Classic FM Hall of Fame with the CBSO – Symphony Hall, Birmingham

Conductor: Michael Seal

Take a concert programme full of popular classics, add the CBSO and the result is a buzzing Symphony Hall for the Classic FM Hall of Fame. It’s a wonderfully varied programme too, featuring music spanning three centuries from Vivaldi to Wiseman, all performed by Birmingham’s own world-class orchestra with guest violinist Tessa Lark.

Starting proceedings is the ever-popular overture to Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro with its instantly-recognisable string opening – something that, if you don’t recognise it from its original setting, you may remember as the music for the candy room lock in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. It creates a sparkling and light start to an evening full of variety – and the change of mood is immediately evident as we hear the first of two pieces by Tchaikovsky, the dramatic finale to Swan Lake before we get to the first of many stand-out moments of the evening. It’s The Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker, which featured not only in the ballet but also in Disney’s Fantasia among others – and it’s an opportunity for the CBSO’s Principal Harp Katherine Thomas to demonstrate some exquisite musicianship.

It’s not only traditional classical music that features in this Hall of Fame, and here we have three examples from the movies – Jurassic Park and Hedwig’s Theme from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by prolific composer John Williams, and a haunting Gabriel’s Oboe from The Mission, by the composer of so many spaghetti-Western movie, Ennio Morricone – all serving to demonstrate the variety of styles that become popular. Neither does the music need to be old – Debbie Wiseman, who has been voted the most popular living British composer, wrote The Music of Kings and Queens to celebrate the 95^th birthday of our late Queen in 2021 and here we get the chance to listen, very aptly, to Elizabeth II with its regal tones and fanfare-like horns. It’s a good choice to open the second half of the concert, which continues in British mode with Elgar – not the Pomp and Circumstance which appears every September at the Proms but the reflective and contrasting Nimrod from his Enigma Variations.

The evening is presented by John Suchet who gives us some interesting background on the music – and what an unusual treat it is to find it delivered without recourse to notes as he is talking. There’s also a guest violinist – the hugely-talented Tessa Lark who gives us two pieces, and you can almost hear a pin drop as she starts with the wonderful Lark Ascending by Vaughn Williams with its soaring notes and bird-like trills, requiring an almost unbelievable level of skill to perform at the level we hear. Lark also features in Spring from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, with its playful interaction with different soloists from the orchestra as the piece goes on. Two different pieces, but both a delight to listen to.

There’s also Debussy and Grieg, and all too soon the evening wraps up with two different pieces with a nationalist theme. First it’s Finlandia by Sibelius with its ominous opening leading into the cry for freedom that has become an unofficial anthem of Finland, before wrapping up events with the more lyrical Jupiter from Holst’s Planet Suite.

It’s a very entertaining evening of music that you probably know already – and if there’s any pieces you don’t know you’re pretty much guaranteed to enjoy anyway. What a fantastic venue Symphony Hall is and continues to be, and Birmingham is blessed to be home to the wonderful CBSO – let’s hope that it continues to thrive despite the recently announced loss of Council funding.

The evening hasn’t quite finished there, of course – the obligatory encore gives us Rossini and the Galop from his William Tell Overture sending the audience home in an upbeat mood. A lovely evening of entertainment.

Reviewed on 19 April 2024