Review

St Chad’s, Headingley

Saturday, November 16

Operatic excerpts marking this year’s anniversaries of Verdi, Wagner and Britten filled the first half of the Leeds Symphony Orchestra’s programme. An immaculately played performance of Verdi’s overture The Force of Destiny released all the dramatic tension that one could have wished.

Next up, the Four Sea Interludes from Britten’s Peter Grimes were remarkable for the transparency of textures in the Dawn interlude, the gossiping woodwind in the Sunday Morning, and the dappled reflections in the Moonlight interlude. We battened down the hatches for the surging elemental force of the Storm, as faithfully evoked by the LSO.

Of the three arias sung by soprano Patricia Casement, I felt that Elizabeth de Valois’ aria from Act 5 of Verdi’s Don Carlos, Tu che le vanita (You who know the vanities), best suited her voice.

Casement’s phrasing and colouring of the vocal line in this exquisitely wrought aria were exemplary. Princess Eboli’s showstopping O Don Fatale (O Fatal Gift), also from Don Carlos and normally assigned to a mezzo soprano, ideally required a more dramatic voice than Ms Casement’s.

Following a full-bodied and urgent LSO performance of the Act l Prelude from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, Casement spun a beautiful line in Isolde’s Liebestod, riding with ease over the carefully balanced waves of orchestral textures.

Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony brought the concert to an exhilarating conclusion.

I can recall performances of the brilliant finale in which conductors have (disappointingly) slowed down – doubtless because there are simply too many notes! But not here. Conductor Martin Binks urged the orchestra to a whirlwind climax of white-hot intensity.

Geoffrey Mogridge