In celebration of the 71st birthday of His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn Phra Vajiraklaochaoyuhua on Saturday, the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra performed a special concert recently at the Thailand Cultural Centre, supported by B. Grimm Group.
Whilst most symphonic concerts tend to programme works by composers of different nationalities, the opportunity was taken on this occasion to also pay respect to this year's coronation of King Charles III of the United Kingdom, presenting what was in fact an all-British selection of favourite classics. In an extremely high-spirited, uplifting evening conducted by English maestro Douglas Bostock, the concert order outlined a broad chronological journey through the "Best of British" -- the eye-catching title of this event.
Proceedings began with baroque composer George Frideric Handel's powerful (indeed often explosively so) Music For The Royal Fireworks, albeit in its opulently updated 1923 orchestral arrangement by Irish composer/conductor Sir Herbert Hamilton Harty, marking the centenary of this fascinating early 20th-century "period-piece". Chinese soloist Li Wei Qin then gave a very moving account of Sir Edward Elgar's timeless Cello Concerto In E Minor Opus 85, balanced in buoyant fashion after the interval by Ralph Vaughan Williams' English Folk Song Suite and Benjamin Britten's rather more modernistic creation The Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra -- Variations And Fugue on a Theme of Purcell Opus 34.
We have of course become accustomed to hearing Handel today in accordance with "historically informed" notions of stylistic authenticity -- a result of the academically-driven period-performance research and movement of the mid-20th century, which has remained prevalent ever since -- that to experience this baroque period music in the lushly orchestrated form that previous British audiences re-discovered it exactly 100 years ago is in indeed quite a revelation. Initially, such a manner of expression is certainly quite startling, with no limits whatsoever placed on vibrato, rubato, with even occasional use of portamenti in the strings, but this was undeniably a sumptuous feast for the ears in purely sonic terms, as the much-loved themes of The Royal Fireworks were infused with an unreservedly romantic approach to phrasing and dynamics which was once the norm, prior to the dominance of "authentic performance" expectations.
Cellist Li Wei Qin and conductor Douglas Bostock.
This is very much in keeping with the contemporaneous sound universe of Elgar's Cello Concerto Of 1919, which Li Wei Qin interpreted with a tear-inducing passion and sincere emotional depth -- and of course total technical command. He is fondly remembered here for a stunning pre-Covid appearance at the TCC in 2019 when he also collaborated with Bostock in Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No.1, and the warm rapport they shared on stage was again clear for all to see and hear. The Elgar has the subtlest of orchestral accompaniments, requiring an intense focus from everyone for a neat ensemble, and the RBSO supported the soloist very attentively throughout. His encore was no less impressive -- a captivatingly expressive modern solo work called Alone by Italian composer/cellist Giovanni Sollima, which incorporated some truly spectacular pyrotechnics.
Ralph Vaughan Williams' tunefully delightful English Folk Song Suite for military-band was composed in the same year as Sir Hamilton Harty's Fireworks Music arrangement, and interestingly this deservedly benefited from its own lovingly crafted arrangement for full orchestra just a year later, from the pen of the composer's adoring pupil Gordon Jacob. The freshness of young love in rural England evoked by the numerous, joyous folk melodies in Seventeen Come Sunday, My Bonny Boy and Folk Songs From Somerset was captured with a charming and lively performance by the RBSO. The exquisitely calm, quiet central movement in particular was obviously orchestrated with a keen awareness of Vaughan Williams' own stirringly intense string writing in the great symphonies.
"Best of British" concluded with Britten's brilliantly clever and inventive The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra -- Variations And Fugue on a Theme Of Purcell, composed in 1946. The "modern-repertoire" representative of this programme, it is based on the famous baroque theme by Purcell -- Rondeau From Abdelazer -- and Britten realises it with a contemporary aesthetic fit for 20th-century ears, just as Sir Hamilton Harty had done with this concert's opening item, albeit in an entirely different way.
The separate sections of the RBSO displayed their distinct group characteristics in turn for the opening Theme statements -- woodwind, brass, percussion, strings. The 13 Variations that followed then featured excellent playing from all the specific instruments in turn, concluding with the well-known filigree Fugue and complex, texturally thick Coda which involves two time signatures simultaneously -- a true test of collective ensemble awareness. It was a particular joy to hear the difficult music of Britten (rarely heard in Thailand) played so very competently by the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra -- a reminder that there is a substantial library of other British composers' work which would be most welcome here in future programming.
