ER, DECEMBER 1,
RSPB concert
under baton of
Vernon Handley
I TRAVELLED a total
of some 200 miles to
" from theSplendid flute of |
hear Vernon Handley
conducting the Guildford Philhmarmonic at
the Civic Hall, Guildford, on Sunday. The
journey proved infias I
nitely worth while,
knew it would.
The cornerstone of the
concert was the mystery-laden multi-layered Symphony
No. 5 in D by Vaughan Williams. Dedicated to Sibelius,
and at times reminiscent of
him, this visionary work also
represented a journey —
musical summary of the composer’s profoundest thoughts
of life to 1943.
Handley’s LP of this work
won the 1988 British Record
Industry Award for classrcal
music. So the GPO was on it
Ileana Ruheman led us to the
hushed quest-of-the-spirit
moments of the final pages.
A consummate performance.
The concert was a celebration of the 100th anniversary.
of the Royal Society for the
Protection of Birds and in
the interval the RSPB made
a presentation to the conductor in recognition of his work
on its behalf. Hardly has a
long interest in ornithology
and a display of beautiful
bird photos by Catherine and
Vernon Handley was on
show at the hall.
The first half of t‘he programme was devoted to the
theme of birds — opening
with Respighi’s suite, The
Birds, Classical squawks,
stately doves, pecking hens,
fluted nightingale trills and
cuckoo calls were all tossed
off with appropriate airiness.
mettle to play equally as well!
Both
conductor
and
orchestra were on award-win- .
ning form right from the preludio, with its precisely
On Hearing the First Cuckoo_in Spring is Delius at his
sprrngy "woodwind in’ the'
Williams, must mean azure
essentially English and most
mistily . evocative. But the
performance sensibly did not sound too distant or so
stirring runs, veiled brass dissonances and overallbuoyant - muted as to be muffled.
If the Delius conjures
benediction.
Handley started to wind° dewy spring spiderwebs, The
up the tension through - Lark Ascending, by Vaughan
scurrying scherzo. Then ‘the
emotional romanza move-. ment unfolded' Sibelius-likefrom a cor anglais almost out
of The Swan of Tuonela.
The ‘sustained tension, developed in a shimmering/
shivering chordal sequence,
spilled over to the final pas-
sacaglia — building to brass
blocks against cascading
Strings. Perky interjections
summery. air. The 24-year-old
violinist Tasmin Little played
the solo Line with a luminous assurance beyond her
age — cspecxally on the notorious and string.
But despite all the birdsong, it was the symphony
that lingered on the emotions
and the mind.
~John Frayn Turner..