Roman Carnival Overture - Berlioz
Symphony No 3 - John Kinsella
Flute and Harp Concerto K299 - Mozart
Symphony No 8 - Beethoven
John Kinsella's Symphony No 3 was one of the main works on the programme at the National Concert Hall last Friday night. Kinsella's good orchestral writing, feeling for scale, and congruence of material and treatment, give players something they can get their teeth into. Under the baton of Kasper de Roo, they did just that.
Kinsella's idiom carries echoes of earlier composers. Sibelius and Bartok came to mind, and perhaps that other enthusiastic symphonist, the late Robert Simpson. Yet the music is not obviously derivative, and makes its own points.
Symphony No 3, dates from 1989-90 and is in two main movements, framed by a prologue and epilogue, and with an intermezzo in between. This unusual structure is well handled, and the fast first movement in particular has a bracing certainty and a sure sense of purpose.
In Mozart's Flute and Harp Concerto K299 the soloists were the NSO's William Dowdall and Andreja Malir. The performance had its moments; but on the whole, neither the soloists nor the conductor could achieve that level of co-ordination and polish which can make this charming, lightweight music sound fully engaging.
Beethoven's Symphony No 8 came off better, even though Kasper de Roo's approach was not especially subtle. Heavily marked phrasing, combined with speeds on the slow side of modern practice, occasionally produced an unwelcome ponderousness. Yet the approach had a straightforward quality which allowed the music to speak for itself, and the playing was full of vigour.