BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham, 23 January 2026 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review by William Ruff
Photo credit: Marco Borggreve
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham | 23 January 2026
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review by William Ruff
“Conductor Anja Bihlmaier and the BBC Phil reach deep inside some less familiar repertoire.”
There was never the remotest chance that this BBC Philharmonic concert would be a sell-out. And I’m not talking about the clash with The Traitors final. Although the mouths of some music-lovers would have started to water as soon as they saw the names of the composers on offer (Lili Boulanger, Zoltan Kodaly and Bela Bartok), the lack of popular fare would have put off many more. Three cheers then for the spirit of adventure which clearly still prevails at the BBC and at Nottingham’s Royal Concert Hall.
Lili Boulanger was a composer of exceptional promise who sadly died at the age of only 24 in 1918, having suffered ill health throughout her short life. D’un soir triste (‘Of a sad evening') was composed just months before she died and is a profound meditation on twilight and farewell. It unfolds with deep, autumnal textures, a haunting central melody and masterful orchestration. More than just "a sad evening," it takes personal sadness and turns it into music of universal, poignant beauty. Conductor Anja Bihlmaier and the BBC Philharmonic reached deep inside this subtle music, especially in those moments when muted brass and sombre woodwind echo the sad song sung by the strings, whilst harp arpeggios shimmer like the last, fading light on a horizon.
Kodaly’s Dances of Galánta are a spectacular test of an orchestra’s energy, timing and depth of solo expertise. The Dances were inspired by some of the gypsy music which Kodaly heard in his boyhood town of Galánta, between Vienna and Budapest. They alternate between slow and fast sections, the haunting melody announced by the cellos at the start acting as a bridge between them. There are several brilliant passages for solo clarinet, oboe and flute (not to mention some magnificent writing for horn) - which the BBC Phil’s principals relished as if they were making them up on the spot. The Dances become faster and faster until the final, exhilarating whirlwind. This was the BBC Phil at their most virtuosic.
The concert’s second half was devoted to Bartok’s only opera: Bluebeard’s Castle, a harrowing psychodrama about solitude and the darkness within the human soul. There are just two characters on stage all the time. Bluebeard (sung by Christopher Purves) has a new wife Judith (Jennifer Johnston) who, one by one, unlocks the seven doors of her husband’s castle, each one revealing a deeply troubling aspect of his being—from his torture chamber, wealth and power to his grief and past loves. In the end, when Judith opens the seventh door, she finally understands her fate. Behind this final door are Bluebeard’s three former wives and she is doomed to join them for ever. The door closes, Bluebeard is left alone and the castle is shrouded in eternal darkness. It’s a challenging piece both for the audience and for the two singers who, despite the power and intensity of Purves and Johnston, were sometimes submerged under the vast orchestra (although the English was helpfully displayed). Nevertheless, this was an impressive performance, under Anja Bihlmaier’s perceptive direction, which captured all the colours of Bartok’s extraordinary music. It left he audience in no doubt that Bluebeard’s Castle is a profound and unsettling exploration of the impossible desire truly to know another person.
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Anja Bihlmaier conductor
Jennifer Johnston mezzo-soprano
Christopher Purves baritone