SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Haydn: Joan Rodgers (soprano), Neal Davies (baritone), Northern Sinfonia, Volkov, The Sage, Gateshead/Newcastle upon Tyne, 7.5.2009 (JL)

Stravinsky: Octet for Wind
Haydn: Symphony No. 60 ‘Il Distrato’
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 14

This programme took us on a journey from the vigorous austerity of Stravinsky neo-classical “absolute music” to the sunshine of some “good for you” Haydn, and then into the dark world of Shostakovich’s uncompromising rumination on death.

When the players came on to the stage to play the Stravinsky I was surprised to see a cellist tagging on behind.  Had scholars unearthed an alternative scoring for a work I always thought to be for wind? After casting his eye to an otherwise empty platform, the cellist scuttled off having, presumably, come on a work too early. It provided a light touch to match the music of the first half.

The Octet is an invigorating work that to succeed requires playing of clarity and complete accuracy. Some ensembles play it without a conductor but the crisp direction of lan Volkov from the podium ensured these essentials were met in music that contains characteristically hair-raising syncopations.  The Northern Sinfonia has some distinguished wind players and they served up an immaculate, joyous performance.

Haydn's 60th Symphony is not often heard and you would be hard pressed to get hold of a recording of it.  Yet it is vintage Haydn, rich in twists and turns even for a composer noted for them. These musical events are largely determined by theatrical imperatives since the score is mostly a rehash of incidental music for a play about an absent-minded man (Il Distrato) who keeps losing things, his way, and his memory. Haydn seems to be realising some of this with music that simulates losing its way. There are alarming moments such as a sudden hunting horn interpolation in the andante, a fanfare interrupting the adagio, and in the last  movement a couple of tuning sessions involving scrapping fifths in the strings. Volkov brought about the contrasts in the music without losing an overall sense of progression and we were able to revel in Haydn’s irrepressible wit. In fast music Volkov was particularly fast but the players rose to the occasion, notably in the fourth movement presto, a relentless roller-coaster crisply rendered.

Whether the music of the first half was suitable preparation for Shostakovich's Fourteenth Symphony I am not sure.  At least we had an interval to prepare ourselves emotionally for music that for some people I know is too despairing to listen to. I suspect the composer would not be happy to know that since he said, “when a man is in despair, it means he believes in something".  What he presumably believes in is the value of life, not to be confused with after-life. This is an existential work.  For Shostakovich it was a truth that death was “the real end, there will be nothing afterwards”.  The dissident writer, Solzhenitsyn, stopped speaking to Shostakovich  over it because he objected to its pessimistic atheism. The one reservation Shostakovich  had about Benjamin Britten's Requiem was the implication of some sort of resolution after death.  Nevertheless, the Fourteenth is dedicated to Britten, the living composer Shostakovich admired above all.

Anyone hearing this work for the first time and not knowing its title would never imagine it was called a symphony.  It is a song cycle of poems by four different poets, sung by soprano and bass and accompanied by string and percussion chamber forces.  It is not a bundle of fun and is not likely to draw the crowds. But this late work had great importance for Shostakovich and is essential listening for those who want to get to grips with the relationship between the man and the music. The slow, winding melodic line for violins at the beginning sets the melancholic tone and in  this performance it also set the standard of playing that was to come. It is an intonational hazard but the Sinfonia strings were absolutely spot on and later, in virtuoso passages that clearly derive from Britten’s string style (notably in the second movement),  they combined accuracy and rhythmic vigour. The splendid playing was matched by the two vocalists who are among Britain’s leading opera singers.  Both have a reputation in the operas of Handel and Mozart so this was something of a departure for them and they rose to the occasion with a range of expression from downright despair to the passionate bursts towards the end.  They were directed by a conductor, Ilan Volkov, who, in his early thirties, already seems to have a long established career behind him.  Currently chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra he first worked with the Northern Sinfonia  at age 19 and there was a strong sense of partnership in the performance. He had a commanding grip on the performance, never overindulging the grim bits yet sustaining an overall cumulative power.

For Shostakovich aficionados this performance was a must. But, at a glance, I doubt if the hall was at more than 20% capacity. Nevertheless, those that were there were truly appreciative judging by the applause. On receiving his bouquet, Volkov immediately handed it to an embarrassed Louisa Tuck,  the lead cellist whose solos  provided  one of the unifying threads in the work.

John Leeman

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