Warm Memories of Summer and Winter Across the Russian Empire
I thought you'd be in Petrenko corner for last night's concert, Jayne. But, there nothing wrong with that for he's a fine young conductor and you've had time to study him in depth in Liverpool. Unusually, I've heard Tchaikovsky's 1st symphony live, three times in the past three years. Petrenko's performance was the best for me. Your words "tight control of ensemble and rhythm" came to my mind, too, on my journey home. Petrenko was well served by his woodwind players with the first oboe outstanding in his long solo in the slow movement. I loved the way Petrenko "pointed" the peasant dance in the scherzo. Others, such as Laurie, have suggested that the strings scrambled a little in the finale. That's fair, it's a difficult mish-mash of a movement to bring off but I thoroughly enjoyed the moment when Tchaikovsky (and Petrenko) brought in the "reserves": trombones and tuba to add sudden weight to the texture.
For me, this was not quite in the league of the best orchestral performances of this year, Jayne, but it was good that you reminded us of Schumann's 4th, for there are moments and (cyclic) concepts in Winter Daydreams that seem to suggest it's Schumann's 5th! On the other hand, its scene depictions look forward to the quieter sections of Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony. The performance was thoroughly enjoyed by the audience packed tightly together in the RAH hot-house, yet plunged in their minds, into an Artic Russian winter. Vassily's face assumed a snowy whiteness, but even he couldn't simulate blue.
Szymanowski's first violin concerto is a marvellous piece of writing. How magical to score it for a very full orchestra, mark most of the violin solo "p" or quieter and yet to ensure that the violin is never obscured. All that done after Szymanowski's earlier works had suggested that he understood the power of Richard Strauss's orchestration but not its finesse. But, Petrenko is shrewd. What's most likely to occlude the soloist? A massed string texture. Vassily removed 2 desks of upper string players, and pairs of celli and double-basses. Baiba Skride proved to be an ideal guide through Szymanowski's luxuriant greenhouse.
In retrospect, the work can be seen as a last celebration of Karol's gilded, innocent youth, a final summer (1916) insulated far from World War I in and around his family's villa deep in the Ukraine. I'm glad he had one last, long summer of bliss before the long tentacles of Russian revolution destroyed his life and threw his pianos into the family lake. By 1916, Szymanowski had been to Paris, he heard his fill of Debussy, Ravel and Stravinsky, and come back to the long Russian winters (shades of Tchaikovsky) and digested what he'd heard. I hear the violin concerto at starting from where Debussy left off in L'Apres Midi... . It's a unique work, a one-off, never to be repeated by Szymanowski, or others. Perhaps, Sorabji might have been able to cap it had he been able to hear performances of his orchestral works. Other rhapsodic violin concerti, by Delius, or Bax for instance, are not in Szymanowki's league either as structures or outpouring of complex melody. A fine performance and I took my hat off in salute to some great, quiet horn-playing.
It was a well devised programme capped by what I feel is Rachmaninov's greatest utterance (I think hs has said that, too). The piece got off to a fine, crisp start with Rachmaninov, momentarily, in the modern vital world of motors and their rhythms. Then, suddenly, in a sprinkle of woodwind stardust , we're back in pre-revolutionary Russia with a Babushka singing on a warm summer's night via the orchestra's alto sax, Geir Holm. It took a little time for the woodwind to adjust to his rubato but it all came quickly together. As an expression of tender love for a lost world, Rachmaninov's lied comes close to perfection to my mind. I did feel that when the strings took up the song, Petrenko denied them a little sentiment. Surely, Rachmaninov was thinking of the gorgeous Philadelphia band and Eugene Ormandy when writing this section? I can understand Petrenko not wanting to emote too much, but ... The haunted ballroom of the second Dance was executed with precision and excellent rubato. Here and elsewhere, I felt that Petrenko, steeped in Shostakovich, was brilliant at showing the glacial side of Rachmaninov's nature. The third Dance is a trifle long and, perhaps, contains too much slower, reflective music. Again, Petrenko was a little "cool". The ending was brilliant, until the audience chipped in.
The little Norwegian encore was delicate and allowed some beautiful playing from the piccolo (the programme said it was Andrew Cunningham, but I was uncertain about that), oboe (David Friedemann Strunck) and finally, a dying fall of immense beauty from the clarinet, Leif Arne Tangen Pedersen.
I like Petrenko but wonder whether it's too late to move to Liverpool.
A winning concert : it could have been sub-titled by Bax : "Farewell My Youth."
Originally posted by jayne lee wilson
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For me, this was not quite in the league of the best orchestral performances of this year, Jayne, but it was good that you reminded us of Schumann's 4th, for there are moments and (cyclic) concepts in Winter Daydreams that seem to suggest it's Schumann's 5th! On the other hand, its scene depictions look forward to the quieter sections of Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony. The performance was thoroughly enjoyed by the audience packed tightly together in the RAH hot-house, yet plunged in their minds, into an Artic Russian winter. Vassily's face assumed a snowy whiteness, but even he couldn't simulate blue.
Szymanowski's first violin concerto is a marvellous piece of writing. How magical to score it for a very full orchestra, mark most of the violin solo "p" or quieter and yet to ensure that the violin is never obscured. All that done after Szymanowski's earlier works had suggested that he understood the power of Richard Strauss's orchestration but not its finesse. But, Petrenko is shrewd. What's most likely to occlude the soloist? A massed string texture. Vassily removed 2 desks of upper string players, and pairs of celli and double-basses. Baiba Skride proved to be an ideal guide through Szymanowski's luxuriant greenhouse.
In retrospect, the work can be seen as a last celebration of Karol's gilded, innocent youth, a final summer (1916) insulated far from World War I in and around his family's villa deep in the Ukraine. I'm glad he had one last, long summer of bliss before the long tentacles of Russian revolution destroyed his life and threw his pianos into the family lake. By 1916, Szymanowski had been to Paris, he heard his fill of Debussy, Ravel and Stravinsky, and come back to the long Russian winters (shades of Tchaikovsky) and digested what he'd heard. I hear the violin concerto at starting from where Debussy left off in L'Apres Midi... . It's a unique work, a one-off, never to be repeated by Szymanowski, or others. Perhaps, Sorabji might have been able to cap it had he been able to hear performances of his orchestral works. Other rhapsodic violin concerti, by Delius, or Bax for instance, are not in Szymanowki's league either as structures or outpouring of complex melody. A fine performance and I took my hat off in salute to some great, quiet horn-playing.
It was a well devised programme capped by what I feel is Rachmaninov's greatest utterance (I think hs has said that, too). The piece got off to a fine, crisp start with Rachmaninov, momentarily, in the modern vital world of motors and their rhythms. Then, suddenly, in a sprinkle of woodwind stardust , we're back in pre-revolutionary Russia with a Babushka singing on a warm summer's night via the orchestra's alto sax, Geir Holm. It took a little time for the woodwind to adjust to his rubato but it all came quickly together. As an expression of tender love for a lost world, Rachmaninov's lied comes close to perfection to my mind. I did feel that when the strings took up the song, Petrenko denied them a little sentiment. Surely, Rachmaninov was thinking of the gorgeous Philadelphia band and Eugene Ormandy when writing this section? I can understand Petrenko not wanting to emote too much, but ... The haunted ballroom of the second Dance was executed with precision and excellent rubato. Here and elsewhere, I felt that Petrenko, steeped in Shostakovich, was brilliant at showing the glacial side of Rachmaninov's nature. The third Dance is a trifle long and, perhaps, contains too much slower, reflective music. Again, Petrenko was a little "cool". The ending was brilliant, until the audience chipped in.
The little Norwegian encore was delicate and allowed some beautiful playing from the piccolo (the programme said it was Andrew Cunningham, but I was uncertain about that), oboe (David Friedemann Strunck) and finally, a dying fall of immense beauty from the clarinet, Leif Arne Tangen Pedersen.
I like Petrenko but wonder whether it's too late to move to Liverpool.
A winning concert : it could have been sub-titled by Bax : "Farewell My Youth."
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