Page 392 - Liverpool Philharmonic 22-23 Season Coverage Book

24 March 2023

R E V I E W
A bold attempt to big up the harpsichord, plus

the best of March’s classical concerts

Gavin Bryars's new concerto for the much-maligned keyboard starts promisingly but doesn't quite
stay the course
By David Fanning

Vivid and characterful: the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra CREDIT: Mark McNulty
RLPO/Manze. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool ★★★☆☆

Mahan Esfahani is a man on a mission: to establish the harpsichord as a concert solo instrument
on a par with the piano, violin and others. His latest vehicle is a concerto jointly commissioned
from Gavin Bryars by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre National de
Lyon. Whether it will help his cause is somewhat doubtful.

Bryars is well known for experimental scores whose titles and concepts – such as The Sinking of
the Titanic – tend to sound more interesting than their realisations. What concept lies behind his
new concerto was not publicly vouchsafed, perhaps not unconnected with the fact that, according
to audience members in the know, the score only reached the soloist some 12 days ago. All we were
told was that part of the idea was to give the soloist freedom to add as much or as little
ornamentation as he sees fit.