Maidstone Symphony Orchestra
Maxim Calver
Brian Wright
Mote Hall, Maidstone
17 May 2025
Elgar’s last major work, the 1919 cello concerto, is one of those gut-wrenchingly beautiful pieces which simply can’t be heard too often. And Maxim Calver, in his fourth appearance with MSO, dug out plenty of the soulful anguish and autumnal sadness which the piece demands while also infusing it with rich tonal warmth. There was a spirited account of the scherzo marked by scrupulous, visible co-ordination between Calver and Wright, and an adagio so sumptuously expressive that it almost hurt. Yes, I’m not surprised to be informed, by Wright in his introduction that Calver is “going places fast.”
Telling the audience, but doing it with unusual poise, that he doesn’t normally speak before encores and that Bach is, in his view, too personal to play in public, Calver explained that he wanted to dedicate part of a Bach suite to David Watkin. Watkin was, he said, “a titan of the cello industry” and had died, aged only 60 earlier that week. He then played the Bach with loving precision which added extra poignancy.
Calver’s appearance was preceded by Wagner’s 1840 Faust Overture which was new to me and, I suspect, to most of the audience. Cue for lots of Germanic drama in minor keys and brooding string work. And there aren’t many concerts which open with a tuba solo: bravo Andy Bridges. The percussive interjections from all sections require a lot of precision and, under the very dynamic guest leader Christian Helstead, they mostly got it.
And so to the joyful glories of Sibelius’s Symphony No 5 (1915). As always with Sibelius there are an awful lot of string notes beneath the big brass statements and they were delivered with aplomb in the first movement which also brought us some very accomplished flute work and fine timp playing from Keith Price. I admired the cleanness of the pizzicato passages in the andante too.
Interestingly, Wright (and, I think, Halstead) allowed me to hear elements in the last movement which are usually submerged in the texture. Normally it’s the grandeur of the horns you hear but at this performance my attention was also drawn by counter melodies in the upper strings – far more than what string players ruefully call “scrubbing” or “knitting” – and that was fascinating. And full marks to Wright and the orchestra for those final, dramatic chords which were as crisply rich as I’ve ever heard them.
A resounding end to another good season.
