Martin Kettle's Blog, page 47
August 1, 2018
Prom 22: BBCSSO/Manze review – sparkling rendition of two London symphonies
Royal Albert Hall, London
After some initial hesitancy, Andrew Manze drew out delicate phrasing and fine detail in this pairing of Haydn and Vaughan Williams
Orchestral music’s two “London” symphonies make for a neat and interesting concert pairing. It’s true that, unlike the symphony “by a Londoner” that Vaughan Williams wrote just before the first world war, Haydn’s 1795 symphony has little to do with the capital city beyond having been written and first performed here. But no matter. This was a programme ideally suited to the wide and enthusiastic conducting talents of Andrew Manze, who started out as an early music specialist before building a second career as a symphony orchestra conductor, not least with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, with whom he has worked extensively on Vaughan Williams.
There was some hesitancy in the slow introduction to the opening of Haydn’s final, 104th, Symphony in D major, and the players seemed to take a few pages before adjusting their Haydn sound to the demands of the Albert Hall acoustic. But they found their stride in the adagio and never looked back thereafter. Here, as in the final two movements, Manze’s expertise as a string player ensured much delicate phrasing and well-contrasted dynamics, and the performance sparkled with Haydn’s wit and invention.
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BBC SSO/Manze review – sparkling rendition of two London symphonies
Royal Albert Hall, London
After some initial hesitancy, Andrew Manze drew out delicate phrasing and fine detail in this pairing of Haydn and Vaughan Williams
Orchestral music’s two “London” symphonies make for a neat and interesting concert pairing. It’s true that, unlike the symphony “by a Londoner” that Vaughan Williams wrote just before the first world war, Haydn’s 1795 symphony has little to do with the capital city beyond having been written and first performed here. But no matter. This was a programme ideally suited to the wide and enthusiastic conducting talents of Andrew Manze, who started out as an early music specialist before building a second career as a symphony orchestra conductor, not least with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, with whom he has worked extensively on Vaughan Williams.
There was some hesitancy in the slow introduction to the opening of Haydn’s final, 104th, Symphony in D major, and the players seemed to take a few pages before adjusting their Haydn sound to the demands of the Albert Hall acoustic. But they found their stride in the adagio and never looked back thereafter. Here, as in the final two movements, Manze’s expertise as a string player ensured much delicate phrasing and well-contrasted dynamics, and the performance sparkled with Haydn’s wit and invention.
Continue reading...July 18, 2018
Brexit: now it’s a battle over who governs Britain | Martin Kettle
May has survived, for now. But parliament is stalemated in a clash between referendums and representative democracy
On Tuesday evening the Commons witnessed a scene worthy of a cliffhanger finale to a blockbuster television series that we all know will resume in the autumn. Just before 7pm, with all Theresa May’s enemies closing in for the kill after a long and engrossing buildup, Tory MPs produced a twist in the plot. They saved the prime minister’s skin at the last minute by voting not to keep the UK inside the EU customs union after Brexit. As the Commons chamber emptied and the credits metaphorically rolled, a government whip rose and announced that the summer recess was now not going to be brought forward after all.
Related: May sees off rebellion on customs union as amendment is defeated
The question at the root of our political discontents remains: can referendums coexist with representative democracy?
Continue reading...July 15, 2018
Isabeau review – Anne Sophie Duprels soars as Mascagni's neglected heroine
Opera Holland Park, London
Exciting singing and Francesco Cilluffo’s terrific conducting power this rarely seen variation on the Lady Godiva legend
When a work languishes in obscurity for as long as Pietro Mascagni’s 1911 opera Isabeau has done, there is usually a good reason. In the case of Isabeau, several such explanations offer themselves, for Isabeau is emphatically not a lost masterpiece. The subject matter – a variation on the Lady Godiva legend – is creepy, the post-Wagnerian musical writing is overwrought and a bit one-paced, and the score lacks the moments of fresh genius that Mascagni found so successfully in Cavalleria Rusticana 20 years earlier.
Yet it is hard not to feel that Isabeau has been hard done by. It is, after all, an opera about a woman, Isabeau, who refuses an arranged marriage and is punished for it. It has two big and demanding roles. And, whatever his limitations, Mascagni pushes his own musical boundaries – as he often did in his post-Cav works – this time with a chromatic through-composed score in the German manner. The explosive discord that opens act two is proof of that on its own.
Continue reading...July 12, 2018
Brexit white paper won't win over MPs or the EU
May doesn’t have the majority to push it through at home, and there’s little in it to win backing from abroad
Think of the government’s Brexit white paper as a freeze-frame rather than the whole movie. An extremely important frame, certainly, but there are plenty more action shots to come before the Brexit credits can finally roll, if they ever do.
The 98-page document does capture the moment when the government finally and formally admitted to the British public that our future relationship with the EU is supremely vital to the nation’s economy, prosperity and security. So vital, in fact, that it must take priority over all the unilateralist fantasies about what Brexit might have involved.
Related: UK's latest Brexit plans likely to cross EU red lines, Barnier hints
Related: I, Donald Trump, look forward to not meeting anyone in Britain, England
Continue reading...July 11, 2018
Boris Johnson’s Brexit was never a dream. It was pure fantasy | Martin Kettle
Dogmatic leavers offered a false solution to Britain’s real problems – then refused to take responsibility for it
Reflecting on Boris Johnson’s cabinet resignation letter this week, it was hard not to think also of Peter Ridsdale, the larger-than-life chairman of Leeds United between 1997 and 2003. The free-spending Ridsdale took his football club to the brink of triumph before taking it even faster to the brink of bankruptcy. In 2003, confronted by his critics and the fans, he offered the memorable excuse, which should be carved on his tombstone: “But we lived the dream.”
Related: The past really is another country. Let’s leave Boris Johnson there | Ash Sarkar
Continue reading...July 9, 2018
Power, not Brexit, is behind Boris Johnson’s decision to quit | Martin Kettle
Boris Johnson’s resignation turns Theresa May’s manic Monday from a crisis about Brexit policy into a crisis about the Conservative leadership. The resignation is not about the former. It is about the latter. David Davis resigned overnight because he disagreed with May’s policy on customs and trade links with Europe. Johnson has now followed him because he wants to become prime minister. Davis resigned on an issue of principle; Johnson resigned on an issue of self-interest.
Related: Boris Johnson resigns as foreign secretary
Continue reading...July 7, 2018
May’s Chequers victory averts disaster – for now at least
PM seems to have reached a very saleable political stance without bloodshed, but it is not yet a done deal
Put it this way: any other outcome from Friday’s Chequers cabinet summit would have been a disaster; a disaster for Theresa May, a disaster for the Conservative party and, most importantly, a disaster for modest hopes that Britain’s otherwise lamentable departure from the EU can at least be mitigated by sensible alignments that retain the possibility of a reunion at some future date.
Related: Brexit summit: how the papers saw Theresa May's deal
Continue reading...July 4, 2018
There is only one option on the table for the cabinet at Chequers: soft Brexit | Martin Kettle
No-deal is not a realistic strategy. But that doesn’t mean the EU will accept Theresa May’s compromise
The proverbial can has been kicked down the proverbial road ever since Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016. Don’t get me wrong. Can-kicking has a necessary place in politics. Theresa May has often had little choice but to resort to it. But the road and the can-kicking must end at Chequers on Friday. That’s when the prime minister and her divided cabinet must finally decide what kind of relationship they seek with the EU after Brexit.
Related: Theresa May, here’s my solution to the Brexit customs conundrum | Henry Newman
A soft Brexit, while not officially defined, would keep Britain in either the single market or the customs union or both. It could be achieved along the lines of the Norway model (see EEA/EFTA) or via an FTA, but would require concessions on free movement, ECJ jurisdiction and budget payments. Brexiters do not consider a soft Brexit as really leaving the EU. See our full Brexit phrasebook.
Related: If Vote Leave has cheated the will of the people, MPs must take action | Jolyon Maugham
Continue reading...June 27, 2018
Trump is hellbent on destroying the Nato alliance | Martin Kettle
In the words of Mike Tyson: “Everyone has a plan till they get punched in the mouth.” For more than 70 years, Europe has had a plan. It was to hold together against Russia and rely on the alliance with the United States. Now Europe has been punched in the mouth by Donald Trump. Europeans must therefore ask themselves the question: has Trump’s US become a hostile power? If the answer to that question is yes, the consequences for Europe – and for Britain – would be enormous. That’s why so many policymakers and politicians prefer not to ask it.
But as Der Spiegel put it last month: “The west as we once knew it no longer exists.” Even the Washington-based German Marshall Fund, a bastion of postwar Atlanticism, now talks about Trump’s “overt hostility”. Incredible as it may seem to those who grew up in a Europe and a Britain that took the US alliance for granted, the plan that has worked since the fall of Hitler can no longer be relied upon.
Related: Nine EU states sign off on joint military intervention force
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