BPO – Transfiguration – Barry Wordsworth (conductor), Carolyn Sampson (soprano)

The Brighton Philharmonic audience always has the warmest welcome for their Conductor Laureate, Barry Wordsworth, and why not when he delivers such an excellent programme?

A Haydn symphony is a safe way to warm up your audience and No 88 is one of the best. The stately opening made an elegant curtain-raiser for the intricate construction of the symphony’s four movements whose complexities were so helpfully described in Joanna MacGregor’s programme notes.

Appreciative ripples of applause after each movement announced new, perhaps younger, members in the audience. I do hope they didn’t feel any embarrassment because their enthusiasm was fully justified. Barry kindly paused while the auditorium settled. At the start of the second half he actually turned round to encourage two late lads back into their seats. BPO concerts have this party atmosphere, an informality that makes the music so much more enjoyable. And it’s not just the audience that is younger. The number of new, young players in the orchestra is very obvious and a guarantee of future success.

After Haydn came Mozart and a bit of drama. Carolyn Sampson began quietly as the Countess in ‘The Marriage of Figaro’, acting unsure and unsettled in the recitative that leads into the glorious aria ‘Dove sono’ that is at the core of this great opera. In just a few minutes we heard all the anxiety, longing and determination of Mozart’s forsaken heroine – a dramatic tour de force. A special mention must also be made of James Hulme’s plaintive oboe egging her on.

Carolyn Sampson – Photo: Marco Borggreve

After the heartbreak of betrayed love came the ardent protestations of Mozart’s concert aria ‘Ah se in ciel, benigne stelle’. The heavens and stars were represented by cascades of vocal fireworks that seemed to come so easily and with such bravura!

The second half was devoted to Mahler’s 4th Symphony, a work that shows the conductor’s true colours. From the opening sleigh bells to the soprano’s celestial canticle in the last movement there was a playful lightness of touch that kept the enormous orchestra on its toes and the atmosphere one of joy and delight. Including the conductor, I counted 80 musicians on the platform. If only there had been as abundant an audience. Those who were present enjoyed a magnificent performance as their extended applause acknowledged.

Brighton Dome,
27 November 2022

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