Seen and Heard Concert
Review
Debussy, Bartok, Rimsky-Korsakov: Julia Fischer
(violin), London Symphony Orchestra, Emmanuel Krivine, Barbican,
24 April 2005 (MB)
Exotic reveries may have been one of the themes of this concert,
but another was orchestral colour. From Debussy’s Prélude
à l’après-midi d’un faune, through
to Bartok’s glorious second violin concerto and onto the
concluding festivities, in all it kaleidoscopic detail, of Rimsky-Korsakov’s
Scheherazade, this was a concert which not only brought
solo contributions of outstanding clarity in all works but also
defined a measure of how exceptional the London Symphony Orchestra
can be at its best.
The key soloist was the young Munich-born violinist Julia Fischer.
If she has a somewhat stern appearance this is mere surface; her
playing of Bartok’s richly orchestrated second concerto
(also to be played in concert, this time with the Philharmonia
Orchestra, by Viktoria Mullova on the 26th April) showed a violinist
able to meld technical accuracy with spiritual warmth of phrasing
to an unusually effective degree. The concerto is diverse, stretching
from folkoristic music (though Bartok avoids specific tunes),
through to French impressionism and occasional atonalism. Fischer
tackled Bartok’s invention head-on: there was the innate
lyricism she brought to the work’s opening, combined with
a formidable ability to tease out the ferocious harmonies that
bubble around it. Technically, she was flawless, even in the passages
surrounding the difficult and complex cadenza which was played
with all the sophistication and detail of a Bach sarabande. The
cadenza of the third movement – this time accompanied from
within the orchestra – was equally effective. Her tone is
big enough to ride over the orchestra though some of her dynamics
were very wide indeed, and even with the minimum of vibrato she
saw fit to use I am not sure some of the melodic writing would
have reached the farthest parts of the Barbican. Still, when needed
her tone became sufficiently large to ride over, or mould into,
the occasional crushing maelstrom that emanated from within the
orchestra. It was an electrifying performance that marks this
young woman out as one of the most remarkable players of her generation.
Placed around the concerto – in some ways the highlight
of this concert - were Debussy and Rimsky-Korsakov. Prélude
à l’après-midi d’un faune was not
always subtle in its detail (surprising given that the conductor,
Emmanuel Krivine, has spent a large part of his career with French
orchestras), although there were outstanding solo contributions
from the woodwind principals. More interesting was the performance
of Scheherazade, a work much more difficult to bring
off in concert than its popularity perhaps suggests. Apart from
being able to unify the worlds of sound and feeling, a great conductor
of Scheherazade needs also to give the improvisatory
nature of this music a symphonic structure; in Emmanuel Krivine
the London Symphony Orchestra found itself with a mercurial magician
at the helm.
Krivine is perhaps closer to Stokowski’s evocative style
in this work than he is to Celibidache’s, (who treated it
somewhat differently, ostensibly as a visionary set of brilliant
and subtle impressionistic interludes within a symphonic scale),
but the strengths of the performance were undeniable: sumptuous
string detail, tonal brilliance, dynamic rhythms and an unstinting
tension. This performance never once dragged, it’s myriad
of orchestral detail exploited to the full. Guest leader, Boris
Garlitsky, set the tone for the work as a whole with gritty rather
than over-melodic strings solos, giving cohesiveness to the elemental
nature of the work. This performance’s strengths lay in
its power, and the opening tuba, trombone and bass unison (representing
Shahryar) were magnificently sonorous, a truly martial sound.
Yet there was intimacy and inwardness in the gentler passages,
though one would really have to question whether Krivine’s
dynamic control suggested that. It came more through the LSO’s
supreme ability to conjure up individual sounds: a clarinet or
oboe solo here, a harp melting its way through a thicket of massed
strings and resplendent brass, a single triangle ringing through
the massed percussion and so on. Garlitsky’s solos, rather
than acting as a focal point for the work’s mood changes,
and thus as a point of continuity between the four movements,
instead assumed the mantle of the drama itself.
Nowhere was the LSO’s playing more incandescent –
or more dramatic - than in the final movement, in a ‘The
Sea’ and ‘Shipwreck’ of unusual fury. The unison
of the LSO’s ensemble was something to behold, the solemnity
following the impact of the ship smashing into the rocks as appeasing
as one could wish to hear it. It was a magnificent conclusion
to a direct and beguiling performance of this masterpiece of invention.
Marc Bridle
Further listening:
Bartok, Violin Concerto No.2 (coupled with Bartok Solo Violin
Sonata): Yehudi Menuhin, Philharmonia Orchestra, Wilhelm Furtwängler,
EMI CDH 7 69804 2
Rimsky-Korsakov, Sheherazade (coupled with Firebird Suite): SWR
Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sergiu Celibidache, DG 445
141-2
