Philharmonia
Bach Choir
David Hill
Royal Festival Hall
08 May 2025
There is no doubt that the Bach Choir is one of our finest. And at this concert they were working seamlessly with the Philharmonia, ably led on this occasion by Colin Scobie. The orchestra was also in fine form despite some programming and presentational misjudgements.
The evening started with The Song of the High Hills by Frederick Delius which was new to me and doesn’t get out much. Having now heard it I can see why. It’s full of vague colour and never, in thirty minutes, seems to go anywhere much although there was some good timp work on three sets and some impressively controlled pianissimo passages while the choir provided occasional wafty or growling effects which must be pretty challenging to do. No, I am not a worshipper at the shrine of Delius.
Presumably in an attempt to brighten it up, we sat in darkness with the choir holding torches and were subjected to a slide show – very much like a boring 1960s evening when someone imposed their holiday transparencies on you. In this case it was glaciated scenery (Scotland? Norway? We weren’t told) which, of course, as visual images always do, simply distracted from the music.
The second work was a rather impressive world premiere by Richard Blackford: La Sagrada Famila Symphony. My heart sank when I realised that the screen was still in place and we were going to get more projection but actually the filmed images from Gaudi’s cathedral in Barcelona which inspired the piece added interest – especially at a first hearing although it tends to relegate the music to background status. Loosely speaking, the symphony follows the Christian passion from anxiety through despair to triumph. High spots included the filigree harp work in the opening movement, splendid brass fanfares with two additional trumpeters high up in boxes and a movingly plaintive cello solo in the second movement.
The triumph of the evening, however, came after the interval with a glitteringly good rendering of Belshazzar’s Feast and the reason, I suspect, why most of the audience was there. One of William Walton’s best loved works (this was the second time I’ve heard it this year) it simply tells one of the most dramatic stories in the Bible with so much verve and excitement that it must be huge fun to sing and play. And it was clear we were in for a treat from the moment we heard the compellingly incisive male voice choral narration at the opening. And bass soloist Christopher Purves ensured that every single word of the story was crystal clear – how nice, too to see him evidently enjoying the performance with smiles and barely perceptible body movement when he wasn’t singing.
Conductor David Hill really knows how to heighten the excitement especially during the musical description of Belshazzar’s luxurious excesses all spikily delivered by a battery of percussion. This performance also used an antiphonal brass band with six additional players lined up each side behind the side wing audience so we really were surrounded by sound. The tam tam and clicks as the writing appears on the wall were as sinister as I’ve ever heard them and Hill brought the whole piece to a resounding triumphant climax. Alleluia indeed.
