Gala Concert: 20th Anniversary of the Hallé Residency
Nottingham is extremely blessed to have the, Hallé , what a 20 years it has been, and Friday night’s concert was sublime, it was a privilege to be there amongst the packed and excited house.
Neil Bennison the successful Music Programme Manager presented the internationally renowned Sir Mark Elder with a commemorative glass sculpture, which was received with warmth and genuine affection.
So to our first piece of the night Smetana’s Vltava , this work’s inspiration is the River Vltava from its source then flowing through Prague before joining the river Elbe. The concert was off to a great start.
Next came the probably the most memorable part of the evening, Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3 our soloist was the multi award winning Pavel Kolesnikov , he was fully immersed in this glorious concerto, as you can imagine, and he carried the audience with him. Pavel was at one with the piano it seemed to be an extension of himself. The audience were delighted and showed their appreciation with prolonged and rapturous applause. Unforgettable.
After the much needed interval, we were entertained with Richard Strauss Ein Heldenleben, ‘A Hero’s Life’ a tone poem. A very long tone poem 50 minutes but it flew by. The long unaccompanied violin solo was mesmerising and there wasn’t a sound from the audience, they were too busy hanging onto every note exceptionally played by the leader of the first violins Roberto Ruisi.
The Halle had done themselves proud yet again , a triumph , thank you!
Review by Ann Taylor
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