Gig Report: RNCM Chamber Orchestra, RNCM, Friday 22 June 2007

Rushing to the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) after a canal-side run in preparation for Sunday's race, we made it with time to spare and grab a refreshing beverage (we had run 4 miles, so it was well-deserved). We enter the Haden Freeman Concert Hall, a smaller theatre than the one we had been in for the trombone concert though it still had a 200-odd seat capacity. As usual with this venue the mix of people was varied, but was generally divided between older mum and dad types and the student brigade who were possibly the friends of the 45-strong performers, all who are tertiary students at the aforementioned college.

Beginning the 4 part show is a stunning tribute to Beethoven's 9 Symphonies reworked to include electric and bass guitars and an ice-cream vendors bell. For the most part it was very entertaining and flowed smoothly, never knowing when each well known strain from the symphonies would appear, but the ice cream vendors bell did not fit at all, appearing randomly and without context - though that was probably the main idea - it just seemed more like someone's mobile went off during the performance.

The second piece which was a flute concerto (Mandala ki Raga), fused Indian and classical music. An Indian lady sat cross-legged on a special black podium in the middle of the orchestra while a flautist stood to one side. While talented, parts of the performance were again a little too avant-garde and more distracting was the fact that I kept thinking of that film, Anchorman, where Will Ferrel plays 'jazz flute'. Unfortunately during the end of the piece my throat gave way and I had to leave the theatre so I could cough without disturbing the performance. Always annoying! Luckily intermission followed and Phil and I went to the bar to grab something suitable to sooth my throat.

Returning to the hall we watched an even more bizarre and heavily percussive 4-part piece being performed which was so atonal and contemporary I couldn't get into it at all. The piece in question was called 'Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World' which should tell you how 'out there' it was. The piece shares the same name as a Haruki Murakami novel which will make sense to anyone who has read one of his novels. As Phil has a healthy collection of literature by this writer he was able to enjoy the performance and understand it more than me.
Ending the concert and returning to a more traditional style, we were treated to a rendition of Beethoven's Symphony No 1 in C major, which was in all sense music to my ears and to my mind showcased the technical abilities of the performers.

And so ended our cultured Friday evening as we returned home to catch up on Big Brother (for my benefit not Phil's).