Exile and renewal were the themes of James Gaffigan’s concert with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, which focused on Weill and Korngold, composers uprooted from 1930s Europe who went on to forge successful careers in the US. Brecht and Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins was the main work, and the evening will surely be remembered for a devastating performance by US singer-songwriter-actor Storm Large as Anna, the role Weill wrote for his wife Lotte Lenya.
Anna loses her humanity in pursuit of the American dream. Brecht and Weill originally split their heroine in two, casting Lenya as the increasingly embittered realist, while an actor-dancer portrayed her idealistic sister. Large, however, encapsulated both sides of this divided figure throughout. She has a remarkable ability to convey venality and vulnerability in equal measure, and to suggest obscenity and heartbreak simultaneously. Gaffigan got the mix of sleaze and sardonic humour absolutely right, while US vocal quartet Hudson Shad were outstanding as Anna’s money-grabbing family.
The rest of the concert, however, was less compelling. Hudson Shad delivered songs by Weill and his fellow emigres, Walter Jurmann and Dimitri Tiomkin, with exquisite lightness and wit. But Gaffigan didn’t quite make the case for Korngold’s 1952 symphony in F sharp. No amount of insight or virtuosity – the playing was excellent – can disguise the lack of inspiration in the finale. The first movement, however, was admirably stark, and the big central adagio heartfelt and lyrical.
