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Tchaikovsky and Johann Strauss: Kiev Music Theatre Orchestra; Alexei Baklan (conductor). Cadogan Hall, London. 12.12.08 (ED)


This was billed as “a celebration concert for Christmas”, so forgive me for starting with a slight gripe,  the lack of printed programmes. Quite why this was so, I do not know. Maybe the promoters thought that the selection of musical evergreens that largely constituted the programme -selections from The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake in the first half; and a pot-pourri of overtures, polkas and waltzes in the second - would be known to audiences, and indeed they were, but some were overheard to wonder exactly which musical morsel was which.

That out of the way, let’s get to what really matters – the music-making. The Kiev Music Theatre Orchestra is one that places gusto and enthusiasm before precision and absolute cleanliness of execution, but there is no doubt they have been well drilled by their charismatic and indulgent conductor Alexei Baklan. The string tone was by and large full, yet not over-ripe – only the basses could have been stronger – and that not for all of the time. Some lovely phrasing was in evidence from the violas and cellos in particular, and when given their moments to shine in the spotlight – as almost every section of the orchestra did so at some stage – they came into their own. Woodwinds hailed forth with earthy bassoons and brightly characterful oboe and clarinet lines. The brass were largely resplendent and hardly ever over-pushed in terms of their tonal quality. Timpani were larger than life, with the chief percussionist frequently seeming in a high spirits party mood. Maybe a slight regret was had that a synthesised keyboard was used for the harp and glockenspiel parts when required, but overall that worked reasonably well.  Many in the audience were left visibly toe-tapping to the infectious rhythms of the music.

Along the way there were a couple of surprises, the most notable of which being a performance of Leopold Mozart’s “Toy” symphony at the start of the second half. Baklan found himself demoted from the podium to the triangle, an oboist became a percussionist… and all played up the comic confusion of the event. It is Christmas, after all, so why not?

However, I left wondering if Alexei Baklan and his orchestra had sold themselves short on this occasion. Maybe next time they could offer us a more serious programme, and one preferably including a Ukrainian composition or two from the likes of Volodimir Podgorny, Vitaly Gubarenko or Grigory Tsitsaluk whose music is all too little performed outside their country. That would really help establish Ukraine more widely on the international musical map, and not before time.

Evan Dickerson


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