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Pintscher,Beethoven: Soloists, London Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra/Christoph Eschenbach. Royal Festival Hall, 1.12. 2007 (CC)

Beethoven’s Ninth retains its capacity to fill out concert halls, if the audience on this particular Saturday night was anything to go by. No surprise, possibly ... except that the first half of the concert was taken up by the UK public premiere of Five Orchestral Pieces by Matthias Pintscher (born 1971). Bruce Hodges reported on the New York premiere of this piece by a visiting Cleveland Orchestra in October. Although the work has been previously broadcast in the UK, this was its first concert hall airing.

Pintscher’s music makes many demands on the listener, and the audience seemed unready for it; there was quite a lot of unnecessary extraneous sound and movement during the work’s 23 minutes. Yet, as far as the music itself was concerned, not all was  unapproachability. The dissonances of the first movement (marked “openly, breathing”) are heard as “warm” dissonances, obviously possessed of their own beauty. In contrast, Pintscher’s scoring for the fortissimi of the second piece seemed to me to be deliberately crowded. The composer himself describes this movement as a “shaft of light” between the first and third segments. If it is, then it is red raw light, certainly not white!

The whole piece turns on  the central third movement (“tempo flessibile”). Slow and monumental, this is music of internal stasis, exhibiting real facets of a distorted Mahlerian funeral march. Pintscher uses the term “sequenza” (more familiar from Berio’s catalogue) for the intensely gestural fourth piece. It is the final movement that enters a half-world, though. Heard as if from a distance, its prevailing descending lines emerge as death sighs. This was challenging and rewarding music, expertly delivered by an on-form LPO and it would be good to hear more  Pintscher  here in the UK. A concert at the Barbican in November 2006 given by the BBCSO conducted by Pintscher himself, included his Cello Concerto, Reflections on Narcissus, a work that similarly impressed.

The Beethoven Nine, despite its enthusiastic audience reception, was a comparative failure. Essentially, it left me cold with an interpretation whose weaknesses were exemplified by the first movement. The tempo here was brisk, not in itself a problem unless it is coupled with a lack of subtlety. but Eschenbach seemed intent on what was going on in the moment rather than appreciating the bigger picture, an approach that robbed the big climax of its effect.

The orchestra gave its all throughout, it has to be said, and the second movement Scherzo fared better. The eight double-basses managed to be light on their toes in the Scherzo,  timpani octave interjections made a real mark, and there was a real sense of outdoor wind-band to the Trio. The famous Adagio molto had a good sense of flow, but here some more exposed moments revealed  tuning and balance problems, possibly the result of pared-down rehearsal. The fourth horn solos were actually taken by the fourth player, by the way - sometimes they are taken by the Principal.

The finale continued the mixed-bag effect of the performance. Cellos were impassioned in their recits, but there was nothing thrilling about  the orchestral outbursts. The famous theme, when it arrived, was lovely and hushed; but the later, louder statements just missed the requisite jubilation.

It was the vocal parts of this Ninth that shone. The choir, singing from memory, was outstanding, particularly the male voices. Balance between parts was exemplary, and the sopranos coped magnificently with Beethoven's cruel demands. Eschenbach just made the movement work, a rigorous double-fugue proving pivotal.

If one thing came out of this performance, it was the discovery of the soprano soloist, Marisol Montalvo. Nowhere near as well-known as her other soloist colleagues (the sublime Yvonen Naef, a rather weak Nikolai Schukoff and a capable Nikolai Nikitin), Montalvo's fine legato and pure yet powerful voice shone out like a beacon. She returns to the LPO in April 2008 for a performance of Britten's Les Illuminations under Jurowski. I do hope to be there.

Colin Clarke