The Bell Lawrie Festival Concert at Perth Concert Hall

Jun 6 2008 By Peter Rutterford

THE curtain came down on the 2008 Perth Festival of the Arts with a star-studded gala concert featuring four international artists performing a selection of popular works with the world renowned Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. To have one high calibre soloist appearing with the orchestra would be a highlight, but to have a line-up of four famous artists of this calibre was to make this concert very special indeed.

The conductor for the evening was Philip Ellis, a young winner of the Leeds Conductor's Competition, who had the responsibility of keeping the famous soloists and orchestra together and he did it perfectly. Beginning with one of the great overtures in the repertoire, Rossini's William Tell, the orchestra got off to an electric start with excellent playing from the cellos and basses at the opening, fine solos from the cor anglais and flute in the central alpine passage, and spirited brass playing in the famous galop all adding to an exciting performance played with real RPO style.

The first of the soloists to grace the stage was the tremendously talented violinist Tasmin Little. She played two pieces that are standards in the violin repertoire, Beethoven's delightful Romance No 2 in F, which although beautifully played, was perhaps taken a little fast, followed by Classic fm's No1 in their Hall of Fame, Vaughn Williams' popular The Lark Ascending. This was given a beautiful interpretation, with the soloist's wonderfully secure playing soaring over the orchestral accompaniment. The ending was particularly moving, as Tasmin Little remained motionless for what seemed an eternity as the last notes disappeared in to the air.

Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue is not heard live as frequently as it once was and it was a rare privilege to hear it played by a pianist of Peter Donohoe's calibre. From the accentuated blues style of the clarinet's opening glissando it was apparent this was going to be a performance that brought out all the jazzy inflections and nuances and Peter Donohoe had great fun with this sometimes hackneyed piece, giving a powerful performance that paid full value to this great work with the orchestra following Donohoe's example of exciting and compelling playing.

After the interval one of Britain's most popular sopranos Lesley Garrett introduced her first item, the Letter scene from Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin. Sung with gusto and with actions demonstrating Tatiana's anguish, Lesley Garrett kept the audience entranced with her graceful poise and dramatic content, singing with a realistic torment that was totally convincing.

Between this first appearance by Lesley Garrett and her finale the audience were given their last soloist Julian Lloyd Webber, performing Tchaikovsky's showpiece for cello, Variations on a Rococo Theme. This genial piece was given a stylised and idiosyncratic interpretation but kept its lucidity and clarity with fine technical playing from the soloist and sympathetic accompaniment from the orchestra.

The final part of the concert was given back to Lesley Garrett, who sung a selection of operatic arias including; a splendid Spanish Fandango from Delibes Lakme, Les Filles de Cadiz; Lo son l'umile ancella, from the less-known composer Cilea's opera Adriana Lecouvreur; and the delightful Song to the Moon from Dvo?ák's Rusalka, all introduced and sung with style and elegance. Finally just one encore, Puccini's wonderful O mio babbino caro, closed the gala concert and this year's festival, which has been filled with glorious music and world-class soloists.