Haydn String Quartet, Op. 20 No. 4
Mozart String Quartet No. 19 in C, K 465 "The Dissonance"
Beethoven String Quartet in E flat major, Op. 127
Quatuor Mosaiques
18 November 2013, St John's, Spencer Hill, Wimbledon, UK
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The programme was a balanced one of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. One of the pleasures this enabled was witnessing the increased independence of the viola and cello as the evening progressed. The cello's fairly perfunctory contributions to the Haydn, blossomed into the eloquence of the Mozart. In the Beethoven the viola came alive.
The concert served to underline three things. The first, was the marvellous balance between individuality and team-work of Quatuor Mosaiques. The luminous tone of their instruments and the mellow brilliance of Eric Hobarth's first violin the icing on the cake. Second, what a supreme masterpiece Mozart’s Dissonance Quartet is, overflowing with wit, beauty and emotional eloquence. Third, what a fine thing that the Wimbledon Music Festival, can present A-grade ensembles like this in attractive acoustics at reasonable prices. Bravo to all concerned.
Berlioz Romeo and Juliet
Olga Borodina mezzo-soprano
Kenneth Tarver tenor
Evgeny Nikitin bass-baritone
London Symphony Chorus
London Symphony Orchestra
Valery Gergiev conductor
13 November 2013, Barbican Hall, London
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Valery Gergiev is taking his London Symphony Orchestra for another dash through a chunk of repertoire. This time it's Berlioz for the Gergievation, with over three nights reeling off concerts featuring Harold in Italy, Romeo et Juliette and the Symphonie Fantastique respectively.
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| Valery Gergiev |
No, wait. It's better than that. Try this for an early November all-Berlioz schedule:
6th: Romeo and Juliet at London's Barbican
7th: The Damnation of Faust at Barbican
8th: Symphonie Fantastique at Brno, Czech Republic
9th: Symphonie Fantastique at St Poelten, Austria
10th: Symphonie Fantastique at Essen, Germany
11th: rest day (phew!)
12th: Harold in Italy at Barbican
13th: Romeo and Juliet again at Barbican
14th: Symphonie Fantastique at Barbican
15th: rest day
16th: Symphonie Fantastique in Paris
17th: Romeo and Juliet in Paris
Does this make for good music making? Maybe by the time they get to Paris on the evidence of this performance. I was trying them out with the second performance of Berlioz's magnificent Romeo and Juliet at the Barbican. As is well known, Berlioz adored Shakespeare. His response to Romeo and Juliet was as original as it was successful. He called it a symphony and it is the central orchestral movements that carry the main weight fo protraying the play. Feeling it pointless to try and set chunks of dialogue to music he framed the work in a vocal prologue and finale for chorus and two soloists.
Having
recently heard Beethovenian Brahms now it was the turn to hear Berlioz
under the Beethoven influence. And what great writing this is.
Successive orchestral sections on the Capulet Ball, Balcony Scene,
Queen Mab, Juliet's Funeral Convoy and finally Romeo at the Capulet's
Tomb.
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| Olga Borodina |
Olga Borodina left one wanting more of her luxury voice and Kenneth Tarver handled his Queen Mab solo with an ideal feather-light touch. Evgeny Nikitin by contrast sounded a little out of his comfort zone but the choruses were generally excellent.
With the stage draped in microphones for the planned disc from these concerts, was Gergiev's attitude to balance more thinking of the recording than the live performance?
At the gorgeous bursting forth as the small chorus describes the
Balcony Scene in the Prologue, the orchestra completely swamped the
voices. A major failing for those of us in the hall, but easily fixed
at the mixing desk later.
What a curious evening's music making this was. Gergiev's legendary grip only revealed itself in a riveting performance of Juliet's Funeral Convoy. But for the most part it felt tentative; part final rehearsal, part public concert, part studio recording session. How Chailly's recent super-prepared Brahms contrasted with this work-in-progress Berlioz.
Brahms Violin Concerto in D, Op. 77
Brahms Symphony No 4 in E Minor, Op. 98
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
Riccardo Chailly conductor
Leonidas Kavakos violin
30 October 2013, Barbican Hall, London
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The four concert Brahms cycle presented by Ricardo Chailly and his Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra over the last week concluded on Wednesday with the same exalted levels of musicianship as the previous evenings.
Which is the greatest romantic violin concerto? Well the Brahms sits at the top or high on anyone's list. From simple opening to thrilling acceleration into the march rhythm coda in the finale, this concerto rather tends to knock all comers for six. How would Leonidas Kavakos fare after his patchy participation in last week's Double Concerto?
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| Leonidas Kavakos |
Well, it was happily an experience of an entirely different order. The Gewandhausorchester opened the concerto with quiet simplicity and a very broad tempo. From his first entry Kavakos was precise and hyper-sensitive to his every note and Chailly the most intensely collaborative of conductors. This culminated in a daringly broad but completely riveting cadenza of the first movement, delivered to a raptly silent Barbican. The orchestra re-entered rolling out the most fabulous of sonic magic carpets while Kavakos' violin soared over the top. Perfection.
The Andante that followed reminded us that other great soloists were in the hall. The Gewandhausorchester's principal oboe, not for the first time during this Barbican residency, opened with a ridiculously creamy solo. It was something of a disappointment when the violin had to take over the melody. The entire woodwind section of the Gewandhausorchester play with a distinctive group sound: rich, even plummy, and with a heightened expressiveness that constantly brings to mind the human voice.
And we should have known that anyone who, like Kavakos, has played Paganini's own 18th century Guarneri violin (nicknamed "Il Cannone"!), would be in touch with his demonic side. The Allegro finale abounded in gypsy abandon and thrilled to the end. Together with Volodos the previous week, this Brahms cycle has featured two soloists in the very top bracket.
After we had recovered during the interval, these Leipzig evenings concluded with Brahms' most taught and tense symphony - the Fourth. Not one to loiter to long over an interlude, Chailly's directness brought huge emotional drive to the first movement's climax with the french horns implacable. By contrast, the famous flute solo in the Allegro energico was intensely expressive, indeed delivered in a flexible almost operatic style in striking contrast to the streamlined approach to the rest of the Passacaglia finale. A thrilled Barbican audience acclaimed this wonderful orchestra's achievement.
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| Ricardo Chailly |
Looking back over these concerts, this was clearly a great orchestra at the top of its game. The level of preparation of the symphonies was also exceptional. Maybe in London we are a touch too prepared to accept our orchestras winging it a little? This Leipzig orchestra demonstrated the benefits of having a clear and well rehearsed conception of the work, combined with focus and verve on the night.
Then there are the virtues of Chailly's Brahms: mid-weight, lithe and sleek - combined with the tone, transparency and balance of this Leipzig band. This delivered the most spectacular benefits in the First Symphony which can get a bit bloated in other conductor's hands.
And ironically Chailly's overall directness of utterance and refusal to slacken the pace delivered some of its biggest payloads at the moments where there was pause for thought. The most prominent of these were the solos from the woodwind in the andantes of the First and Fourth Symphonies, and Volodos and the orchestra together at the end of the Second Piano Concerto's Andante. And then there was Kavakos and the Gewandhausorchester in the close of the Violin Concerto's first movement; a transcendant moment beyond criticism.
