Orchestra of the Swan * * * *
at the Town Hall, Birmingham
Review by Christopher Morley
It was just like the good old days on Tuesday, afternoon sun streaming through the magnificent Town Hall windows, illuminating a programme of overture, concerto and symphony which would have been the standard menu here for more than a century.
What would probably have been novel, however, was the amount of audience-engagement any event from the Orchestra of the Swan involves, from pre-concert conversations to introductions from the rostrum by conductor David Curtis, so friendly and embracing in his contact with the listeners.
His approach even extends to having his musicians play extracts to the audience to illustrate particular points, such as in the Fingal's Cave Overture by Mendelssohn, a composer whose spirit hovers so undeniably over the organ-loft of this building where he performed so often.
Though beautifully phrased (or perhaps because of it), this was a reading of this storm-blown music which lacked an essential element of ruggedness, and balances favoured wind instruments over what is an admittedly small-scale string complement.
No such problem in Mozart's Piano Concerto no.21 in C, K 467, where the composer's expert wind-scoring communicatively combined with neat, full-toned strings.
The young Taiwanese pianist Chiao-Ying Chang was the charming soloist, her fingerwork crisp and confident, her colouring rounded and rich without any forcing. She made highlights of the cadenzas (often yawn-stifling from some hands), and her collaboration with Curtis' sparkling woodwind in the finale brought fleeting awareness of passing clouds in an otherwise blue sky.
Beethoven's kinetic Seventh Symphony was given a belting reading at risk-all but perfectly-chosen tempi under Curtis, and it came home with tremendous rewards. Horns whooped, strings were tellingly balanced in the poignant allegretto, and it was just a pity that the repeat marks in the first part of the finale weren't observed.
