“A city united, again. Less than two miles from Ariana Grande’s benefit concert on Sunday evening, the Bridgewater Hall hosted Schoenberg’s gigantic cantata, Gurrelieder, with Manchester’s two professional symphony orchestras,” writes David Fanning in Tuesday’s (6/6) Daily Telegraph (London). The performance, following the May 22 suicide bombing at Manchester Arena, featured the Hallé Orchestra and BBC Philharmonic, plus the Hallé choir, Edinburgh Festival Chorus, London Philharmonic Choir, and soloists. “With its sunset-to-sunrise saga of the doomed love of King Waldemar and his mistress Tove, Gurrelieder can be almost uniquely uplifting…. Above all, it has to have a conductor who can keep the orchestration in check. This it had in Mark Elder, whose control was sovereign…. [The singers’] audibility was close to 100 per cent. Schoenberg also requires singers capable of riding the tsunami of orchestral sound. Step forward the triple male chorus that represents King Waldemar’s vassals in their macabre Wild Hunt. The final Sunrise Chorus was also breathtaking…. We had a show-stoppingly dramatic account of the news of Tove’s murder, from Alice Coote as the Wood Dove. And we had Graham Clark as Klaus the Fool, bringing all his performances of Wagner’s Loge and Mime to bear…. The concert’s messages of love, light and collaboration were perfect for the occasion.”
Posted June 7, 2017