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Tragic Splendour
More Britten from Paul Daniel
and the BBC Philharmonic,
heard by MIKE WHEELER
The BBC Philharmonic's latest 'Discovering Music' event brought presenter Stephen Johnson back to Nottingham's Royal Concert Hall (Nottingham, UK, 20 November 2013), for a Britten centenary event exploring a not immediately obvious choice of works.
Starting with the Passacaglia from Peter Grimes, Johnson aptly likened the process of continuous variations over a repeated bass to the improvisations over a repeated chord change in jazz. The bass in this case is the 'Grimes is at his exercise' phrase from Act 2 of the opera, and we heard a recorded excerpt to reinforce the point. The performance, with conductor Paul Daniel, focused on the music's inexorable drive, with particularly poignant viola solos at the beginning and end...
Copyright © 29 November 2013
Mike Wheeler,
Derby UK
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