NCH, Dublin
That great conductor and wag, Thomas Beecham, once joked about the echo in London’s Royal Albert Hall (before the acoustic was improved) that it was the only place where British composers could hope to hear their orchestral works twice. It’s a long time since Irish composers have been so lucky in their own country. Look at the programmes of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and you have to conclude that, whatever the chances for living composers (second performances of commissioned works are shockingly rare), the fate of those no longer with us is much worse.
Since his death in 1992, Aloys Fleischmann has had to depend on a tenth anniversary commemoration and a centenary to get the attention of the NSO. The unfortunate Brian Boydell, who died in 2000, hasn't had a look-in since 1997. Fleischmann's Introduction and Funeral March, which the NSO played here, was written on the death of the composer's friend, Kerry writer Edward Sheehy, in 1961. It's a heartfelt piece (also incorporated into the composer's Sinfonia Votiva)and was intended to express "first reactions on hearing of the loss of a close friend – the shock, the mounting frenzy of grief, then the numb feeling of desolation".
I doubt that Fleischmann’s perturbed spirit has ever been communicated with the musical lucidity that Yves Abel brought to it here. His approach was patient and intense, and while the music may not always have harmonic solidity, Abel made the most of its assured gestural strength and slow-burning nature.
Sergio Tiempo was the unfettered, tigerish soloist in Rachmaninov's PaganiniRhapsody. He played with gorgeously full tone and with the kind of effortless technique that allowed for jaw-dropping effects when rocketing through rapid octave passages. It was one of those performances where the focus was on the player rather than the piece.
Tchaikovsky's ManfredSymphony is a difficult work to bring off, and Abel's finely shaped approach seemed to miss an essential rawness in the piece's exploration of the lugubrious. The best moments came in the fairy music of the second movement.
