ANNE OZORIO (UK)

 

There is no substitute for live performance, so in London, where the finest performers in the world appear, we’re very fortunate, indeed.  We’re spoilt for choice. 

 

Utterly outstanding was Riccardo Chailly conducting the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in Mahler’s 7^th Symphony.  Chailly’s love for modern music, and his long apprenticeship in the Romantic repertoire coalesced in this brilliant, imaginative interpretation of Mahler’s equivocal symphony. It was a revelation, an intensely lucid reading which brought out just how modern and revolutionary Mahler could be.   The Leipzigers played superbly, for they are, after all, one of the finest orchestras anywhere, their golden, warm tones justly fabled.  Musicians as good as this need a conductor who can challenge them, and here, they responded magnificently. Chailly reportedly said that working with them was like a violinist being given the most precious Strad or Amati, and this concert was proof.  With the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, there was implicitly a conflict between Chailly’s approach and the hallowed traditions of the orchestra.  They are the only orchestra is the world with a valid claim to an unbroken Mahler tradition, but there’s more to music than replicating one way of doing things.  The Gewandhaus, with its own unbroken traditions of excellence, dating back to Mendelssohn, seemed electrified by this new approach to Mahler.  It was an amazing experience, which will live on in my memory.

The Philadelphia Orchestra recently mysteriously divested itself of Christoph Eschenbach.  Whatever the reasons, the loss is to their city.  Conservatism may win in the short term, but in the long run, it’s unhealthy for music.  This concert was clear evidence that Eschenbach and the Orchestra can achieve great things together.  Far from ignoring the famous “chocolatey, buttery” sound that’s their trademark, Eschenbach applied it to create a warm, sensitive version of Beethoven’s mighty 5^th Symphony.  Too often the symphony is played violently, as if loudness will mask weakness in conception.  Here, Eschenbach encouraged the orchestra to do what it does well, his dignified, intelligent interpretation counteracting any excessively sentimental “taffy pulling” that might creep in.  A wonderful, distinctive performance.

And now for a surprise : a performance that was pretty awful, yet illuminated the music itself, despite the playing.  Mahler’s 8^th Symphony isn’t often performed because of sheer logistics, so you don’t miss it whoever is on the bill.   Daniele Gatti did what he could to keep the vast forces together, but it was soloists like Clio Gould who showed how the symphony operates “from within”. Mahler was aware of the role of orchestral leaders, as a kind of “secondary” conductor, a function much needed in a symphony like this.   It was also a revelation hearing it in the Royal Albert Hall, where its theatrical character had space to bloom.  It was an experience that made me realise just how canny Mahler was as a composer.  He didn’t need to write an opera.  His music “is” theatre.

And another surprise: after a dull first half in his recital with Antonio Pappano, Ian Bostridge suddenly went into mega drive after the interval. He was transformed, singing like an elemental, as if his very soul was inflamed with the spirit of Wolf’s music.  This was electrifying, inspirational and original music making.  Flashes of incandescent brilliance like this make Bostridge the phenomenon he is.  Others may be more consistent, but no one comes near a truly instinctive artist at his best.

Last, but certainly not least, was Mathias Goerne’s concert with Elisabeth Leonskaja. This was the gala opening concert of the new Wigmore Hall season, but Goerne has too much integrity as a serious musician to programme, as Melanie Eskenazi puts it, “bon bons”.  It wasn’t an easy programme, but Goerne knows the Wigmore Hall audience well enough to know that they aren’t impressed by trivia.  In any case, it was a deliberate tribute in memory of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, his teacher, who instilled in him demandingly high standards.  Goerne doesn’t compromise to be popular.  His performances are astoundingly vivid and infused with musical intelligence.  This concert was immensely rewarding, and his insights still have me thinking.

GLYN PURSGLOVE (UK)

 

Borodin, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky: Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra (Kirov), Valery Gergiev (conductor), St. David’s Hall, Cardiff, 26.05.2006

 

Familiar repertoire but made wonderfully new, in performances characterised by their intensity and by the astonishing clarity of the orchestral sound. A memorable performance of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony was the climax of an exciting programme, full of ravishing playing from the lower strings, the music’s changeability of mood articulated with almost painful poignancy which never became merely sentimental and rounded off by a final movement in which Gergiev’s control of rhythm never faltered and in which the closing statement’s jubilant triumph was stirringly resonant, a blaze of glory which hinted at its own inevitable ephemerality. Review

Bath International Music Festival   Økland / Apeland / Nordli trio: Nils Økland (hardanger fiddle, violin), Sigbjorn Apeland (harmonium), Åsne Valland Nordli (soprano), Guildhall, Bath, 27.05.2006

 

Music outside all of the expected categories, music of great intimacy, characterised by a seamless blend of instruments and voice; music of, on the whole, great repose, often melancholy, often imbued with grave beauty. Music which held its audience spellbound in richly fulfilled attentiveness. Review

Vasks, Pärt, Bryars, Viļums, Ligeti, Ešenvalds : Latvian Radio Choir / Sigvards Kļava and Kaspars Putniņš (conductors), Ewenny Priory Church, Wales, 30.08.06

 

The Latvian Radio Choir possesses a beautiful ensemble sound, perfect intonation, immense flexibility, outstanding clarity, tremendous commitment, thrilling sopranos, rich altos, powerful male voices, superb soloists … and just about every other virtue you could look for. Their programme of contemporary works in the secluded setting, and profound silence, of Ewenny Priory, watched over by the recently installed glass and steel screen by Alexander Beleschenko - an empty cross in clouds of glory, peopled only by butterflies which are both symbols of the Christian soul and allusions to a rare species found at Ewenny - was hypnotically beautiful, its balance of restraint and passion characterising the work of a remarkable choir. Review

 

JOHN QUINN (UK)

Cheltenham Music Festival: Songs by Robert Schumann, Gustav Mahler, Francis George Scott and Gerald Finzi. Roderick Williams (baritone) & Iain Burnside (piano). Pittville Pump Room, Cheltenham. 8.07.2006

 

This was a lovely and all-too short recital, which confirmed the splendid artistry and personality of one of the finest British baritones currently before the public First-rate performances of lieder by Schumann and Mahler and of songs by Finzi were coupled with some rarely-heard songs by the Scots composer, Francis George Scott. Roderick Williams was on top form and received understanding support from Iain Burnside. Review.

Cheltenham Music Festival: Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonatas: in G major, Op. 79 (1809); in D major, Op. 20 “Pastoral” (1801); in B Flat major Op. 106, “Hammerklavier”(1817-18). Paul Lewis (piano) Pittville Pump Room, Cheltenham, 13.07.2006 (JQ)

 

The young British pianist, Paul Lewis is presenting the complete cycle of  Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas in a series of concerts round the world in 2006 and 2007. He’s also recording them. This splendidly conceived and executed programme included a fine reading of the ‘Pastoral’ sonata. The recital culminated in a thrilling and deeply-considered reading of the mighty “Hammerklavier” sonata. It was an outstanding recital, confirming and justifying the formidable reputation that Paul Lewis has already gained. Review.

Strauss to Sondheim: Songs and duets by Mendelssohn, Mozart. Richard Strauss, Noël Coward, Rogers & Hammerstein, Irving Berlin, Frank Loesser, Jerome Kern and Stephen Sondheim. Dame Felicity Lott (soprano); Sir Thomas Allen (baritone); Malcolm Martineau (piano). Symphony Hall, Birmingham, 28 November 2006

 

The prospect of hearing two of my very favourite singers performing together was an enticing one and the recital turned out to be a delight from start to finish. The excerpts from operas by Mozart and Strauss displayed two consummate singer-actors at their best and this level of excellence was carried over into a discriminating selection of Songs from the Shows. It was a marvellously entertaining evening. Review.

 

ALEX RUSSELL (UK)

 

Gustav Mahler: Symphonies 3 in D minor (1893-96): Lilli Paasikivi (contralto), Ladies of the London Symphony Chorus, The Boys of King's College Choir, Cambridge; London Symphony Orchestra, Paavo Järvi (conductor); Barbican Hall; 25th June 2006.

 

My outstanding concert of 2006 was easy to select because it shone out in a largely lacklustre season. I wrote of Paavo Järvi’s London Symphony Orchestra performance of Gustav Mahler’s Third Symphony at the Barbican Hall:
 

 “I have heard many performances of Gustav Mahler’s titanic Third Symphony in concert but it was this account by Paavo Järvi with the London Symphony Orchestra that surpassed all others for its sheer drama and rigorous sense of structure, unifying all six movements into a seamless whole.”  And concluded: “Paavo Järvi rightly received an ovation for such an emotionally charged and perfectly conducted performance. It is regrettable that this paradigm performance was not recorded for ‘LSO Live’…” Review.

 

Further listening:

 

Gustav Mahler: Symphonies 3 & 1, Maureen Forrester (contralto), Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Zubin Mehta (conductor): Double Decca: 443 030-2 CDs.

HARVEY STEIMAN (USA)

Music speaks to us in so many ways. The most memorable concerts I heard this year gave us raw, emotional performances of works that not only make us relive important moments in human history but also make us think about the world around us today.

 

These were evident in a pair of San Francisco Symphony concerts in March of Shostakovich's music conducted by Mstislov Rostropovich, including a rip-snorting Symphony No. 5 and a gut-wrenching Symphony No. 13 Babi Yar. Also, the Emerson Quartet's traversal of the 15th and, later, the 9th quartets in Aspen shook listeners to the bone. Vivid, meaningful performances like these make us understand what it was like to live under Stalin's thumb better than any book.

 

But none related more cogently to our own world than the shattering performance of Britten's War Requiem that closed the Aspen Music Festival in August. Poet Wilfred Owen's channeled his outrage at the brutality of World War I into a paean to the humanity of the combatants, and therefore all of us. In some of his most eloquent and beautiful music, Britten, himself a pacifist, moves us again and again.

 

The warfare in the world today only makes this message stronger, and  soprano Jane Eaglen, baritone Willam Dazeley and, most especially, tenor Anthony Dean Griffey delivered the text with consummate musicianship and expression. Conductor David Zinman led a beautifully proportioned and deftly paced performance. For sheer intensity, power and aptness, it was a stunning examples of just how music plumbs depths of feeling nothing else can reach.

PAUL SEROTSKY (UK)

 

Kirklees Orchestral Concerts, Elgar,Walton, Vaughan Williams: Mark Kaplan  (violin), Orchestra of Opera North, Paul Watkins (conductor), Huddersfield Town Hall, 15.2. 2006 (P Se)

I was agreeably surprised to be rocked back on my heels, but doubly gratified to be rocked back by a performance of Vaughan Williams's Fifth Symphony. My long-standing acquaintance with the recordings of Boult and Handley had fostered the impression of a somewhat placid piece.

Paul Watkins's performance put paid to that, once and for all. In my review I said, "The secret of his success lay . . . in his perceptive delineation of the music’s two emotional protagonists: peace - or rather the dream of peace, and conflict  - or its threatening shadow." Almost a year later, the very thought of it still lifts my hackles. Review.

 

JULIE WILLIAMS (UK)

As someone whose main interests are in contemporary music, I am nominating a contemporary performance - the Prom devoted to the music of Steve Reich, who also has an anniversary this year - his 70th birthday.This concert had a truly electric atmosphere, and merits nomination for sheer perfrmance energy. However, this timely retrospective also helped to bring out the signifance of Reich's contribution to the subsequent development of music in the 20th century and beyond.

 

I am also nominating Gergiev's Shostakovich, echoing the endorsement of some of my other colleagues here. My choice is a concert which also featured the viola player Yuri Bashmet - a soloist I always enjoy seeing and hearing - playing a concerto dedicated to him by another significant Russain 20th century composer, Schnittke. I think the LSO/Gergiev combination is the year's best new musical collaboration in the UK, and that is a further reason to nominate one of their performances.