BBC Concert Orchestra – Keith Lockhart, conductor; Charlie Albright, piano. April 26, 2015.

NJ State Theatre, Orchestra (Seat K6, $15).

Program

Le Tombeau de Couperin (1914-17, orch. 1919) by Ravel (1875-1937).

Piano Concerto in G Major (1929-31) by Ravel.

March “Crown Imperial” (1937, rev. 1953, edited Vilem Tausky) by William Walton (1902-83).

Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1 (1905-6, rev. 1914) by Vaughan William (1872-1958).

The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra – variations and fugue on a theme of Henry Purcell, Op. 34 (1945) by Britten (1913-76).

Amazon Local had tickets on sale for $15 each, which was just too good a bargain to pass up, even though that meant a third concert in three days.  Lockhart is well-known for leading the Boston Pops Orchestra, it turns out he is also the principal conductor for this BBC Concert Orchestra.  BBC has many different ensembles, I have no idea where this ranks in terms of prestige, other than it’s not being a “full” orchestra.  The orchestra managed to fill the entire stage, though.

I remember listening to Le Tombeau de Couperin a while ago, but don’t remember much of it.  Ostensibly written as a tribute to fallen soldiers of WWI, and in the style of Couperin, the Program Notes says there is not much to either the memorial aspect or Couperin (to the latter point, it is French music in general.)  I certainly didn’t hear much sadness in the music, which in general was quite enjoyable.  Looking back at my earlier blog entry (way back in 2007, New York Philharmonic conducted by Salonen), I had similar feelings then.

The four movements are (i) Prelude: Vif [Lively]; (ii) Forlane: Allegretto; (iii) Menuet: Allegro moderato; and (iv) Rigaudon: Assez vif [Fairly lively].

Also going over my blog, I have heard Ravel’s piano concerto quite a few times the last few years, most recently last month.  Perhaps these soloists have a herd mentality, or perhaps I should start to study the piece seriously?  Charlie Albright is a young fellow who is evidently gifted academically and musically, graduating from a Junior College while in high school, and eventually getting degrees from Harvard and New England Conservatory.  He plays with a lot of flourish (some not necessary, in my judgment), too bad the acoustics is such that I often couldn’t hear him.  The passages I heard were impressive though.

This was the final concert by the BBC Concert Orchestra for this US tour, 14 in 21 days (not sure I remember the numbers right.)  Must be exhilarating for a young person starting out his career.

In case there was any worry that the first part of the program was a bit too high-browed, and non-British (we are talking about Keith Lockhart and a BBC orchestra,) the second half’s pieces were in the pops category and works by British composers.  Per Lockhart, three of his four favorite modern British composers.  He also shed a bit of light on the pieces we were about to hear.

The “Crown Imperial” March was written for the occasion of Edward VIII’s coronation.  It was performed for George VI instead, as Edward VIII abdicated to marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson.  The piece was also performed on multiple royal occasions, including the recent marriage of Prince William to Kate Middleton in 2011.  One is to be excused if this is confused with Edgar’s Pomp and Circumstance.

Vaughan Williams wrote three Norfolk Rhapsodies but withdrew two of them, so there is now only one.  The tunes were collected during his visit and, together with his memory of the landscape, formed the basis of the work.  I do not know the tunes, but the piece sounded nice.

Britten’s Young Person’s Guide and Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf are both well-known pieces ostensibly for introducing children to the orchestra.  The latter is much better known (we just heard it on the way back from New York yesterday – Wednesday.)  Britten’s piece is similar in purpose, and does it with a theme, 13 variations (labeled with letters), and a fugue.

The ensemble played two additional encore pieces.  The first one took care of Lockhart's other favorite composer: Salut d'Armour by Elgar, a delightfully light-hearted piece.  I didn't get the name of the second one.

I wonder about the state of classical music in New Jersey.   Today’s performance was of high caliber, yet attendance was quite poor.  It’s the theme with many of the concerts we have been to.  I suppose a lot of people who want to follow a great orchestra will go with New York Philharmonic, and both Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall get world-class artists to perform on their stages.  Is there anything New Jersey can do to attract people from out of town?  Perhaps bus rides to get people from the city to the venues?