Sir Mark Elder and the Halle at St George’s Hall, Bradford THIS concert marked the 150th anniversary of the very first performance in St George’s Hall of Sir Charles Halle’s Manchester-based orchestra.
Sir Mark Elder, the Halle’s current music director, might well have alluded to that auspicious occasion in his eloquent introduction to the opening piece.
George Butterworth’s wistful Rhapsody, A Shropshire Lad, was an elegiac rather than a festive curtain raiser to this celebration concert.
Sir Mark delicately shaped the Halle’s performance with his customary loving care and fastidious attention to detail.
Elgar’s Enigma Variations likewise benefited from Sir Mark’s scrupulous observance of the composer’s score markings.
Each one of the Friends pictured within the Variations was vividly drawn by the Halle.
The single work after the interval was Dvorak’s Cello Concerto in B minor, a hauntingly beautiful and dark piece.
Alisa Weilerstein was the expressive soloist whose singing quality and richness of tone conveyed the underlying mood of melancholy that pervades this music. Weilerstein played as an encore a Suite for solo cello by JS Bach.
This made for a subdued ending to the concert but the St George’s Hall audience responded with warm applause.
By Geoffrey Mogridge
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