Archive for Lina Gonzalez-Granados

Saariaho, Beethoven & Sibelius at the National Concert Hall

Posted in Music with tags , , , , , , , on May 16, 2026 by telescoper

And so it came to pass that yesterday evening I took the train into Dublin and back to see what, for me, will be the penultimate concert by National Symphony Orchestra Ireland at the National Concert Hall. The conductor for this occasion was Colombian born Lina Gonzalez-Granados. There was a good crowd at the NCH, although it wasn’t quite full.

By way of a starter we heard Ciel d’hiver by Kaija Saariaho, a Finnish composer who spent her later life living in Paris; she passed away in 2023. This piece is an intriguing evocation of the winter sky, with dense blocks of harmonies suggesting the broad expanse of the heavens punctuated by drifting clusters of fragmented patterns until it reaches the zenith expressed by an intense climax before fading away again. This piece was new to me – it was in fact the Irish premier – and I enjoyed it greatly. I like it when there are unfamiliar items on the menu!

The rest of the first half of the concert consisted of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (in C) with soloist John O’Conor. This was first published in 1795 (but revised around 1800). It actually Beethoven’s third go at writing a piano concerto but was published first. His first attempt was written when he was a teenager and was never published. What we now know as the Piano Concerto No. 2 was written around 1788 but not published until 1801. I hope this clarifies the situation.

The Piano Concrto No. 1 consists of three movements, an expansive slow movement (marked Largo) sandwiched between two sprightly up-tempo movements, marked Allegro con brio and Rondo-Allegro Scherzando, respectively. It’s very obviously influenced by Mozart, but Beethoven’s own voice is very clear too. I think the first part of the last movement, full of energy and wit, is the best part of this work and O’Conor played it with genuine sparkle. His performance was very well received, and he rounded it off with a very familiar charming encore, also by Beethoven, his Für Elise, which O’Conor played for his two granddaughters who were both in the audience last night.

Ludwig van Beethoven washimself by all accounts an extraordinary pianist and I couldn’t help wondering during the interval what he would have sounded like playing his own piano concertos.

After the wine break we returned to hear the Symphony No. 2 in D Major by Jean Sibelius. This piece was written about a century later than the Beethoven Piano Concerto and its sound world is very different, although it does share an overall mood of hope and defiance that you will find in many works by Beethoven. It’s probably this aspect of the work that led to it being co-opted by the Finnish nationalist movement although I don’t think it was written for that purpose.

I had been looking forward to this for quite a while as I had never heard this work performed in a live concert before. Hearing it last night was a revelation, especially because the momentum of the piece was much better controlled than on some recordings I’ve heard. It’s a large piece, in four movements, lasting about 45 minutes altogether. The first movement starts with hesitant figures repeated a number of times by different sections of the orchstra. The second movement is slow and rather mournful in tone but full of great melodic ideas. It is marked Tempo andante, ma rubato and I think how to handle the rubato (deviating from strict tempo) is what some conductors might struggle with: I think it’s supposed to flow naturally, but not wallow or become too turbulent. The third movement starts in a hurry and moves directly into the thrilling Finale. The last movement is full of blazing statements of triumph, as would accompany a hero reaching the end of a perilous journey.

The balance and contrast between the different sections of the orchestra was very well done. I especially enjoyed the playing of the brass instruments which was vigorous but superbly controlled. Hats off to NSOI and to Lina Gonzalez-Granados for the performance. I found myself humming pieces of the Sibelius to myself as I walked back to Pearse station for the train back to Maynooth.

P.S. I must get a better recording of the Symphony No. 2 by Jean Sibelius for my collection – does anyone out there have any suggestions?

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Debussy, McNeff & Rachmaninov at the NCH

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , on February 1, 2025 by telescoper

Last night was my first trip of the year to the National Concert Hall in Dublin. I had planned to go on 17th January but by the time I got around to buying a ticket it was sold out. Fortunately, it was broadcast live on the radio and is still available on the RTÉ Player. I had a ticket for last Friday’s concert but bottled out of going because of transport worries about Storm Éowyn. That concert went ahead, apparently, but wasn’t broadcast so I missed it. Last night was third time lucky, and I’m very glad I got there!

The conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra for last night’s performance was Columbian-born Lina González-Granados in what I believe to have been her first appearance with the NSO. I certainly hope she comes back as she was very good indeed. I think the members of the orchestra enjoyed themselves as much as the audience!

As you can see from the programme, the concert opened with a very familiar piece, Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune by Claude Debussy, which was performed with all the shimmering sensuality it demands. Some very lush playing by the strings on this one, and lovely work by the woodwinds made it sound very fresh although I’ve heard it many times.

After that tenor Gavan Ring joined the orchestra to perform the Irish Premiere of The Celestial Stranger, a song cycle composed by Belfast born composer Stephen McNeff. This consists of settings of five poems, two by Thomas Traherne (including the one that gives its name to the collection, a remarkable work that I will post in its entirety later on). The next poem is by Walt Whitman and is titled As The Time Draws Nigh in the programme, but is not the well-known Whitman poem of that title but seems to have been adapted from various texts, including Years of the Modern. After that is a famous poem by Dylan Thomas, The hand that signed the paper and the cycle concludes with an adaptation of Farewell to Thee, written by Liliʻuokalani (former monarch of Hawaii). It’s a varied collection but there is a narrative behind the choice: a visitor from outerspace (the Celestial Stranger) arrives on Earth and reacts joyfully to begin with. As time goes on, however, he finds out more about war and and death and finally takes his leave.

The music is as varied as the choice of verse. I felt some influence of Britten in the first piece, but the rest is very different. Gavan Ring was in fine voice and the orchestra responded very well to the very different demands of this work compared to the first.

After the interval it was time for the main course of the evening, Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony. It’s a remarkable work because it’s not only a “proper” symphony in its construction and development but also the best part of an hour of one glorious melody after another. It’s a gorgeous work altogether, but the third movement (Adagio) is especially beautiful. I love the way Rachmaninov starts this movement one of his big romantic tunes, but then hides it while passages develop through a solo  clarinet and strings. You know the tune is coming back though, and when it does the emotional impact brought the audience to a collective swoon. This is romantic music in all senses of the word, just the ticket for a cole January evening. It was a very fine performance, not least because you could see how much both conductor and orchestra were enjoying themselves. Hats off to Lina González-Granados who had just the right balance of control and expressiveness. She look quite exhauasted at the end, actually. She had worked hard to earn her standing ovation.

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