Aldeburgh Festival – Tansy Davies and Freya Waley-Cohen start, including Shostakovich | Classical music

Percussionists are many performers in classical music. But even by their standards, Colin Currie is a virtuosic outlier. For parts of the international exhibition of Tansy DaviesFor the Earth Works Concerto, Currie remained motionless on the instruments except from elbow to floor, as he sent the cymbals and drums ringing and reverberating through the orchestra’s fastest tempo. An arm shot out from behind a curtain of tubular bells to reach the hi-hat cymbal amid an invisible roar that sounded like cowbells. There was a small passage above an overturned dust barrel with a small rope hanging from it. There were a number of immediate trips back to the drumkit.

Behind Currie, a BBC National Orchestra of Wales warped vocal cells and luscious brass strokes of loose tongue and luscious strings, thick double-bass strings, fiery whirlwinds and the shrill sound of orchestral accompaniment.

This exciting screening was the first of two BBCNOW appearances at this year’s Aldeburgh Festival with the legendary John Adams’s Short Ride in a Fast Machine (higher Sunday car than F1) and the forbidden performance of Shostakovich’s Symphony No 10. Finally, a fan Kevin John Edusei stood like in the eye of the storm – cold, active, beautiful – leading the musicians from the empty space through the storm and the most painful chords to the end, BBCNOW on the form of blisters even in the saunas at Snape Maltings.

Energy levels were lower elsewhere. A national exhibition of Alex Ho and Rocky Sun Keting‘s Chronicle – a kind of a cappella song about the lives of six female Chinese poets – was a meditative, light-hearted track interspersed with clean electronics. Celebrated as one of the best choirs in the UK, Sansara it is highly polished in a competition that combines English music, Anglican choral tradition and Chinese commentary.

The silence of the Orford church was another contradiction to Snape Maltings’ lemon-bright voice. It could not completely hide the irregular words that confused some of them Sacconi Quartetprogram, but their work Freya Waley-Cohen‘s Dances, Songs and Hymns for Friendship was a joy, the players reveling in Waley-Cohen’s exploration of how four musical voices can unite, divide and unite.

More Waley-Cohen attended BBCNOW’s second concert. International film The Dreamer, a concert for his sister, a violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohenopened with a folksy double suspension from the soloist. There were rhapsodic passages where the violinist soared and leapt – his fingers flying – before being beaten by the orchestra. Some of those waves were very strong and certainly intentional; some due to phonetic difficulties. Amidst the splendor of the bells and whistles, a flash of simplicity appeared: a soloist floating above a bed of swirling strings; Tonal chords shine as one color among many.

BBCNOW and Edusei ended their tour with Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances. Edusei’s tempos started out steady but were constantly changing. The most romantic moments spread quickly, while the music was vivid and captivating. Towards the end, Edusei raised his fist to the last, which was painfully loud, and let out a loud roar before falling into a final tattoo of excitement. Even the singers were left smiling.