Allegro con brio’. ‘Con brio’ can basically be interpreted as ‘with spirit’ (literally ‘with brilliance’) or ‘with vigour’, but it’s the old-chestnut ‘Allegro’ that can sometimes prove controversial, since, in Italian, it means ‘lively’, ‘cheerful’, but not ‘fast’ per se. Take it too slowly and all the momentum built up over the first three movements might discharge before the end, but take it too fast for the actual players in front of you, and there is a small chance that some linear clarity or ensemble tautness might be compromised – ‘you pays your money and you takes your choice.

Invigorating

In the event, however, under Anne’s clear and assured direction, the highly-invigorating performance successfully combined these two parameters, assigning yet another winning concert to PSO’s ever-expanding archive list of successful concerts.   

If there was the very occasional slip or an instrument having a bit of a ‘bad-hair’ day, I’ll let Beethoven have the final say: ‘To play a wrong note is insignificant; to play without passion is inexcusable!’ And there certainly couldn’t be anyone more ‘passionate’ than our own Plymouth Symphony Orchestra, under conductor, Anne Kimber – even when they’re all possibly suffering from mild hypothermia.

The orchestra will be back in The Minster Church of St Andrew on Wednesday June 18, 2025 – and on the previous Sunday in Sterts Theatre, Liskeard – featuring Brahms’s ‘Academic Festival Overture’, Gershwin’s ‘Strike Up the Band’ and ‘An American in Paris’, and Barber’s hauntingly-beautiful ‘Adagio for Strings’.

The soloist in Tchaikovsky’s ever-popular Violin Concerto will be Netherlands-born, Charlotte Spruit, a winner at the 2023 Young Classical Artists Trust International Auditions.

Full details are available by visiting the PSO website.

CLASSICAL WITH PHILIP R BUTTALL

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Philip Buttall

Philip R Buttall was the Classical Music Writer at Plymouth Herald from 1997-2017. He is a sought-after piano teacher, composer and arranger, and online concert and CD reviewer. Further information and contact details are available at www.philiprbuttall.co.uk

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