On Thursday night, City Halls, Glasgow, was only two thirds full for a most amazing concert. The audience was intelligent, the venue had a very good acoustic, no echo and a lot of clarity.
The concert opened with an intimate rendition of Bach’s A minor Violin concerto, the chamber like resonances of City Hall picked up the energy and verve of this piece. The pathos of the slow movement’s ostinato bass was especially affecting.
The main draw of the evening was Bruckner’s 5th Symphony. The young Russian conductor Ilan Volkov, had a very clear conducting style which pulled out the lines of the fugal entries in the last movement of the Bruckner.
The 1st movement did not have much warmth, as if the music was groping its way to expression. This was quite a cold, desolate reading reflecting the music itself. I feel Volkov milked the 2nd appearance of the descending pizzicato chord passage (bars 247 etc), the halo of gossamer strings was a bit too sickly for my tastes. The dryness of the acoustic tempered some of the schmaltz.
The 2nd movement was well played, the desolate world-weary oboe melody was well brought out. Such strange, spectral sounds! At times Bruckner came across as original as Berlioz, as alienated as Mahler, totally engaging at this slow, patient pace.
The 3rd movement had tremendous character and “schwung” in the Landler. A kaleidoscope of bucolic associations.
The 4th Movement was well paced moving towards the final climaxes. The brass and strings produced a warm buttery sound, typical of his “gesangsperiode” 2nd subjects, havens of stillness and calm beauty amidst the battle. Volkov brought out the strange, obssesive quality of this very familiar piece. Pity he only got 3 ovations from the audience!
The concert opened with an intimate rendition of Bach’s A minor Violin concerto, the chamber like resonances of City Hall picked up the energy and verve of this piece. The pathos of the slow movement’s ostinato bass was especially affecting.
The main draw of the evening was Bruckner’s 5th Symphony. The young Russian conductor Ilan Volkov, had a very clear conducting style which pulled out the lines of the fugal entries in the last movement of the Bruckner.
The 1st movement did not have much warmth, as if the music was groping its way to expression. This was quite a cold, desolate reading reflecting the music itself. I feel Volkov milked the 2nd appearance of the descending pizzicato chord passage (bars 247 etc), the halo of gossamer strings was a bit too sickly for my tastes. The dryness of the acoustic tempered some of the schmaltz.
The 2nd movement was well played, the desolate world-weary oboe melody was well brought out. Such strange, spectral sounds! At times Bruckner came across as original as Berlioz, as alienated as Mahler, totally engaging at this slow, patient pace.
The 3rd movement had tremendous character and “schwung” in the Landler. A kaleidoscope of bucolic associations.
The 4th Movement was well paced moving towards the final climaxes. The brass and strings produced a warm buttery sound, typical of his “gesangsperiode” 2nd subjects, havens of stillness and calm beauty amidst the battle. Volkov brought out the strange, obssesive quality of this very familiar piece. Pity he only got 3 ovations from the audience!
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