SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Bartòk, Britten, Shostakovich: Martin Helmchen (piano), Paul Beniston (trumpet), Sally Matthews (soprano), London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski,  Royal Festival Hall, London, 23.4.2008 (BB)

Benjamin Britten: Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, op.10 (1937)
Dmitri Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No.1, op.35 (1933)
Benjamin Britten: Les Illuminations, op.18 (1939)
Bela Bartòk: Music for strings, percussion and celesta (1936)


Ah! The gay twenties, m’dear, where the world was our oyster, we could sing and dance, could enjoy the framing of Nicola Sacci and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for a crime they didn’t commit and their subsequent sentence to death, laugh at the improbable hyperinflation in Germany where a cup of coffee could double in price in just the time it took to drink it, welcome that new fangled invention the wireless, cheer at Charles Lindbergh for flying single handed  across the Atlantic Ocean, jeer at poor Bruno Hauptmann, sentenced to death for kidnapping and murdering  Lindbergh’s baby – a crime he didn’t commit.

The 30s seemed such a better prospect until the Depression took hold and we had mass unemployment, the Jarrow Crusade (the hunger marches), the fall of the Weimar Republic and the growth of Nazism. It was a time of walking on the tightrope:  the situation was, as the Viennese had it, Desperate, but not serious. Into this arena come two bright young men of music, from very different backgrounds – Benjamin Britten and Dmitri Shostakovich – who are set to take the musical world by storm, and an older man – Bela Bartòk – who already had.

So what a sensibly planned programme this was;  four works covering the decade of the 1930s and ranging from frivolous to deadly serious. Written in a few weeks to a commission from Boyd Neel, Britten’s Frank Bridge Variations is a tour de force of the most brilliant string writing. Full of parody – the goose stepping march and outrageous Viennese Waltz amongst others – the work suddenly turns solemn with a large scale funeral march and an icy chant, before high spirits return in the final fugue and there’s another sting in the tail at the very end. Bitter sweet to be sure, but is this the serious antidote to the parody?  Jurowski directed a perfect performance, alert to the many different aspects of the music and placing the piece firmly with in the English string music tradition. I’d never thought of this before, but 70 years after the première I think the work has taken its place alongside such others as Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro and Tippet’s Concerto for Double String Orchestra.

Written a couple of years later, Les Illuminations is another masterwork for strings, this time with voice. Taking a  handful of Rimbaud’s erotic poems, Britten creates a work of ravishing beauty – the overtly erotic Being Beauteous - and virtuoso humour – Royauté. Although written for the soprano voice, as Britten and Peter Pears’s relationship grew and matured, Pears became the keeper of the faith in all Britten’s vocal music and the work is more often heard sung by men. So tonight’s opportunity to hear a soprano singing these songs was a treat indeed. Sally Matthews was a fine soloist, working hard to make the words clear for the audience – a difficult task at the best of times for a female voice since the tessitura always makes comprehension difficult and the deeper male voice is better for understanding – and singing with a grace and joyousness; the high B flat at the end of Phrase was ecstatic, and the exuberant downward glissando from top A at the end of Marine, thrilling. On a couple of occasions Jurowski slyly slipped in a little portamento, just to colour the music slightly, and it worked admirably. A fine performance of a cycle we should hear more often.

The 19 year old Dmitri Shostakovich took the world by storm with his 1^st Symphony in 1925. At this time he was supporting his family by playing the piano accompanying silent films,  and much of his contemporaneous theatre music incorporated parody: both of these elements are abundant in the 1^st Piano Concerto. It’s not a deep work, it’s a circus ballet, a Keystone Cops chase soundtrack, in which the outer movements race away in the highest of high spirits while the middle movements are a gentle waltz and a sort of relaxed prelude to the finale. Helmchen and Beniston made a fine team, working together well and making the most of their parts. Although recent visits to the Royal Festival Hall have shown an improvement in balance, which was poor on my first couple of visits, there were times when the piano dominated and the orchestra was lost, but it is good to report that the musicians seem to have got to grips with the acoustic problems I had earlier encountered and are now making the most of the new hall.

To end, Bartòk’s thorny -  to put it mildly -  Music for strings, percussion and celesta. Jurowski’s handling of the complicated opening fugue was masterly, the many strands slowly and quietly, oh so very quietly – a true pianissimo - speaking to us one by one.  Jurowski built the large central climax with a tension which was breath taking. And the same care and attention was lavished on the other three movements.  The slow third, one of Bartòk’s famous night music pieces, pulsed with things that go bump in the night and the last movement grew to the passionate re-statement of the opening fugue theme before snuffing itself out with a thumbing of the nose.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s strings were the real stars of the show and they played magnificently, with a full tone and a richness of texture. A marvelous show.

Bob Briggs


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