BBCNOW/Bancroft review โ conductor takes final bow in imaginative programme of vivid colours and emotions
Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff Works about infatuation and deep feeling were fitting choices with which the Ryan Bancroft bid a celebratory farewell to the BBC National Orchestra of Wales Back in 2018, Ryan Bancroft jumped in as a last-minute replacement for a BBC National Orchestra of Wales tour. By September 2020, the US-born musician was principal conductor. In his six-year tenure, he has always been a vibrant and quietly forceful presence on the podium, amply demonstrated in this, his last Cardiff concert in the role. He opened with Stravinskyโs Song of the Nightingale, the symphonic poem fashioned from music originally an opera and ultimately a ballet choreographed by Balanchine. Hans Christian Andersenโs story, set in imperial China, allowed Stravinsky to conjure exotic sounds, including gong and celeste. But itโs the poignancy of the emperorโs fate, symbolised by his infatuation first with a real nightingale โ made suitably enchanting by Matthew Featherstoneโs flute โ who is then usurped in his affection by a mere mechanical version, that colours the score. Continue reading...