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Beethoven and Rachmaninov: Tamsin Waley-Cohen (violin), Royal College of Music Sinfonietta, Robin O’Neill. Cadogan Hall, London, 3.7.2008 (BBr)

Ludwig van Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D, op.61 (1806)
Sergei Rachmaninov: Symphony No.3 in A minor, op.44 (1935/1936)


The RCM Sinfonietta is a fine band and it was on top form in this concert which comes in the 125^th anniversary year of the opening of the College. The band did the College proud.

Tamsin Waley-Cohen is a fine player. She has a sweet tone in the upper register and strength on the lower strings. Her performance of the Beethoven Concerto focused on the lyrical, rather than the dramatic, aspects of the music and this robbed the work of some of its gravity. It was all far too beautiful, as they say in Itchycoo Park, and there was no real bite anywhere from the soloist, which made for a slightly dull listen. Waley-Cohen did impress with her wide dynamic range – real pianissimos (I am always moaning about the lack of true pianissimos in performance) - gorgeous staccato playing, lovely flowing melodic phrases but the first movement lacked grit. Worst of all, and this is a real bugbear of mine, when she found a major lyrical section she halved the tempo and milked it for all it was worth. Bad interpretation this and I hope that she grows out of such poor interpretive insight. Her playing suited the other two movements much more. The slow movement was lovely, with some gentle and quite subtle interplay between soloist and members of the orchestra and the finale was joyous and joking.

The performance by the orchestra was first class, full of drama and tension, which only served to show the soloists’ lack of the same. But Waley-Cohen is young and with such a fine technique I am sure that she will add to her interpretative abilities and broaden her range.

Rachmaninov’s 3^rd Symphony has never gained the popularity of its predecessor, and it’s easy to see why; it has neither the sweep, nor the big romantic tunes, of the earlier work and it’s in a more modern, almost neo classical, style. Despite this, it’s almost as fine a composition and we should hear it more than we do. O’Neill and his orchestra put up a very persuasive case for the work tonight. The opening movement, starting with the work’s moto theme, was dynamic and full of the most exciting playing. The second theme – which has always had an especial American sound to me – was gorgeous, full and rich, and we got to hear it all again as the exposition as repeated – excellent decision. The argument of the development section was tautly handled and the climaxes, there are several, were well built and quite earth shattering. The slow movement, with scherzo middle section, contained some distinguished wind playing and O’Neill handled the transition from slow to fast music with care, ensuring that there was no sudden forward lurch as the tempo changed. The finale is the problematic one here for its form is slack and it takes a good performance to make the various sections hang together. O’Neill went for a very fast tempo indeed and the music held together as I’ve never heard it before.

This was a thrilling and vibrant performance by any standard, and every department of the orchestra gave of their very best; the brass section, in particular, was resplendent and the strings glowed.

A very fine show indeed, which bodes well for future visits to this lovely hall from the College.

Bob Briggs


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