Britten Sinfonia, Barbican review — Delius rarity and oud master delight in thoughtful programme

One of the most bizarre of Arts Council England’s recent funding decisions was to cut the entire portfolio grant to the Britten Sinfonia. Presented under the banner of “levelling-up”, it delivered a body blow to an orchestra founded to bring high-quality music to the previously impoverished east of England. Where was the logic in that?

Based in Cambridge, the medium-sized Britten Sinfonia finds itself left with precious little time to plan its survival. An announcement is expected imminently of an appeal to raise £400,000 annually to replace the grant it has lost for the next three years.

Nobody could accuse the orchestra of lacking a sense of adventure. Taking a Middle Eastern theme, its latest concert presented a rare performance of Delius’s complete incidental music to Hassan, a verse play by James Elroy Flecker. Hassan scored a big hit at its premiere in 1923, but even with a vivid linking narration, devised by Meurig Bowen (Britten Sinfonia’s artistic director) and spoken with panache by broadcaster Zeb Soanes, it was obvious that the play is a lot of hokum.

Generous helpings of racism and sexism surely make it unrevivable today, but Delius’s music deserves rescuing and the Britten Sinfonia’s performance, conducted by Jamie Phillips, showed how imaginatively it uses its modest resources. An orchestra of less than 30, together with chorus, creates a lightly suggestive Middle Eastern atmosphere, rising to a visionary pilgrim’s procession at the end as Hassan sets off on the golden road to Samarkand.

Given the subject matter, it was a neat idea to precede Hassan with half an hour of music played on the oud by Egyptian-Australian Joseph Tawadros. This is surely the kind of programming that Arts Council England professes it wants to promote.

★★★★☆

brittensinfonia.com

The future at the London Symphony Orchestra looks relatively more secure. The LSO also suffered a not-insignificant 10 per cent cut to its grant, and Simon Rattle’s decision to leave as music director has been a blow, but at least the succession is well in hand.

As Antonio Pappano prepares to take up the role of chief conductor in 2024, his appearances assume extra significance, especially this latest concert, which had no soloist, only three hefty pieces for large (or super-large) orchestra.

As the spotlight has fallen recently on black British composers, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade in A Minor has become a popular concert opener, thanks to its stirring ideas, even if it falls short on subtlety. By way of contrast, Liszt’s Die Ideale is imaginatively fluid in its layout and style, but lacks a burning sense of where it is going. One of his last tone poems, it was welcome here as the work is a rarity in the concert hall.

Finally, Pappano and the LSO let rip with Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben. Rich colours, deep textures and generosity of decibels kept the emotional heat at maximum, when a cooler air might have prevailed from time to time, but for a well-played performance with a strong grip on the drama this delivered the goods. The high-class solo violin of Roman Simovic deserves a special mention.

★★★★☆

lso.co.uk