The programme for Juanjo Mena's latest concert with the BBC Philharmonic juxtaposed Bruckner's Sixth Symphony with the first of the six cantatas that make up Bach's Christmas Oratorio. Neither composer has featured prominently in the orchestra's repertory of late, but with Mena now comfortably installed as chief conductor, this seems set to change. His Brucknerian credentials are already well established. The surprise, in this instance, was his Bach, which was glorious despite peripheral flaws.
The first section of the Christmas Oratorio announces Christ's birth with a tumultuous burst of joy, though the inclusion of a chorale melody familiar from the St Matthew Passion also forms a poignant reminder of his eventual suffering. Given the immediacy of Mena's conducting, it was impossible not to be caught up in it.
Things took a few minutes to settle: there were a couple of tentative entries from the otherwise immaculate Manchester Chamber Choir, and a bit too much glare in the brass to begin with. But the sincerity of it all was tangible from start to finish. You couldn't fault soloists Susan Bickley, Nicholas Mulroy and Peter Harvey, and the playing was exquisite.
I would rather have heard the complete work than follow part of it with Bruckner, although the latter was also very fine. The Sixth is arguably the most compact and energetic of his symphonies, and Mena's interpretation had much of the same directness as his Bach. Rhythms were taut without suggesting neurotic pressure. The counterpoint was admirably clear with touches of unusual sensuousness in strings and woodwind. Bruckner, of course, shared much of Bach's spiritual certainty, but in neither performance was there so much as a hint of self-conscious religiosity.
