St David's Hall, Cardiff
In this programme, spanning three and a half centuries and from Bach to Kurt�g, the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera could have made no stronger a statement of their credentials. If only the company's choice of operas could be as bold.
The orchestra always relishes the occasions it gets out of the pit, but their conductor and music director Lothar Koenigs had them flung even further and wider than usual around St David's Hall in the disparate instrumental groups required by Gy�rgy Kurt�g for his ? quasi una fantasia ? . For Kurt�g, it is the spatial relationships ? between the piano, taking centre stage, flanked by a cimbalom and timpani, and the other variously dispersed players ? that form the crux of the matter. It was not simply the tension bristling across the divides that held the interest, but the nature and quality of soundscape created.
Peter Donohoe, who took the piano part in the Kurt�g, was also the soloist in Bart�k's Second Piano Concerto, and his usual ebullient, forceful, style helped the contrapuntal exchanges emerge with striking clarity. Koenigs's choice of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony reverted to safe territory. Nevertheless, it was delivered with bite and energy, as well as notable pianissimo control of the opening of the Allegretto.
Some of the orchestra's renewed dynamic must be credited not just to Koenigs, but to violinist David Adams. His inspired leadership of the 10 players in Bach's Brandenburg Concerto, No 3 in G, BWV1048, which opened the evening, made it a vibrant counterpart to the Kurt�g and thought-provoking, too.
Julie Berry Lori Heuring Nicole Scherzinger Jill Arrington Tami Donaldson
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