This week’s hot ticket was the London premiere of Gavin Higgins new horn concerto written for and played by Ben Goldscheider and the London Chamber Orchestra at Cadogan Hall. An excitable crowd heard a programme that also included string music by Elizabeth Maconchy, plus Sibelius 5 and Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 4.
The LCO were more responsive when Goldscheider played and directed the Mozart. The horn player brings a brisk business-like energy to the stage. This was reflected in the closer attention to detail and the responsiveness of the ensemble. The second movement romance, in particular, was a high point: blissfully warm with melodic lines that Godscheider seemed to coax out of the instrument. The flirtatious chromatic flourish towards the end of the movement tickled.
In contrast, Higgins’s new concerto for Goldscheider was a bigger, longer and far more technicolour work inspired by and depicting forests. Those who heard and wrote about the Cardiff premiere a few weeks back were right: it is a cracking listen. I loved it.
It is the composer’s love of orchestration that makes anything by Higgins a guaranteed pleasure for the curious-minded. In the centre of the concerto, a beautiful evocative depiction with high suspended notes, shimmering strings, earthy string textures, creaking woodwind chords and glistening percussion, above which a plaintiff likeable character is suspended.
There is much of the brass band influence that features so heavily in Higgins’s creative thinking evident here, reflected in swift dynamic contrasts. So too in the gentlest subversion of melodic ideas whilst still remaining in a familiar and manageable tonal centre. Put another way, Higgins’s writing demonstrates a clear understanding of where his curious audience is prepared to go, and where they’re not. He stretches as far as the elastic band will stretch without freaking out those holding the other end of it. The third movement solo line with countermelody in the horns and trombones is another exhilarating listening moment. So too the blistering brass and percussion in the concluding section.
It’s perhaps these elements in the work that has contributed to the well-deserved buzz around this premiere, securing Higgins’s reputation alongside that of Dani Howard as two of the UK’s go-to people for new classical music that audiences want to listen to. Like a lot of Higgins’s output, the Horn Concerto is a fun work to play no doubt, holds the attention of the audience and, for some twisted observers like me, challenges the soloist too. Who doesn’t want to see the soloist tested?
Whilst there was a sense that some of the ensemble sections could have been done with a little more rehearsal time, this did not detract from the performance as a whole.
Aside from this and the performance, the London Chamber Orchestra should be heartily applauded for one very nifty editorial move: actively encouraging the audience to capture footage and imagery of the performance they’re watching. This invitation has a dual purpose – it not only offers permission to people to capture content marketing the band and the work on their behalf, but it also has the effect of stopping people from doing so (in the same way that the OAE invitation to go get drinks during the concert kept them firmly in their seats during the performance).
This simple statement at the beginning of the concert (I would have preferred it to be announced in person, I’ll be honest) talks so much about the collective vision for the orchestra and how they recognise the audience’s role in advocating the genre.
