Guildhall Symphony Orchestra concerts are always something of an event and this one was no exception. Taking in a Swedish modern classic, one of Benjamin Britten’s finest works and a virtuosic ‘symphony’ of monumental and elemental scale it was the kind of program young players would find both technically challenging but find much in which they would likely have something fresh to say. This proved to be the case, even if the mountainous difficulties of the works sometimes seemed a little too overwhelming at times. If the concert had a theme, I guess it may well have been works composed in sections or parts.
Anders Hillborg’s Eleven Gates is a single piece built from eleven short sections – each of which is clearly discernible within the basic structure of the work. Typical of Hillborg, Eleven Gates is steeped in a kaleidoscope of colour – indeed it’s almost surrealist in how it is composed – and the large orchestra is used in ways which leaves a burning impression. It’s true that other composers do come to mind: Webern, Ligeti, and Bartók (the Concerto for Orchestra, for example) but the Guildhall players were deeply immersed in Hillborg’s sound world clearly enough to convey something that took us into the strange dialectics of Hillborg’s score. The woodwind made much of the foamy spray you often hear; strings danced like ballerinas, the symmetry of the first and second violins impeccable, for example. Brass were bright, yet had the power to supply blazing climaxes when needed to do so. A harp cadenza – such an imaginative slight – was wonderfully done. The intervention of the percussion section felt as if the players had abandoned civilization – it was brutal but thrilling. In short, the performance was superb, quite possibly the highlight of the evening.
Britten’s Serenade for tenor, horn and strings is a sectional work as well – eight of them – and this was perhaps a slightly more problematic performance. How much of this is down to Britten – who places enormous technical challenges on both the horn and the tenor – or down to nerves is debatable: either way, there were some minor mishaps along the way. What is not, I think, indisputable was some inherent beauty in the performance – especially from the tenor here, Sebastian Hill. The voice was often gorgeous, especially in the upper range – but more than that Hill was more than capable of getting into the narrative of Britten’s serenade. The Blake verse was superbly done – the scent of a rose almost palpable. Keats’s sonnet, too, was marvellous. There is certainly much that was both compelling and appealing in Hill’s singing, the voice capable of weight, and boyish lightness.
Sarah Pennington’s horn playing was often superb – but even given the fact Britten writes for some of it to be played in natural harmonics there was the occasional nervousness, a lack of fullness in tone. But no question – she provided a beauty of phrasing which melded with Hill’s voice so there was a symmetry of purpose, an overlapping of meaning between text and horn. And her solo during the ‘Epilogue’ was magnificent.
Richard Strauss’s Eine Alpensinfonie (my second concert of this masterpiece in two weeks) was given a superb performance, some roughness (perhaps appropriate) aside. Roberto Gonzáles-Monjas set a challenging pace for ‘Night’ – horns in particular were tested here – before an explosive ‘Sunrise’ broke from the darkness. I’m not sure the hunting horns are ever truly effective off-stage in the Barbican Hall – but they were excellently played – and the ascent to the mountain top was thrilling. Given the fact I was sat right by the harps, in the climax to ‘On the Summit’ they went for nothing (but this is hardly unusual for most conductors). Perhaps Gonzáles-Monjas was a little too careful with his young players in the descent – I would have appreciated just a bit more risk here, although there was no denying some roughness in the brass playing that perhaps suggested slips and slides on the way down the mountain. It’s difficult to judge the impact of the ‘Thunderstorm’ (I was sat too close, and too low, to the stage) but it swirled with considerable excitement, nonetheless. The return of night was evocative, if slow. There had been a clear vision of Strauss’s score here, in a performance that achieved moments of awe-inspiring virtuosity.
A thrilling concert which showcased young players at their considerable best.
Marc Bridle
Anders Hillborg – Eleven Gates; Benjamin Britten – Serenade for tenor, horn and strings; Richard Strauss – Eine Alpensinfonie
Sebastian Hill – tenor; Sarah Pennington – horn; Guildhall Symphony Orchestra; Roberto Gonzáles-Monjas – conductor
Barbican Centre, London, 6 March 2025
Top image: Sebastian Hill
Photo © Sebastian Hill