Kavakos and Chailly bring rapturous close to Gewandhausorchester residency

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? 

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.

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.