Vernon Handley's old association with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra has been one of the foundation stones of his championing of British music. His achievements received the warmest of celebrations in a 70th birthday tribute concert: an all-British programme of relatively little-known works from the 1930s. With not a whiff of the "cowpat school" about them, Handley's chosen works - Bliss's Music for Strings, Vaughan Williams's Five Tudor Portraits and Bax's Sixth Symphony - together provided compelling evidence of the breadth of talent and originality of composers who can be all too easily pigeonholed.
In fact, Bliss's homeland could scarcely be guessed at from his Music for Strings, which had perceptible Slavic leanings, most discernible in the intensity of his soloistic string textures. By contrast, Vaughan Williams' settings of John Skelton's poems evoked a English schoolboyish humour and boisterousness, as well as the familiar bittersweet lyricism prompted by Jane Scroop's lament over her dead pet sparrow. The irony of Skelton's poem is smoothed over by the tenderness of its musical setting, which seems to bear out the composer's avowed sympathy with Skelton's mournful heroine. Here, as elsewhere in the Portraits, the RLPO and chorus were on fine form; contralto Liane Keegan was particularly impressive as the passionate Jane, although Damian Thantrey's baritone was perhaps slightly constrained in a rather subdued rendition of Pretty Bess. The first and last songs romped along with a Dionysian energy, with a wonderfully tipsy bassoon solo in the first, The Tunning of Elinor Rumming.
Performances of Bax's symphonies are rare events; Handley's choice of the Sixth for his birthday concert testifies to his special affinity for this unfairly neglected work. Whether the RLPO were simply tired out by a demanding first half, or whether shortage of rehearsal time had been a problem, they were not able to deliver on this occasion.
This was a pity, since Bax's Sixth is not an easy piece to love on first hearing; many of its textures and cross-rhythms are unusual enough to be off-putting if not played with total conviction. In the context of such dedicated programming, full appreciation of this work was difficult; nevertheless, to hear it at all made this concert a special event.
