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The Guardian
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
A Mass of Life review – magical and ecstatic Proms performance of Delius's magnum opus
It is 37 years since A Mass of Life was last done at the Proms, and that 1988 outing was only the second complete Proms performance. The neglect is barely credible, and this outstanding occasion showed what audiences have been denied. If ever there was a piece ideally suited to the Royal Albert Hall it is Delius's voluptuous 1905 magnum opus, with its double chorus, vast and sensuous orchestration, and the ecstatic affirmations of its Nietzsche text. And no conductor is more ideally suited to bringing all this together than the lifelong Delius advocate Mark Elder. Why the disregard? Partly, perhaps, the enduring boldness of Nietzsche's atheist polemic Also Sprach Zarathustra, from which the text is culled. The main reason, though, is surely that Delius's defiantly individual aesthetic – 'a little intangible sometimes but always very beautiful', as Elgar, no less, put it so well – remains a hard sell to audiences who want their music to have more obvious structure and progression. And yet few big pieces have a more clearcut beginning, middle and end than A Mass of Life. The opening summons leaps magnificently off the page. The atmospheric stillness at the start of the second part, with its distant horn calls – played high in the Albert Hall gallery – is a magical piece of writing. And the final chorus is an emphatic summation, admirably marshalled here by Elder to avoid any hint of bombast. Undeniably, the work has weaker moments, in which Delius's music lingers less cogently. Yet few are without interest and none lacks artistry. The influence of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, philosophically as well as musically, is there. So is the echo of Delius's exposure to African American singing in his Florida years. The orchestration is always alive with subtle changes of timbre and phrasing. All this was sensitively realised by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, with Alison Teale's bass oboe providing a distinctive presence in the fine woodwind section. Among the vocal soloists, the baritone carries most of the weight, with Roderick Williams bringing clarity and taste to his marathon task. Jennifer Davis, Claudia Huckle and David Butt Philip showed they were not there to make up the numbers. The BBC Symphony Chorus and the London Philharmonic Choir never flagged. Surtitled translations of the German text were a good idea. But it was Elder who did most to make the case for A Mass of Life so conclusively. Why not a repeat in a year or two's time? Listen again on BBC Sounds until 12 October. The Proms continue until 13 September.
Times
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
KT Tunstall review — a galaxy of stars join a spangly 50th birthday party
Don't go to a KT Tunstall gig if you don't like patter with your music. Her physicist father's penchant for Blind Date; meeting someone who knew someone who had slept with Cilla Black; a woman requesting Under the Weather, in memory of her mother, who died in a shark attack … these were just some of the topics covered by the Scottish singer-songwriter at the Royal Albert Hall during the 20th-anniversary celebration of her Mercury-nominated debut, Eye to the Telescope. Backed by a band whose clothes and instruments were spattered in sequins and wearing a sparkly dress herself, the Ivor Novello winner sang the entire album. She went from the wistful Other Side of the World to Suddenly I See (made famous by the opening scene in The Devil Wears Prada) and Black Horse and the Cherry Tree, the song she broke into the public eye with thanks to her performance on Jools Holland . In what quickly became a star-studded night, Holland appeared for the last to add some bluesy piano. If it had ended there, after 90 minutes of nostalgia, the sold-out crowd (many also sporting sparkly outfits and wigs) would have left happy thanks to Tunstall's energising rhythmic guitar and cajon beats, as well as her spotless vocals — nowhere better than on Heal Over, on which she harmonised with Emma Flynn, the star of the new Clueless musical Tunstall wrote the music for. But there was much more to come. This was also a 50th birthday party for Tunstall and she invited an eclectic collection of famous friends on stage — with wonderfully bizarre musical combinations. First up was an Adidas tracksuit-clad Mel C who, after belting out When You're Gone, duetted (I've Had) The Time of My Life with Tunstall, mashed up with the Spice Girls classic Stop. The woman behind me wept when she saw the next guest: Natalie Imbruglia, who performed Torn and, for some reason, Holding Out for a Hero. Then came Rick Astley with a birthday cake and Never Gonna Give You Up, which he followed up by playing the drums for Highway to Hell — he was the drummer for a band called FBI in the Eighties and can still hit a hi-hat. Finally, 'Sir Wanky Bollocks' appeared — the name Tunstall gave the recently knighted Roger Daltrey. He didn't get the sparkly memo, and had opted instead for jeans and a white tee, but you couldn't fault his delivery of Won't Get Fooled Again — even if at his 'gentle age' of 81, as he said, he found it hard to do the scream at the end. Imperfect scream notwithstanding, this was a chaotically joyous night to remember.★★★★☆KT Tunstall is performing at Glasgow Summer Sessions, Jun 27, Bedford Summer Sessions, Jul 3, and other festivals through the summer, Follow @timesculture to read the latest reviews
