Death and Transfiguration – Huddersfield Town Hall

Conductor: Garry Walker

This was a highly impressive start to the Kirklees season of the Orchestra of Opera North, but somewhat odd in the programming – possibly the reason the attendance was decidedly down on last season’s sell-outs and near-sell-outs – or maybe the titling lacked appeal!

The evening consisted of four pieces of approximately the same length, but very different in style. The first in each half was joyous, even light-hearted, an impression emphasised by Garry Walker’s jokey introductions. These were followed by two mighty, heavily dramatic works on the theme of Death and Transfiguration, ultimately achieving ethereal rapture, but only after an intensity of emotion that somehow fitted awkwardly with what had gone before.

The evening began with Edvard Grieg’s Four Norwegian Dances. Only the second proved familiar, an allegretto tranquillo e graciosothat had a sort of cheeky serenity. Otherwise all three dances seethed with folky boisterousness, with dynamic writing for brass and a couple of lovely oboe solos played by Richard Hewitt. Now the interesting thing is that the dances were originally written for piano duet and all those glorious outbursts for trombone came courtesy of Hans Sitt, the orchestrator.

Then a total change of mood brought Richard Wagner andTristan und Isolde, the usual concert coupling of Prelude andLiebestod.The orchestra shone in the increasingly dramatic climax of the Prelude, but it was Elizabeth Llewellyn who took the honours, her pure soprano soaring over the orchestra.

Normally there is nothing more welcome than a Haydn symphony, but Walker’s wittily perceptive introduction sat strangely after the death of Isolde. His case – that we only remember the Haydn symphonies with names – was made good with a tremendous performance of Number 70 – totally neglected, but not now he has christened it “The Huddersfield”! With Haydn you get surprises and the Fugue in the last movement of No. 70 refused to let you wipe the smile from your face, A single note in the violins, repeated five times, spread through an elaborate fugue, recurred at intervals and eventually provided the punch-line to the symphony.

Such a sense of fun was not part of Richard Strauss’ plan forTod und Verklarung (Death and Transfiguration).This work clearly means a great deal to Garry Walker and his intense conducting lent fervour to the progress from the heavy irregular breathing of the dying man through the snarling brass of approaching death (and did they snarl?) to the radiant repetitions of Transfiguration.

Four exemplary performances of four very different works, but did they fit together? Probably the answer is yes, maybe, to judge from the awed comments heard on the way out. And next time it’s Dvorak’s 8th Symphony.

Reviewed on 19th September 2024