The concert the Halle played in Sheffield last night is being repeated three times in Manchester this week .
I encourage anyone who can to go and hear this programme . Recently, Elizabeth Leonskaja made the point that she could never quite understand exactly what it was that made orchestras sound so different when the conductor changed . I knew exactly what she meant from the very first bar of Till Eulenspiegel last night as compared with the Wigglesworth concert . Colton's very opening phrase bided good things for if and what a terrific performance it was , avoiding the over arch heavy underlining of the humour that can affect performances of this piece - with terrific playing throughout especially from the woodwind .
Jian Wang then turned in very musical and up showy accounts of Saint Saens cello concerto no 1 and Dvorak's Silent Woods - the latter so tenderly expressive that one wished he had been playing the Dvorak concerto instead .
Finally, an outstanding performance of Beethoven 7 - absolutely electric from first note to last - with his violins separated and the exhilarating but not hard driven tempi with Halle apparently throwing themselves into it full heartedly it reminded me most of all of the legendary Carlos Kleiber recording High praise but I think justified indeed I do not think I have ever heard a better performance in the concert hall .
Collon is only known to me through his contemporary music recordings with the Aurora Orchestra but on this showing he is an exceptionally talented young conductor all round .
I encourage anyone who can to go and hear this programme . Recently, Elizabeth Leonskaja made the point that she could never quite understand exactly what it was that made orchestras sound so different when the conductor changed . I knew exactly what she meant from the very first bar of Till Eulenspiegel last night as compared with the Wigglesworth concert . Colton's very opening phrase bided good things for if and what a terrific performance it was , avoiding the over arch heavy underlining of the humour that can affect performances of this piece - with terrific playing throughout especially from the woodwind .
Jian Wang then turned in very musical and up showy accounts of Saint Saens cello concerto no 1 and Dvorak's Silent Woods - the latter so tenderly expressive that one wished he had been playing the Dvorak concerto instead .
Finally, an outstanding performance of Beethoven 7 - absolutely electric from first note to last - with his violins separated and the exhilarating but not hard driven tempi with Halle apparently throwing themselves into it full heartedly it reminded me most of all of the legendary Carlos Kleiber recording High praise but I think justified indeed I do not think I have ever heard a better performance in the concert hall .
Collon is only known to me through his contemporary music recordings with the Aurora Orchestra but on this showing he is an exceptionally talented young conductor all round .
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