Christ Church Festival Orchestra Conductor: James Ross

Sheldonian Theatre

Brahms: Double Concerto for Violin and 'Cello Jonathan Clarke: Lament

In addition to providing a platform for five highly-accomplished soloists, Christ Church Festival Orchestra's concert of 13 June featured the first performance of a new work, Jonathan Clarke's Lament, a 'cantata for the earth'. Like the Brahms double concerto for violin and 'cello that opened the concert, the piece explores a huge range of emotions and sonorities, and the contrasts provided by this programme of late-romantic and contemporary orchestral works ensured that the concert was both uplifting and thought-provoking.

James Ross's expert conducting allowed soloists Daniel Bhattacharya (violin) and Andrew Taylor ('cello) to rise above the orchestral texture of the Brahms concerto, and although it was occasionally difficult to make out the 'cello line, this was perhaps due to the enthusiasm of the orchestral players. The soloists blended well, both in terms of timbre and style, carrying off the contrasting styles within the concerto movements with finesse. More contrast between the winsome second movement and the dance-like third would have provided further polish, but the grandeur of Brahms's work was nonetheless confidently conveyed.

Using the additional forces of a chorus and three soloists with a traditional symphony orchestra, Jonathan Clarke's Lament evoked much of the Englishness of Vaughan Williams and Britten in its restlessness. The texts, by O'Shaughnessy, Blake, Tim Craig, Larkin and Shakespeare, formed a musical exploration of man's relationship with the earth and his own humanity, and Clarke's settings mirrored the movement and sense of the lyrics in dramatically fine detail through both modality and harsh modern sounds. As a result, the music constantly moved into new emotional areas, driven by an uneasy-sounding ostinato.

Despite its evocation of times past, the work is deeply pertinent to modern-day life in its themes of warning and re-evaluation of man's place in the universe. Clarke managed to convey these complex ideas through the use of a number of instrumental solos to echo principal musical ideas, while the inclusion of a small choir also allowed significant lines from the text to be emphasised. Against a dense orchestral texture, the performances of the three vocalists (Claire Hollocks, soprano; Neill Bramble, tenor; Rohan de Lanerolle, baritone) imbued the work with added clarity, producing a work both bittersweet and deeply meaningful.

Olivia Rowland 13/06/01