A(n inter)stellar performance
It’s always wonderful to experience the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic orchestra in full voice, and last night’s performance of Gustav Holst’s The Planets was no exception. Two shorter pieces by Walton and Bliss made up the first part of the evening’s programme, with the main event of the planets taking centre stage post-interval. The orchestra – the full scope of which included two harps, the celeste, two sets of timpani, and tubular bells – was headed by Guest Conductor Andrew Manze, an animated stage presence with distinctive gesticulation.
We enjoyed a bombastic opening in William Walton’s Battle in the Air,transporting us back to the Battle of Britain as depicted in the 1969 film of the same name. Audience suitably roused, this was followed by Arthur Bliss’ Cello Concerto, performed by a smaller orchestra with soloist Guy Johnston, whose fluidity of playing was matched only by his rapid precision.
The namesake of the evening, The Planets, was a 48 minute delight: alongside well-known melodies with which most will be familiar (looking at you, ‘Jupiter’), all seven planets’ motion and majesty as so capably captured by Holst in the early 20th century was perfectly relayed by the orchestra. It is interesting to note, too, just how influential this suite seems to have been on modern film soundtracks and composition: the opening of ‘Mercury’ sounds almost as though it were composed by John Williams. The orchestra’s horns, brass and percussion anchored the suite and gave a sense of the massive scale of the planets, while strings and woodwind danced and flitted, melting seamlessly into one another, evoking their movement in space.
The programme’s celestial conclusion felt seasonally appropriate as we approach Halloween: sidestage doors were quietly opened ahead of ‘Neptune’ to allow for the haunting, otherworldly strains of the Sopranos and Altos of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir, hidden from view, to mingle with the instrumentation. During the final bars of the suite the doors were closed over again, allowing the choir’s voices to slowly fade to silence in an otherwise hushed hall, bringing an end to a(n inter)stellar performance.
It bears mentioning that the Philharmonic has recently been the third-time recipient of the Gramophone Orchestral Award, an honour shared only by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra; if that’s not a call to arms to book a visit to see the Liverpool orchestra in action, I don’t know what is.