This must have sounded very good live. The symphony receives an exciting performance, swift but (as preserved here) also somewhat slick. In the first movement the allegro erupts with scant violence. The great exordium at the start of the finale similarly lacks anguish, and the big climax simply hasn’t sufficient volume. The inner movements, accordingly, fare best. Balance issues, such as the recessed brass and percussion in tuttis, surely could have been corrected under more controlled conditions.
The performance of the Oboe Concerto, a rarely heard work, is aptly fluid and intelligently shaped. Soloist Stéphane Rancourt has a limpid tone: no trace of the snake-charmer here. Alas, he’s far too closely recorded (and very differently from the perspectives on offer in the symphony). The result is not only distracting, but it captures that annoying clicking of valves in rapid passages that really is inexcusable. This is a souvenir of what was probably an enjoyable occasion, but hardly a disc that needed to be preserved.
Incidentally, the Hallé Orchestra has become simply “Hallé”, as if the rest would be too difficult to remember. Or perhaps it’s just another sorry attempt by the classical music industry to borrow a labeling trick from the pop world–like “Bono” or “Beyoncé”. On the other hand, Mark Elder is listed as “Sir Mark Elder CBE”. The juxtaposition of the hip and the fusty is, to say the least, strange.
