Page 60 - Final_CBSO's 100th Birthday Celebration

warehouse location, once the lighting folk had finished with it. Still, the sound – constricted, poorly blended and
flat as a pancake – needn’t have been so bad. Of course the need to throw visuals at what should ideally just be
the spectacle of musicians playing and a very distinguished conductor in action is a common disease.

We had a tour of Birmingham, Elgar’s birthplace of Broadheath and the Malvern Hills while his Serenade for
Strings was airing. Conversely, talking heads had to compete with a soft background of whole stretches from the
“Enigma” Variations. But it was mostly worth hearing what they had to say.

The orchestra’s current Music Director, the inspirational Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, is on maternity leave, and spoke
vivaciously from Salzburg. Her predecessor Andris Nelsons waxed sincere about the partnership, claiming the
50 anniversary performance of Britten’s War Requiem in Coventry Cathedral as a highlight of his conducting
th
life – a shame we couldn’t have heard as well as seen a clip or two from that – and Sakari Oramo could just be
made out from an unhelpful home acoustic. We learnt about a myriad of pioneering education projects, nurturing
young artists like conductor Alpesh Chauhan, the commitment of regulars in the audience, the support of the
city. Lester had a natural manner outstripping most of the Proms presenters, and his script, by theartsdesk's
Richard Bratby, was a model of concisely-conveyed information about the orchestra's first 100 years.
As for the programme, it covered an admirable gamut. I’ve no idea why Schumann’s Genoveva Overture
launched proceedings; without historical links to the orchestra’s repertoire, and hardly a celebratory opener, it
was lively but not much more. Rattle’s animated style must be taken in good faith; Kanneh-Mason’s is always
the real deal, and he took up his solo lines from orchestral ensembles in the Saint-Saëns with mercurial
deftness. Composer Hannah Kendall has been having a field day in Proms old and new; The Spark
Catchers, premiered in the Chineke! Orchestra's first Prom in 2017, recently re-screened, is based on a poem by
Lemn Sissay about the women working in a match factory, is rhythmically lively but outstays its
welcome.