REVIEW: Steve Crowther’s verdict on The Academy of St Olave’s, St Olave’s Church, Marygate, York, September 20

Conductor Alan George and the Academy of St Olave’s at St Olave’s Church, Marygate, York

A MUSICAL heart attack announced the Allegro giocoso opening of Carmen’s prelude to Act I.

The stately march – a striking Spanish-style fanfare – was splendidly led by the trumpets. Really fine flute and clarinet decorations added to the festive atmosphere. The violins – a tad fewer than usual – relished the main ‘toreador’ rhythmic drive.

The transition to the slower, darker Andante moderato was pretty seamless. Here the standout performer was Alexandra Nightingale(oboe), who clearly relished the famous ‘fate’ solo.

The clarinet, bassoon, and low strings contributed prominent supporting figures, giving the oboe’s solo a rich, smoky atmosphere. Talking of seamless, I didn’t realise I was listening to the Strauss Kaiser-Waltzer until my foot started tapping – silently, obviously.

Standouts: a lovely cello solo (Rachel Brown) gently echoed by Mark Sykes on horn, briefly joined by Becky Jobling on flute, creating a chamber-music intimacy.

The second half belonged to Sibelius and his magnificent Symphony No. 7 in C major. Despite the sectional outline in the programme notes: Adagio – Vivacissimo – Adagio – Allegro molto etc., this is a continuous single-movement work with no breaks.

It is the challenge of the conductor to ensure a sense of organic growth rather than a patchwork of varied tempo changes, and Alan George did just that.

The opening Adagio sets the tone with the cellos and violas beginning the long, slowly ascending scale that generates the symphony’s opening sustained sonority.

They were joined by the violins, which brightened the musical atmosphere: this gradual unfolding set the symphony’s sense of organic growth. To be sure, greater string numbers would have given more body to the sound— the string section is the continuous living fabric of the symphony— but the playing was nevertheless very good and effective.

There were lovely lyrical flute, oboe and clarinet (Lesley Schatzberger) contributions, as well as prominent calls, responses and climactic fanfares from Mark Sykes (horn) and Tom Taylor (trumpet). But it was the three trombone solos that could be said to form the backbone of the work— each appearance more majestic than the last— and James Stockwell’s performance was very good indeed.

Carl Nielsen’s Concerto for Flute and Orchestra (1926), like the Sibelius Symphony, is a single continuous movement lasting approximately 20 minutes. However, the Concerto falls naturally into two large sections separated by a brief pause.

A short, gentle string opening gives way to the flute’s first cadenza-like entrance: lyrical but with sudden leaps and quirky turns. The rapid staccato and brilliant arpeggio passages gave flautist Becky Jobling a chance to display her obvious technical prowess, while the plaintive, cantabile melody in the central poco adagio section was played beautifully.

I don’t usually associate humour with the music of Carl Nielsen, but the ‘military’ side drum exchanges eliciting playful trills and unexpected pauses were indeed quite witty.

But this is a flute concerto, and in the closing faster section we had the necessary virtuoso fireworks – fast tonguing passages, huge leaps, duets – more like duels – with both brass and percussion. The closing sign-off, featuring a solo cadenza and a muted, poetic “that’s all for now, folks,” was priceless.

What really struck me when listening to this splendid performance was the spectre of Igor Stravinsky and Petruska in particular. Nielsen’s concerto isn’t (obviously) imitation, but it shares Stravinsky’s love of rhythmic asymmetry, lean chamber-style orchestration and sudden colour changes, giving the Flute Concerto a modern, unsentimental brilliance.

Review by Steve Crowther

Academy of St Olave’s to perform Richard Strauss, Mozart, Beethoven and Charles Ives works in season finale summer concert

Oboe soloist: Alexandra Nightingale

THE Academy of St Olave’s round off their 2021-22 season with a Summer Concert on June 25 in aid York Against Cancer.

The York chamber orchestra’s 8pm programme at St Olave’s Church, Marygate, begins with Beethoven’s tempestuous Coriolan Overture, followed by The Unanswered Question by American composer Charles Ives, who splits the orchestra into three instrumental groups to consider “the perennial question of existence” posed by a solo trumpet.

The Academy’s principal oboist, Alexandra Nightingale, then performs Richard Strauss’s Oboe Concerto two years later than originally planned! Considered by many to be the 20th century’s finest oboe concerto, Strauss composed the work in 1945 during his “Indian Summer”, at the suggestion of an oboe-playing American soldier serving in Bavaria at the end of the Second World War. The finale will be Mozart’s much-loved Symphony No. 39 in E flat.

Soloist Alexandra Nightingale grew up in Oxfordshire and studied Classics at Pembroke College, Cambridge, before moving to Yorkshire to teach Classics in 1993. Past solo engagements have included the Vaughan Williams Concerto with the Pembroke College Orchestra and the Mozart Oboe Concerto in F with the Academy of St Olave’s in 2011.

The Academy of St Olave’s poster for the June 25 concert

Alexandra, who also plays oboe for the York Guildhall Orchestra, volunteers as a fireman on the narrow-gauge Bala Lake Railway in North Wales in her spare time.

The Academy’s guest conductor, John Bryan, says: “I am delighted to have the chance to work again with this fine orchestra – and an outstanding soloist – on such a varied programme. Audience members are sure to enjoy two lesser-known masterpieces by Ives and Strauss, alongside old favourites such as the Beethoven overture and Mozart symphony.”

The concert will benefit York Against Cancer, the independent charity that offers practical help and support to patients and their families living with cancer in York, North Yorkshire and East Yorkshire. The charity also funds vital research and education to prevent and cure cancer in the future.

Ticket cost £15 or £5 for accompanied children aged 18 and under at academyofstolaves.org.uk; booking in advance is recommended strongly. Any remaining tickets will be sold on the door from 7.15pm.