Magic Flute Overture - Mozart
Dies' Bildnisist bezaubernd sch÷n - Mozart
Where're You Walk - Handel
Arrival of the Queen of Sheba - Handel
Bacchanal - Saint-Saens
Mouton AubadeLalo - LaloLe jugement de Paris - OffenbachFaust ballet music - Gounod
David Brophy was the conductor of the RT╔ Concert Orchestra's concert last Tuesday at lunchtime. The programme consisted of excerpts from 18th- and 19th-century ballets and oratorios by French and German composers.
This was a reliable and confident concert, as one would hope for from a young musician who has just been appointed assistant conductor to the National Symphony Orchestra. Some of the most well-rounded performances were of arias by Mozart, Handel, Lalo and Saint-Saδns, sung by tenor Declan Kelly. His good diction and even tone reinforced his reputation as one of the most promising Irish singers of his generation.
Straightforward presentation worked well in Mozart's Magic Flute Overture and in the accompanying playing, which was pleasingly responsive to Declan Kelly's shaping. In that respect, the Aubade from Lalo's Le Roi d'Ys, and Le jugement de Paris, from Offenbach's La Belle HΘlΦne, were especially effective.
The concert's main limitations were stylistic. The dynamics used in Handel's The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba were questionable, and a special rhythmic style is required by character-piece compositions, like the Bacchanale from Saint-Saens's Samson and Delilah and the ballet music from Gounod's Faust. To make the desired impact, the first needs abandon and the second poise, in addition to the drive which emerged towards the end.
