This Bristol Beacon concert by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, along with that of the previous night on their home ground at the Lighthouse in Poole, signalled the beginning of Mark Wigglesworth’s tenure as chief conductor. As their principal guest conductor since 2021, Wigglesworth has already been able to reap the benefits of the BSO’s notable progress under the Ukrainian Kirill Karabits, but programming Walton’s First Symphony was a typically strong statement of intent.
The evening opened with Wagner’s overture to Die Meistersinger, a choice that also felt like code for an embracing of the fundamental principle of music being sung from the heart. The warmth of the orchestral sound together with the expansive melodic lines made this an auspicious start.
Ravel wrote his Piano Concerto for the Left Hand at the request of Paul Wittgenstein – the brother of philosopher Ludwig – who had lost his right arm in the Battle of Galicia. Familiar as one is with many keyboard titans playing the work because they regard it as one of the great concertos, there was something extraordinary about watching pianist Nicholas McCarthy – born without a right hand – and his total command of the pianism that Ravel demands. While the gruffly dark instrumentation has its own sombre quality, the explosive power of McCarthy’s handling of the lowest range of the piano carried an equal emotional resonance, which then contrasted dramatically with the filigree writing in the upper register.
As an encore McCarthy gave Scriabin’s Nocturne Op 9, written when the young composer had damaged his right hand from practising incessantly, and, here again, it was the delicacy of touch that was both impressive and moving.
Wigglesworth exacted a vigorous and disciplined performance of the Walton symphony while yet seeming to indulge his brass players, whose richly refulgent tone gave the score its most characteristic colour. The sharp Sibelian tensions of the closing moments of the first, second and last movements were particularly well achieved, but most affecting was the melancholy of the Andante with its hauntingly expressive flute solo, with the trumpet solo of the finale seeming to echo that feeling in a way which brought a connecting integrity to the symphony overall.
