An eye on the future; Harold Gray Centenary Tribute CBSO Centre, Berkley Street.
Byline: Christopher MorleyAppointed CBSO Conductor Emeritus on the occasion of his retirement as associate conductor of the orchestra in 1979, Harold Gray would this week have celebrated his 100th birthday.
To mark the occasion, yesterday lunchtime's Centre Stage concert, featuring CBSO members too young to have played under his genial baton, was given in tribute to Gray, and proved a delightful mix of nostalgia and, with this blood of a newer generation, hope for the future.
There was a decided sense of 'looking back' in the music performed, two pieces by Vaughan Williams written when Gray would still have been a little boy. The Phantasy for String Quintet is a rarity in the concert-hall, understandably so, for its self-conscious air of English bucolicism from a bygone age does wear a bit thin.
Its performance was dedicated and committed, however, markedly successful in the control these CBSO players brought to the exposed, taxing serenity of the opening.
But one wished the song-cycle On Wenlock Edge could never have ended in this account from tenor Ian Partridge and a quintet featuring violinist Anne Parkin moonlighting with considerable panache on the piano.
Standing democratically amid his colleagues, Partridge marshalled his vocal resources with skilful subtlety, and brought a striking Mahlerian intensity to 'Is my team ploughing?'
Adding to the enjoyment of this packed audience was an entertaining and touching memorial to Gray from CBSO archivist Beresford King-Smith, and two recorded extracts of Gray, conducting in a live BBC broadcast, and speaking during his farewell concert all those years ago.
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| Title Annotation: | Review |
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| Publication: | The Birmingham Post (England) |
| Date: | Dec 5, 2003 |
| Words: | 257 |
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