★★★★☆
It’s not an altogether encouraging sign when the first UK tour of the Bergen Philharmonic with its British music director pitches up in the maestro’s backyard (OK, he is from Gloucester) but the concert is billed as “Elgar’s Cello Concerto with Bergen Philharmonic and Edward Gardner”. Gardner, no doubt, is well known to audiences in Birmingham (he spent four years as principal guest conductor with the City of Birmingham Symphony), but there was something bigger to shout about here than Elgar’s perennial; namely, the Norwegian orchestra and Gardner’s thriving partnership, set to last until at least 2021 after Gardner signed a contract extension this month.
Apart from an all too brief dollop of Grieg — the 15-minute compression of Peer Gynt, notable for a lush Morning Mood and, especially, the perfectly melded strings lamenting The Death of Ase — the programme was heavily British, the Elgar concerto followed by Walton’s First Symphony (Sheffield on Thursday and London on Friday will hear the Elgar but with different trimmings). This is core Gardner territory and the orchestra took to it like ducks to water, or as they perhaps say in Norway, like trolls to dark areas under bridges.
Barring one momentary lapse in co-ordination, the Elgar was stirringly done by the Norwegian soloist Truls Mork. Mork is not one of the cello’s more flagrantly dramatic exponents, but cushioned by Symphony Hall’s warm acoustic, his “woody” tone, plangent phrasing and eloquence of expression commanded attention. Mork approaches the piece’s four movements as essentially one desolate monologue, but buoyed by Gardner’s supple accompaniment and the orchestra’s chamber-like contributions it became one I wanted to listen to.
Walton’s First, by contrast, is all bared teeth and bristling fur, written in the white heat of its composer’s first flush of masterpieces during his thirties. It’s a drama with brittle edges but while Gardner gave full measure to the jolting, jabbing energy of the first two movements and the orchestra delivered the climax with brash brilliance, the conductor also highlighted the brooding, fierce resignation of the slow movement, which again showed off the orchestra’s delectably rich strings.
Tour continues to January 20