Alf McCreary: A concert of two halves from the Ulster Orchestra featuring music from Bernstein and Rachmaninoff

The first half resounded to lively and at times brash interpretations of relatively recent compositions, including three dances from Leonard Bernstein’s musical On The Town which opened in New York on 28 December 1944.

Perhaps the best-known piece was Times Square 1944 which had all the swagger of Bernstein himself as well as foretastes of his much later West Side Story.

All three dances were handled deftly by the vastly-experienced Michael Seal, the associate conductor of the City of Birmingham Orchestra, one of the best in these islands.

This was followed by Joe Chindamo’s intriguing Ligeia, a Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra which was premiered by the Adelaide Symphony in 2022. This composition had everything, ranging from jazz riffs to lyrical string passages, and the Belfast-born soloist Peter Moore gave a virtuoso performance which deservedly received an enthusiastic reception. This was another example of the programme-planners giving us something new and surprising in Belfast, and while Legeia was an orchestral and soloist’s showpiece, and an illustration of outstanding musicianship, it was not something to ponder for deeper meaning.

However there was much soul-searching after the interval when the conductor and orchestra took on the challenges of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s complex First Symphony which was premiered on 27th March 1897 in St. Petersburg and received a disastrous reception. The young composer, then only 23, was so shattered that he had a nervous breakdown and was unable to compose anything for three years. He emerged from this darkness to compose his superb Second Piano Concerto to lasting fame – including its seemingly endless top position in Class FM’s popularity list every year.

It is not difficult to understand the bewilderment of the audience at the premiere of his First Symphony which was too radical for the time, and there is much soul-searching especially in the third movement, but with great style. Then, against the odds, the fourth movement bursts into glorious fireworks, with an introduction which was once the signature-tune for BBC’s Panorama. The inspiring Maestro Seal and the players gave a fine performance throughout, and next year the players will tackle the composer’s very different Second Symphony – or is it? Judge this for yourself at the Ulster Orchestra’s concert on 16 May 2025. This is one not to be missed.