Hail the Halle for a US rhapsody

Halle Orchestra, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
Splendid ragtime music, big band arrangements and well-known melodies from America featured in Saturday’s Halle’s “Stars and Stripes” pops series concert.

Conductor Stephen Bell compiled a showcase of some of the greatest music of the likes of George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland.

The Halle played music from Porgy and Bess, Wonderful Town and Billy the Kid before giving the evening a more sombre tone with Barber’s beautiful Adagio for Strings.

Solo pianist Viv McLean jazzily negotiated the solo role in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, but when the concert took on a more intimate tone, the evening’s pace warmed again.

McLean turned ragtime with Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag before the orchestra blasted out Bernstein’s jazzy, classical Prelude, Fugue and Riffs, with a tremendous solo role for clarinetist Linsey Marsh.