Dvorak and Beethoven from the Hungarians

Dvořák Legends, Op 59 No 5; Ukolebavka (lullaby) from Four Choruses, Op 29 No 2; Slavonic Dance, Op 72 No 8 

Beethoven Piano Concerto No 5

Dvořák Symphony No 8

Budapest Festival Orchestra

Iván Fischer, conductor

Sir András Schiff, piano

Barbican Hall, London, 30 November 2019

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The Budapest Festival Orchestra never fail to delight, and under the inspired directorship of Ivan Fischer, this proved the case again.  With 6 double bases arrayed at the back, the string sound gleamed supported by rich tonal depth during the opening Dvorak Legend. 

There is nothing this orchestra can't do, so they then stood and delivered an excellent a capella rendition of a Dvorak lullaby for chorus.  Sensitive, balanced and a perfect contrast, and yet another example of the Budapest players' capacity to deftly enliven the traditional classical concert.

Joined by the ultra authoritative musicianship of András Schiff, the Beethoven Emperor Piano Concerto sounded as fresh as the day it was written.  The orchestra continued it's plush sound while Schiff consistently brought out the harmonic writing to surprise the ear.  How simple Schiff made other soloists sound with only eyes for the right hand melody.  The outer movements were thrilling in their structural command and the clarity of his vision.  Although no single approach can encompass this work, and perhaps in the slow movement Schiff's more prosaic approach missed that last ounce of poetry.

Schiff has become more of a cult figure with every year, and he treated us to an extended encore - the first movement of Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata no less - with the repeats.  Rhythmically electrifying and a little showy in its "look at me" internal highlighting.  But it was an encore after all.

Finally the sunny Dvorak 8th Symphony.  It is an episodic work compared to the 7th or 9th, but what episodes.  The Budapest orchestra savoured every one with great care and the flute and oboe contributions were particularly delicious.  The brass get their way at the end but this orchestra always plays with exemplary balance, so it was a triumph with their fellow players.  Long may this orchestra continue.

Janine Jansen scales the heights

Brahms: Violin Concerto
Bruckner: Symphony No.3 (vers. 1877) 
London Philharmonic Orchestra

Vladimir Jurowski conductor
Janine Jansen violin

Royal Festival Hall, London, 3 May 2019
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The concert was billed as "Alpine Journeys", but inevitably the Festival Hall allowed not a bit of mist to develop around all those Brucknerian ostinati.  Jurowski's Bruckner was controlled, sculpted and with that acoustic, not a bit abrupt. Some of this effect may have come from the 1877 version of the symphony presented here by Jurowski.  The last movement in particular had more flow in the later 1889 revision. 

The frenzies were quite ferocious in the Scherzo and Finale but the polkas and landlers had no spring to them, and overall the effect was a little too literal, if thrillingly exact.

The real vistas of the evening came from Janine Jansen's Brahms.  The Brahms Violin Concerto, in a neat bit of programming, was premiered in 1879 and so nearly contemporaneous with the Bruckner.  Jansen plays with real muscle but is distinguished by her responsiveness to the music her fellow musicians, and her ability to inflect rhythm and tone from note to note.  Her high lines are clear but delicate and the lightness of tone brought to mind Ravel in the midst of Brahms.  Now that marks out a master violinist.

Janine Jansen

Arcadi Volodos plays it quiet

Schubert Piano Sonata in E major, D157
Schubert Six moments musicaux, D780
Rachmaninov Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op 3 No 2
Rachmaninov Prelude in G-flat major, Op 23 No 10
Rachmaninov Prelude in B minor, Op 32 No 10
Rachmaninov Zdes'Khorosho, Romance Op 21 No 7 (arr Volodos)
Rachmaninov Serenade, Op 3 No 5
Rachmaninov Etude tableau in C minor, Op 33 No 3
Scriabin Mazurka, Op 25 No 3
Scriabin Caresse dansée, Op 57 No 2
Scriabin Enigme, Op 52 No 2
Scriabin Flammes sombres, Op 73 No 2
Scriabin Guirlandes, Op 73 No 1
Scriabin Vers la flamme, Op 72

Arcadi Volodos piano

Barbican Hall, London, 7 March 2019
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As a pianist, Arcadi Volodos, is very much sui generis. His pianism of such quality that it is a wonder in itself, as much for its poetic as technical capacity.

He performed the early incomplete D157 Sonata of Schubert with enormous care and a kind of radiant inwardness which made a maximum case for this sonata.  Most memorable was the hypnotic Andante.  Then began what must be one of the slowest performances of the Moments Musicaux in London recital history.  These are magical pieces, and Volodos' willingness to truly play piano was admirable.  But the effect was ever so slightly soporific.

The sequence of Rachmaninov preludes may have been expected to change the tone, but no.  Reflective, exquisitely weighted performances continued.  The B Minor Prelude Op 32/10 could have been written for Volodos' special qualities.  His velvet touch and deep musicianship turned its 5 minutes into a searching, epic experience.  But was not some drama missing?

Scriabin's miniatures are as important as Rachmaninov's to the piano repertoire and here Volodos' apparently limitless palate of colours and intonation spoke authentically.  There is always a question of how to shape these pieces.  Are they short, incomplete statements, or rounded coherent journeys? Volodos gave us supple pianism, but favoured the moment over the whole.

All of which led us to the inexhaustible mysteries of Vers la flamme (Towards the flame).  In many ways the culmination of Scriabin's mystical beliefs, the build towards the flames of destruction (of music? of the world?) was compelling as Scriabin's roulades of tremolos and harmonies rounded off the advertised programme.

This recital certainly did not catch fire.  However it was a fine meditative experience, eavesdropping on a pianist producing magical sounds, while stuck in a slow inward mode throughout.

Arcadi Volodos

Radu Lupu acclaimed in Beethoven

Beethoven: Coriolan Overture

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.4
Rachmaninov: Symphony No.2 

Philharmonia Orchestra
Paavo Järvi conductor
Radu Lupu piano

Royal Festival Hall, London 3 February 2019

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Based on decades of exalted musicianship, Radu Lupu is very much in the cult-status category in Europe.  The rarity of his visits to London ensured a packed Festival Hall for his concerto, and also some empty seats after the interval.

His musical prestige has for long also been a source of pride for his native Romania and this concert was accompanied by a foreword from the Romanian government during its current 6 month presidency of the Council of the EU.

Not that all of this has in any way affected the man. This evening will live long in the memory for Radu Lupu's direct, unaffected truth-telling. His physical presence on stage with his straight backed chair that of a genial monk, occasionally glancing at his figures with mild surprise they'd hit a wrong note, generally engaged with the music and his colleagues in the orchestra.

Lupu's particular magic was a wonderful match for Beethoven's Fourth Concerto.  Happy to play genuine pianissimos his approach emphasised the delicacy and clarity of the music, far removed from the thicker sonorities that are the norm.  His soundworld remains a delight from its distinctively pearly treble notes to the beautifully weighted harmonies of the bass.  Following enthusiastic acclaim, a perfectly judged encore of Brahms' Intermezzo Op 117/1 followed.

Beside all this Paavo Jarvi's approach to the Beethoven Coriolan Overture was studied rather than dramatic and the more successful Rachmaninov built up in slabs of bold, direct interpretation. A refusal to linger may have tempered the emotion at times, but of course this symphony does not lack for that.  The Philharmonia's woodwind did not have their most characterful night, but the strings and brass played with great depths of tone and drama, and what can be a wayward symphony developed towards a very satisfying sense of culmination at the end.

Radu Lupu

Fast Wagner

Wagner: Die Walküre

Stuart Skelton tenor, Siegmund

Markus Marquardt bass, Wotan 
Ruxandra Donose mezzo-soprano, Sieglinde 
Stephen Milling bass, Hunding
Claudia Mahnke mezzo-soprano, Fricka
Svetlana Sozdateleva soprano, Brünnhilde

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Vladimir Jurowski conductor

Royal Festival Hall, London 27 January 2019
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How often does Act 2 of Die Walküre trump the outer Acts?  This is what happened here where Vladimir Jurowski's fast paced directness, Markus Marquardt's subtle Wotan and Claudia Mahnke's strongly characterised Fricka made for an effortless dramatic experience.  And there to cap it all was Stuart Skelton's superb Siegmund.  The scene when Brunnhilde announces Siegmund's impending death in battle was hypnotic, with Skelton achieving a lyrical expressiveness beyond most.

Skelton was no less wonderful in Act 1, despite Jurowski's almost comically fast speed for Wintersturme.  His cries of Walse! Walse! were thrilling.  In Act 3, the valkyries were vocally uneven, not helped by their positioning in the choir gallery behind the orchestra. The biggest loser from this bit of semi-staging was Sieglinde who had to sing her climactic outpouring of admiration for Brunnhilde in Act 3 from the very back of the stage.

Svetlana Sozdateleva was a solid Brunnhilde, but not entirely on top of the characterisation.  Juroswki's London Philharmonic blended well with the voices, but was a little breathless and the Magic Fire Music at the end of the evening did not transport.  

Stuart Skelton and Ruxandra Donose