Kenwood House, London
****
Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra
Conductor - Roderick Dunk
Hurrah! Classical concerts are back where they belong at
Kenwood House, in the grounds of this beautiful 18th century mansion,
tucked away on a corner of Hampstead Heath. The venue’s layout has been shaken
up a bit and where once orchestras played from across the other side of the
House’s ornamental lake, the whole event now takes place on the Estate’s
sprawling lawns that stretch down to the lakeside, with video screens and well
balanced amplification ensuring that everyone can see and hear what’s going on.
The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra under the baton of
Roderick Dunk got the evening’s celebration of Choral Greats underway with O
Fortuna! from Orff’s Carmina Burana. It’s one of the most recognisable pieces
of classical melody (and if that name, or any others in this review, mean
nothing to you, YouTube them and all will come flooding back) and Dunk’s
wonderful symphonic sound, including Orff’s majestic gong to introduce the
vocal power of the 100-strong Royal Choral Society, made for a thrilling start
to the nights entertainment.
The programme listed an ambitious selection of 25 items and
the selection was unashamedly populist. Whilst the bias was clearly towards
choral and opera, if the evening had been called Classical Greats, (with the
second half treats of Elgar’s Nimrod and Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra not
usually found on Choral programmes) no one would really have cared. The event was not one for cultural snobs, but rather a glorious choice of some of the
most famous and beautiful classical music written. And judging by the number of
young children present in the audience, (well, who can resist fireworks) the
evening may just possibly have been an introduction too, to a time when music
was written to be performed by nearly 200 skilled individuals in perfect harmony.
A night of Choral Greats would not be complete without a
spot of Carmen and soprano Janet Mooney’s Habanera hit the spot as the rain
fell on the enchanted throng enjoying her arias. Other beautiful solos included
a spine-tingling Nessun Dorma from Alun Rhys-Jenkins and a sparkling O mio
babbino caro, sung by sister soprano, Fiona Murphy.
As the second half unfolded, the first Kenwood classical
concert of the season, evolved into the Last Night Of The Proms. Mooney returned
to the stage, clad Britannia-like in a Union Jack cape seeing the evening off
with a flourish of Elgar, Parry and Arne. By this point whilst the downpour
might have been torrential, spirits were anything other than dampened and the
flag-waving sing-alongs of Jerusalem, Rule Britannia with a firework festooned
finale of Land Of Hope And Glory celebrated the patriotic beauty of these
works in the grounds of one of England’s most beautiful houses.
On Friday August 30th, Live By The Lake will be
screening the movie Singin In The Rain, accompanied again by the RPCO. Last
night, an audience of several thousand were deliriously singing in the rain,
for real. T’was a wonderful occasion, welcome back!
The full programme of Live By The Lake runs until September 1st and can be accessed here.
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