BSO - Sibelius and Dvorak

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/Karill Karabits, Gautier Capucon (cello), Weber, Dvorak and Sibelius, Portsmouth Guildhall, Jan 27

I wouldn't be the first to be enthused about nationalism or even nationalism in music but one can't help but be enthused by impressive landscapes of sound and with a rising star Ukrainian conductor and a dashing young cellist from France, this evening's concert was internationalist and well-travelled rather than in any way brooding on the dark side of patriotism.

Weber's overture to Oberon has survived the opera it was written for and provided a lively, perhaps even capricious, waking up exercise before the real business got underway.

Karabits is not a flashy or demonstrative conductor, quite rightly doing his job in rehearsal and preparation rather than seeing the performance as his moment. The Dvorak Cello Concerto is a majestic piece of rousing passion and sonorous reflection. Inevitably describing both wide open American spaces as well as echoing pieces like the Slavonic Dances from back home in old Bohemia, it reaches a bigger climax at the end of its first movement than in the last, which moves through more lyrical and solitary passages before the final flourish. Gautier Capucon's best moments came with the more delicate and, I daresay, technical demands of quick fingering and deftness of touch but his cello made a fine sound through all its paces and the piece was a big success, the boy apparently enjoying it as much as the audience.

Sibelius 5 is a symphony I know as well as any but that still doesn't qualify me to comment in any semblance of a professional capacity. The last time I heard it was at the Proms the season before last when it was a little overshadowed by having to come after a sensational Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. It was better done here, judged on a couple of points but whether those are in some way due to the venues and where I was within them is hard to say. Closer to the action in Portsmouth than London, the broad sweep of Sibelius' masterpiece (and I mean one of his several) was more involving here. I did wonder if in the early passages it was sharp and a fraction more frenetic than is required but the brass, which is very important in the final movement, were exactly right as was the judgement of tempi there. The chill Scandinavian winds in the strings and the expanse of forest and cold, clear lakes was delivered authentically and convincingly. One can't fail to be moved by Sibelius and my contention that it is impossible not to like him has only been challenged once by someone who said, well, I know someone who doesn't like him. But there is always one and that's fine.

It's some time since I last went to see the BSO in their winter programme at Portsmouth Guildhall but it's not likely to be as long until the next time. They look like a young orchestra in good form -or, yes, it might just be me who is now older and mostly out of form. It's a shame that the days are gone when a contemporary piece was included in each concert. I remember James MacMillan, most magnificently, and Dominic Muldowney from the year when that charm offensive was tried. But there will always be a place for a good orchestra playing reliable standard repertoire and it is to be hoped that the Bournemouth Symphony, whose lorry's arrival into Portsmouth was witnessed and applauded by me from my office window this afternoon, will keep on bringing them here. They'd be missed if they ever didn't.