Ulster Orchestra: Warmth with icy patches - Northern Lights concert strikes the right balance

​​The Ulster Orchestra opened their concert on Friday evening with the well-known En Saga by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius whose music is so often reminiscent of the snowy vistas of Northern Europe.
By The Newsroom
Published 25th Feb 2024, 14:10 BST
Updated 26th Feb 2024, 12:43 BST
Young soloist Matilda Lloyd met every challenge of Eino Tamberg’s Trumpet Concerto No 1 at Friday night’s concertYoung soloist Matilda Lloyd met every challenge of Eino Tamberg’s Trumpet Concerto No 1 at Friday night’s concert
Young soloist Matilda Lloyd met every challenge of Eino Tamberg’s Trumpet Concerto No 1 at Friday night’s concert

Hence the title of the concert Northern Lights, with an added northern dimension from the Estonian composer Eino Tamberg and his Trumpet Concerto No 1.

One of the most distinguished former principal conductors of the Ulster Orchestra, Yan Paschal Tortelier, reckoned that this ensemble played Sibelius better than any other he had known, and the orchestra on Friday seemed to have a special understanding of all the lights and shades of the En Saga music.

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There was warmth in the score but icy patches as well – just the right balance for a cold winter evening in Belfast.

The Trumpet Concerto No 1 by Tamberg was something else. It was relatively short at only 15 minutes but it packed in a huge range of moods and impacts with more than a hint of jazz.

The young soloist Matilda Lloyd has already made a name for herself with a distinguished CV and range of appearances with some well-known orchestras, and she met every challenge of this difficult work during possibly its first-ever performance in the Ulster Hall.

She and the orchestra gave a sustained encore with Goedicke’s challenging Concert Etude. Full marks are due to the Ulster Orchestra for introducing unfamiliar music to this programme which has been a feature of their offering throughout the season so far.

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The second half featured Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony with a welcome return to more familiar ground. Beethoven’s Fourth, like his First and Second Symphonies, are not as universally well-known as his Eroica and Fifth, and onwards through to the Ninth.

However, the Fourth is a wonderful sunny bridge between the twin pillars of the Third and Fifth, and being Beethoven it is a masterpiece in its own right.

The second half had many examples of inspired ensemble and individual playing under the direction of the impressive conductor Pawel Kapula, in place of Dmitry Matvienko named in the Season’s Programme.

The next Ulster Orchestra concerts are on Saturday March 2 in the Waterfront Hall featuring Peter and the Wolf and Gaspard’s Foxtrot from 3pm, and in the Ulster Hall on Friday March 8 with music by Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky and Behzad Ranjbaran starting at 7.45 pm.