In its opening speech, the Chorus in Shakespeare’s “Henry V”
exhorts the audience to use its imagination to recreate the numerous English
and French settings of the play — hence the quote that gives this review its
title. For its concluding concert of the 2013-14 season, the Rochester
Philharmonic Orchestra highlights imaginative musical canvases by two British
composers, with a British conductor (Michael Francis) presiding, and a British
actor (Malcolm Ingram) lending his Shakespearean expertise.
The “Suite from Henry V” adds Shakespeare’s words to musical
highlights from William Walton’s splendid score for the titular 1944 Laurence
Olivier film. Though the words and music are equally colorful, this large-scale
piece — cobbled together by British composer and author Christopher Palmer — came
off as less than the sum of its parts. Malcolm Ingram’s reading of most of the
famous bits for Henry and Falstaff was compelling enough, but without
Shakespeare’s dramatic context, they don’t quite land.
Walton’s music, however, does just fine on its own. He found
just the right brassy, regal swagger for Henry’s music. But the most memorable
portions of this score are two brief, quiet sections scored for strings alone:
“”The Death of Falstaff” and “Touch her Soft Lips and Part.” These were
delicately paced by Michael Francis and exquisitely played by the RPO strings,
but the full orchestra also gave Walton’s festive moments the snazziness they require
— the “Agincourt Song” pealing out in the brass near the end of the work almost
made me feel British.
“The Planets” is so familiar now, and
has been pilfered by other composers so often since its premiere in 1920 (it
was written between 1914 and 1916), that it can be difficult to realize how
original a work it is. Gustav Holst’s “imaginary forces” were strong here: he
translated the astrological qualities of the then-known seven planets into
innovative music, almost single-handedly creating the “outer space” sound world
— and making many later movie soundtrack scores possible, from Vaughan Williams
to John Williams.
Familiar it is, but if performed with energy, virtuosity, and
a sense of adventure, “The Planets” can still be thrilling. And Thursday
night’s RPO performance was indeed pretty thrilling. Michael Francis brought
out every one of the myriad moods and orchestral colors in this suite, and had
some interesting interpretive ideas of his own, starting with a ferocious
“Mars, The Bringer of War.” This was taken at a tremendous clip — arguably too
fast, though Holst’s tempo marking is a simple “Allegro”. (Holst himself
conducted a recording of “Mars” at nearly as fast a pace, but probably to fit
the piece on 78 rpm record sides.) The music seemed like a baleful, impersonal
machine with a life of its own, just a step or two away from running amok. This
may not have been exactly what the composer had in mind, but it was definitely
exciting.
The orchestra sounded sensational at each planetary stop: whether
in the rapid-fire gossamer woodwind writing of “Mercury” (definitely a “winged
messenger” in this performance), the hearty string and brass writing of the
“great tune” in “Jupiter,” or the rackety, deliberately noisy scoring of
“Uranus” — which was as intriguingly unsettling and impersonal as “Mars.” As
befits his subject, Holst seldom goes for the warm-and-fuzzy in this work.
The conclusion of “The Planets,” “Neptune,” features the most
famous of Holst’s much-copied musical effects: a small women’s chorus sings two
chords over and over, gradually fading away to nothing. Concentus
Women’s Chorus (led by Gwendolyn Gassler) had this
deceptively simple assignment, and gave those chords a shivery, glassy sound
that I think would have delighted the composer. Performances like this RPO
presentation of “The Planets” make you realize why warhorses become warhorses —
and why warhorses keep getting performed.
This article appears in May 28 – Jun 3, 2014.
