Beethoven, Bartok and  Dvorak : Shlomo Mintz (violin)  London Philharmonic Orchestra, Adam Fischer (conductor), Royal Festival Hall. 25.1.2008 (GD)

Beethoven: Overture Leonore No 3.
Bartòk: Concerto for Violin No 2
Dvorak: Symphony No 9 in E minor (From the New World)


My experience of Adam Fischer has been mostly in the classical repertoire; in his complete Haydn symphony project, an excellent ‘Idomeneo’ and some Gluck excerpts. I have not heard his 2001 Bayreuth ‘Ring’, but from tonight’s results it is tempting to imagine how he projected the unfolding of Wagner’s magnum opus.

The concert opened with what we used to call the ‘Leonora’ overture, or ‘Beethoven’s great C major overture’ as Thomas Mann  named it. This great symphonic drama is a work that can define a conductor, just as the last movement of Brahms' 4^th Symphony, or the first movement of Mozart’s K 550 can. How many conductors can align the dramatic/operatic/symphonic/lyrical contrasts of the work in one huge dynamic structural span? Toscanini could, Klemperer and Bruno Walter could. While I don’t think that Fischer’s rendition was quite in that class in terms of conveying the awe inspiring drama implicit in the work,  it is arguable that Fischer’s reading was more commensurate with Beethoven’s score. Fischer emphasised the ‘classical’ line in the piece; he didn’t exaggerate the operatic ‘rhetoric’, and focussed more  on the lucidity of Beethoven’ harmonic and textural contrasts. All this is most fitting in a concert performance as opposed to an operatic rendition when the piece is played as a kind of prelude to the triumphant final of ‘Fidelio’.

Particularly impressive was the sustained  ‘Adagio’ pp tension that Fischer achieved in  the opening which transforms miraculously from C minor to A flat. Fischer correctly didn’t read the ‘Adagio’ marking as the portentous romantic drag indulged in, in more ‘profound’ renditions. The offstage trumpets marking the arrival of the minister at Florestan's prison where expertly incorporated. Throughout,  Fischer ensured the most lucid woodwind detail even in concerted tutti passages,  and he also allowed much of the brass detail to emerge without ever giving the impression underlining a textural point. My only criticism of this quite remarkable performance was that the ‘presto’ coda could have been more rhythmically inflected; with a bit more rush of adrenaline. Also I was quite surprised, given Fischer’s schooling in the Austro/German classical tradition, that he chose the modern (incorrect) placing of violins, rather than the (correct) antiphonal seating arrangement.

Although Shlomo Mintz played the solo part in Bartòk’s Second Violin Concerto admirably, it was Fischer’s projection of the orchestral ‘accompaniment’ which for me was simply astounding. I have never heard the LPO play like this. And it is a complete mystery to me why this miracle of orchestral playing was not recorded; especially as this is the orchestra’s 75^th Anniversary Season! Fischer fully understands and projects the Magyar, almost baroque (not in the historical stylistic musical sense) contour of this work in a way that possibly only Hungarian musicians can. Fischer was born in Budapest and studied at the famous Franz Liszt Academy which has produced a record number of great Hungarian conductors: Reiner, Ferencsik, Fricsay,  Kertesz, Dorati, Ivan Fischer, Solti, and many other musicians…not just conductors.

Bartòk’s work is not a concerto in the sense of concerto for ‘violin’ with orchestral accompaniment; it is more a violin dialogue with orchestra. Under Fischer the wotk came over more like a concerto for orchestra with violin obbligato.  I have never heard so much lucidity and transparent detail as here. But this wasn’t just a projection of orchestral detail as a means in itself; Fischer incorporated all of this into Bartòk’s dialogic structure of major-minor, encompassing Magyar rhythmic motives, complex counterpoint and a superb incorporation, in the second subject of the first movement, of 12 notes of the chromatic scale initially as a homage to Schoenberg, only to be derided later by glaring and abrubt trombone glissandi. 

In the ‘Andante tranquillo’,  the tranquillo (‘night music’) was perfectly conveyed in the hushed G Major on strings. Fischer and Mintz maintained this sustained mood (subtended with hushed tension) throughout the central six variations. Although Mintz managed the whole range of chiaroscuro figurations/moods  well, he didn’t convey for me the incredible contrast that one hears in the concerto’s first performer Zoltan Szekely, or indeed more recent performers like Gil Shaham and Thomas Zehetmaier. There was something more homogenous, even smooth lined, about Mintz’s tone which was totally at odds with Bartòk’s fantastic range of tonal registers, but also basically out of tune with the  Magyar inflections which inform the whole work. The last movement, which is a kind of miraculous re-casting of the themes from the first movement, was given just the right ‘Allegro molto’ inflection by Fischer. The many subtle rhythmic/tempo variations were handled with a mastery seldom heard. Of special note was the pacing of the 12-note second subject, as pronounced in the first movement, but now magically transformed by a slightly different ordering of the notes in ¾ time. The whole orchestra played superbly throughout; my only slight disappointment was a very occasional lack of grainy thrust and rhythmic contrast in the strings. The brass, just before the coda, in their canonic crescendo, and the subtly played percussion were particularly excellent.

Mintz played as an encore a predictably virtuosic rendition  of Paganini’s Capriccio No 5. Although this received a thunderous applause from the audience I could have done without it. It is almost  an act of bathos to include this vehicle for virtuoso violin after Bartòk’s unique, haunting and complex concerto.

For me,  any performance/recording of Dvořak’s ‘New World’ symphony has to be of the highest quality. As in any orchestral ‘war-horse’ performed/recorded countless times, only an exceptional performance bears listening to.  Such works have a tendency to accrete all manner of interpretative ‘traditions’ usually at odds with composer’s written intentions. Fischer’s rendition reminded me more of the Czech tradition, of someone who comes from that stretch of the Danube which encompasses both Prague and Budapest. A great Czech conductor like Karel Ančerl comes to mind. This not at all to imply that Fischer’s reading was in anyway based on anything other than his own thought-out rendition however.

But the way Fischer  relaxed the tension and tempo very gently for the lyrical first movement second theme in viola and cell to make it sound  perfectly natural reminded of Ančerl, or even Talich. This was especially the case in the way he encouraged (and obtained from) the flutes and oboes just the right Czech dance rhythmic nuance and inflection in the following G minor section.  These totally idiomatic features permeated the whole performance. The famous ‘Largo’ was a model of sustained cantabile playing and movement in which nothing ever dragged. The ‘Molto vivace’ of the ‘Scherzo’ was a true molto vivace in which the cross-ryhthms in the timpani and woodwind opening figure were managed to perfection: how Fischer must have rehearsed the LPO to achieve this kind of playing! In  the ‘Allegro con fuoco’ finale,  Fischer allowed every register of what Tovey called this work's ‘glorious harmonies’ and ‘great melodies’ to emerge, once again in a way which never sounded contrived or mannered as it often does even with the most acclaimed maestros and orchestras. Details often smudged like the last dramatic sforzando chord which dies away into a pianissimo were given just the right pianissimo space; and made all the more touching, even moving!

After this performance I was left wondering at Dvořak’s wonderfully generous outpouring of melodic/harmonic/rhythmic invention all in the most economic symphonic framework. Perhaps such prime  homage to the composer constitutes the highest praise for any performance.

The applause lasted for a good ten minutes after the performance. Fischer, who is approaching his sixtieth year jumped on and off the podium, darted in and out of the orchestra to encourage special applause for a particular instrumentalist as though he were in his twenties. This augurs well for a conductor who deserves much more international recognition. He is a superbly gifted musician who can stand with the four or five most talented conductors active today.


Geoff Diggines

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