Page 325 - Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Coverage Book 2023-24

Wooden Prince, completed in 1917 shortly before Bartok wrote its more famous and lurid

stablemate, The Miraculous Mandarin. The score should be much better known, and

Dausgaard’s recording of the composer’s rarely heard revised version makes a compelling case

for its kaleidoscopic beauties, grotesqueries and piquant woodwind solos.
The orchestra’s City Halls home in Glasgow may not have the most sympathetic acoustic, but its

clinical aura never deadens Bartok’s vivid depictions of every stage in Bela Balazs’s narrative

about a fairytale princess who falls in love not with the handsome prince but with his wooden

stand-in. Poetic and symbolic complications follow, brilliantly scored for a large orchestra, and

played here with all necessary precision and vim. The Romanian Folk Dances and the later
string Divertimento fill out a most agreeable album. (Onyx)

★★★★☆

Dani Howard: Orchestral Works

Dani Howard, born in 1993, also spins ingenious orchestral textures. Although as you progress

through the five works played by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, you may wish that she too

had a precise scenario to illustrate, rather than trusting only to vague inspirations and a string of

striking sounds.

Moment by moment it’s easy to be tickled by chattering woodwinds, whooshing strings and

rhythmical jigging à la John Adams, but without audible signs of structural support, attention

soon droops. The strongest piece is the earliest, Arches, conducted by Pablo Urbina, while

champions of the noble, comic, lugubrious trombone should enjoy Peter Moore’s dexterity in
the Trombone Concerto conducted by Michael Seal. Otherwise, prepare for the pleasures and

dangers of high-class musical candy floss. (Rubicon)

★★★☆☆