Few, if any, conductors have obtained such consistently refined and expressive playing from the Ulster Orchestra over the years as Matthias Bamert. The early Mozart symphony was given the civilised reading one would have expected, but inevitably the main interest here lay with what seems to have been the first performance of Bruckner's Eighth Symphony to have been given in Belfast.
Bamert's approach was flowing and flexible, a Jochum reading rather than a Karajan reading. If the performance occasionally lacked the epic scale and grandeur achieved by some conductors, the great climaxes still had plenty of heft, and there was warmth and affection in every bar. Above all Bamert realised the importance of controlling balance in a work which makes such a feature of the brass instruments, and which adds four Wagner tubas to the regular brass complement. The dark, golden sound he produced from the Ulster Orchestra was just right for this work.
The playing itself was consistently excellent, all the more creditable as the orchestra was new to the work. There were times - notably the start of the slow movement - where one was reminded that the Ulster Orchestra is not a full-strength orchestra and can't really produce the Wagnerian depth of tone one expects in this piece. But the friendly acoustics of the Ulster Hall in Belfast helped to compensate.
