BBC NOW 2022-23 Season North Wales International Music Festival by Mathias, W., Von Weber, Glyn, Vaughan Williams, Sâm 17 Sept. 2022, De la (2022/2022), Dirijor Andrew Gourlay, St Asaph Cathedral, St Asaph, United Kingdom

Exuberant instrumental conversations lead the way in Weber’s masterful overture to Oberon. Opening with a mystical horn call, a nod towards the magic horn central to the operas plot, effervescent fairy laughter portrayed by the woodwind lead to virtuosic flourishes and chordal grandeur. The spirit and movement of dance imbue Mathias’ Celtic Dances. Intended to evoke the mythological past, vivid colours, playfulness, wist, warmth and rhythmic vitality conjure mood and atmosphere across four dances. Fellow Welsh composer Gareth Glyn’s musical depiction of the story of Amaterasu continues this concerts literary narrative. Using the solo harp to represent Amaterasu, the Shinto religion’s divinity of light, the piece guides the listener through the story, from her creation and carefree youth, tumultuous relationship with her brother and feelings of sadness, and the journey from darkness to dazzling light. Fusing a four-movement symphony and memorial Requiem, Vaughan Williams’ uniquely daring Third Symphony oozes serenity and idyll. Composed while on active service during World War I, the symphony melds persistent and exquisite dissonance to create otherworldliness, while remarkable solo sections for trumpet, imitating a military bugle, and wordless soprano add more than a hint of humanity.