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Prom 72, Mozart and Shostakovich:  Murray Perahia (piano); Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Bernard Haitink. Royal Albert Hall, 9.9.2008 (CC)


What an opportunity! The Chicago Symphony is one of the World’s greatest orchestras; Murray Perahia is one of the World’s most adored pianists; Bernard Haitink’s Shostakovich enjoys a tremendous reputation. To hear them all together in one evening must surely make this a prime candidate for my Prom of the year (this was my final Prom this season.)

More of Prom of the Year later:  first, Perahia’s Mozart. Of course, Perahia’s reputation preceeds him in the form of his recorded legacy, in which he directed the complete cycle of concertos from the keyboard. The concerto in question this time was the 24th (C minor, K491, written in 1786), one of the composer’s most grimly determined works, yet one that also allows in occasional moments of light. Haitink and his Chicagoans set up the minorish tension right from the beginning; but textures at forte felt blunted. Perahia, on entrance, was more assertive than I for one had expected, before his characteristically clean-cut intimacy kicked in. Spurts of quasi-Beethovenian  virtuosity and fire hinted at the contents of (Perahia’s own) cadenza, which was itself surprisingly harmonically rich.

A mistake on the part of the RAH’s ushers meant that scores of people were let in to find their seats in between the first and second movements, leaving audience members disturbed as the Larghetto began. A shame. The movement itself was a flowing Larghetto, almost an Andante, shot through with clean, tasteful ornamentation from Perahia. Taste seems to be this pianist’s watchword, as the finale almost seemed expressly written for Perahia’s well-formed, well-toned staccato touch. Orchestrally, the wind-band led variation was particularly noteworthy. Good to see Perahia again after his long absence, and good to see hinm in such exalted company.

The CSO has just issued a performance of Shostakovich Fourth Symphony on its CSO Re-Sound label (CSOR 901 814). That is a superbly recorded disc, yet, in comparison with the present performance, it sounds a little blunted. There was a raw force to the opening of the symphony at the RAH that just does not transfer well enough to disc. This is, after all, a symphony of huge extremes, extremes that sounded even more visceral in Gergiev’s 2006 Barbican performance with the LSO. Haitink allowed moments of unashamed, sugary romance to sit next to outbursts that verged on the cacophanous, it is true, and it is difficult to imagine a finer account of the first movement fugue. And yet that movement’s main climax could have had that little bit more frisson before the music implodes.

The first movement missed by a whisker’s-breadth because of lack of frisson; the second missed because it requires just the little bit more edge than the Chicagoans were willing to give, especially the strings. The finale impressed because of the brass chorales (the Chicago brass is one of the World’s great sections); Haitink, meanwhile, revealed himself at his most probing as he seemed to seek to point out connections between the Fourth and Stravinsky (the Stravinsky of Petrushka) and Mahler (Second Symphony in particular). The celesta-tinged end of the symphony held its fair share of magic, but there was not quite the feeling of reaching the end of a shattering journey that can accompany this symphony’s conclusion. Orchestral solo contributions were uniformly superlative, but a special mention should perhaps go to the bassoon and cor anglais players.

And so to the Prom that will linger most in my memory from the 2008 season. Not the NYPO, not the Boulez/Janáček (although that held magnificent moments), certainly not Lang Lang in recital ... no, that title goes to the performance of the true masterwork that is Saint François d’Assise. Olivier Messiaen’s opera is a work of genius, and my gratitude to the Proms planners is beyond words for this opportunity to experience the work complete. Sure, there was the odd corner or two that could have been tidier, but if asked for one musical memory of this summer, this would be it.

Colin Clarke

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