SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Brahms, Pårt and Tchaikovsky: Leonidas Kavakos (violin), Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra: Riccardo Chailly (conductor) Barbican Hall London. 6 .6. 2008 (GD)

Brahms - Violin Concerto in D major, Op 77
Arvo Pårt  - Cantus in memorium Benjamin Britten
Tchaikovsky  - Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36

Kavakos produced a consistently beautiful tone tonight from his 1692 Stradivarius. Overall his performance was most musical,  emphasising the more lyrical aspects of the work. However I did miss the dynamic/lyric contrast of a Milstein. Kavakos, by contrast, merely offered a most eloquent commentary on the orchestral part. For me the real attraction here was the superb contribution of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. The new ‘Gewandhauskapellmeister’ Riccardo Chailly produced some admirable examples of orchestral balance: the D minor timpani pedal which initiates the  first violin entry with accompanying horns at their deepest register; the balance of horns and bassoons in the beautiful codetta of the ‘Adagio’, the meticulously graded dynamics of the timpani figure (usully smudged) at the concertos coda. But apart from superb orchestral playing there was something a tad four-square about Chailly’s conception of the concerto. It didn’t encompass the enormous range that Klemperer used to bring to the work in terms of structural grasp and drama; or indeed the resilient flow Steinberg brought as accompanist to Milstein’s classic recording.

Arvo Pårt’s ‘Cantus in Memorium Benjamin Britten’ (1977) opened the second part of the concert. It is a beautiful lament in A minor built on a descending cantus firmus over which a delicate filigree of string cascades ripple and shine. The piece lasts for about eight minutes but it was so beautifully realised tonight with the most seductive string articulation (punctuated by a tolling tubular bell) that at the end I was longing for more. I know that concert programmers have to conform to rather conservative audience tastes and smuggle such ‘modern’ or ‘post-modern’ works into more mainstream fare but would it not have been more imaginative to devote the first half of the concert to this work with say a violin concerto by the late Estonian  composer Eduard Tubin or a piece by the remarkable Latvian composer Peteris Vasks? This could have  given part of the programme  a Baltic theme which would have had  a close geographical/cultural connection to the Tchaikovsky symphony.

Chailly opened the fourth symphony with very prominent, braying horns declaiming the ‘fate motive’ in the home key of F minor. This was very imposing but my ears did not pick up the accompanying bassoons; although this might have had something to do with the rather rerstricted Barbican acoustic.  The exposition theme with its ‘In movimento di valse’ interpolation mostly went very well although I would have welcomed a more buoyant lilt in the ‘valse’ theme, the kind of thing Beecham used to do so well.  At the start of the development section,  for some reason best known to Mr Chailly the lilting theme, now more fragmented and in F minor, was taken at about half the tempo of its original exposition pace. Consequently Chailly had to speed up for the dramatic ‘con anima’ section at the end of the development. Despite some really excellent and incisive playing,  it all sounded a little contrived, and didn’t add to any sense of dramatic cohesion. The exposition restatement of the ‘fate’ theme and the dramatic coda were simply played well, but lacked that sense of lugubrious power that the Leningrad Philharmonic under Mravinsky used to bring to the drama.

The “andantino in modo di canzona’ opened with some splendidly phrased oboe playing. But by the time we reached the quasi-trio second theme in F major,  I felt the need for a more dance-like inflection -  after all it is based on a Russian folk theme.  The scherzo ‘Pizzicato ostinato, allegro’ for once did not sound like a pizzicato run-through however. Everything was superbly balanced and in place and in the trio,  the folksy oboe peasant who has drunk a little bit too much wine sounded merry and raucous as befits this Russian musical vignette.

The ‘Allegro con fuoco’ finale was mostly very enjoyable . Its  second theme based on the Russian folksong ‘In the field stood a birch-tree’ was nicely pointed without being over-emphasised. The re-statement of the brass ‘fate’ theme just before the coda made its effect but again I missed that incredible degree of contrasting menace with the preceding ‘out among the people’ festivities - Tchaikovsky’s own description of the finale’s main allegro -  and the hushed horn phrases which initiate the coda achieved so magically by Mravinsky.   Just before the final rush of  ‘outdoor’ excitement Chailly introduced a sudden diminuendo/crescendo, an  effect I could have done without.

Chailly and the orchestra were generous with encores. We were treated to a charming and seductive rendition of the ‘Intermezzo’ from the third act of Puccini’s ‘Manon Lescaut’. With such an operatic glow from the strings we could have been sitting in the La Scala Theatre in Milan with eyes closed.  For the second encore we were back to a Russian theme in the shape of a swift and virtuoso account of the ‘Death of Tybalt’ from Prokofiev’s ballet ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Here, as throughout the concert,  Chailly wisely deployed antiphonal violins to dazzling effect.

Just before the beginning of the Arvo Pårt piece a group of quite noisy latecomers were allowed into the hall. This intrusion was most unwelcome as it clashed with the sustained and hushed beauty of the music’s opening phrases. Chailly and the orchestra had allowed a quite substantial break before the piece started, so I can only put the unfortunate occurrence down to bad timing  by  the Barbican personnel. I very much hope such incidents are not repeated.

Geoff Diggines


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