Here is Simon Armitage, literally leaning against his own poem “The Event Horizon”, the words of which are stamped into a steel plate in the venue Hallé St Peter’s in Ancoats, Manchester. His verse pinpoints the collective alchemy of a live concert so precisely it hurts. Remember that “gathered knot of amplified quiet after the tuning up and the last cough”? Specifically, gallingly, he evokes the breath-held hush of mutual anticipation, “atoms tensed for the first contact of horsehair and gut”.
It is bold of the Hallé orchestra to open its latest online concert, available to stream via its website, with a reminder of what it cannot offer at present. The orchestral lockdown stream is a tricky form, not yet fully sussed out. The Hallé is gamely testing a behind-the-scenes docu-concert hybrid, with conductor Jonathan Bloxham – who stepped in at short notice – doing a valiant job as host. Some beautiful Copland is followed by a four-minute advert for the building: musicians and administrators dutifully waxing promotional about awards and sponsors. After Armitage deals with beginnings, we witness the challenge of endings: places where applause should erupt, where amassed exhalation should dissipate the emotional focus of the performance. Jess Gillam finishes her assured and sensitive rendition of Glazunov’s Saxophone Concert and looks justifiably buzzed and expectant. She has played superbly; now it should be the audience’s turn to make some noise. Instead, conductor and orchestra smile and shuffle their feet.
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