Tenuous Links

The hook on which the rather disparate repertoire on this BBC Music mag cover disk is hung is that of the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. The three ensembles that call this hall home ( The Halle Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic and Manchester Camerata ) each perform a live concert piece. The Halle conducted by Mark Elder play Strauss's Four Last Songs with soprano Anne Schwanewilms. The BBC Philharmonic under Gianandrea Noseda play excerpts from the concert suites of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. Both of these I already have in commercial recordings. The contribution from the Manchester Camerata directed by Douglas Boyd is Mozart's Piano Concerto No 20 with soloist Kathryn Stott. I do have the middle movement romance on a "Mozart's Greatest Hits" style compilation from the early days of my collecting but it is good to have a performance of the full concerto. The entire disk is of a good standard but as I remarked at the outset, there is no linking theme in the programming. Schwanewilms is now a noted Strauss exponent, has sung with the Halle before and captures the mealncholic resignation of he songs. Kathryn Stott directs the sporadic piano festivals held at the Bridgewater hall and gives a languid interpretation of the Mozart.