There
was something refreshingly direct and unfussy
about John Lill’s interpretation of Ludwig
van Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto.
Lill played the Allegro moderato with
an athletic agility, complementing the pristine
string playing of the London Philharmonic
Orchestra; notably superb throughout was some
exquisitely phrased and pointed flute playing.
Berglund’s interpretation tended to be heavily
string orientated, giving scant attention
to the brass and timpani who were barely audible.
The
most moving moments were Lill’s solemn playing
of the Andante con motto, sounding
stark yet serene, perfectly contrasted with
the LPO’s weighty dark strings and Berglund’s
tight and measured conducting. Lill switched
mood, playing the closing Rondo with
a crisp and robust ruggedness, floating his
phrases with acrobatic ease. Again the LPO
strings had the appropriate tough graininess
that this score demands but the trumpets,
horns and timpani were too recessed to have
any impact. Despite some occasional finger
trouble, Lill’s played with great fluidity
throughout and had complete rapport with the
conductor.
The
second half was devoted to widely contrasting
performances of Jean Sibelius’s Sixth and
Seventh Symphonies; the first being conducted
rather suavely, the latter tough with rugged
textures rare for Berglund.
Now
aged seventy, Paavo Berglund released his
third Sibelius symphony cycle with the Chamber
Orchestra of Europe in the late 1990’s. His
performance of the Seventh with the London
Philharmonic Orchestra was broader and darker
than all previous recordings, clearly demonstrating
his undiminished and still evolving artistry.
Today,
Sibelius’ symphonies tend to be played with
far more streamlined textures, with both Sir
Colin Davis and Pavvo Berglund gravitating
toward string based readings. The great Sibelius
conductors Tauno Hannikainen, Robert Kajanus
and Anthony Collins adopted a much more rugged
textual approach making the woodwind, brass
and timpani far more prominent, visceral and
vivacious.
Sibelius’
Sixth Symphony in D minor is the least
inspired and least inventive of his seven
symphonies, leaning towards the romantic for
romance’s sake. All in all, Berglund’s reading
was far closer to this approach to Sibelius,
with swooning seductive strings dominating.
The
Allegro molto moderato was measured
and weighty with the LPO having a wonderful
glossy sheen to them, whilst in the Allegretto
moderato the strings had a mesmeric, shimmering
quality making the music sound closer to an
intimate salon piece. It was only in the Pocco
vivace that the trombones had a real mordant
presence and the horns and timpani in the
closing Allegro molto had an incisive
bite. The sedate string-led closing had a
melting beauty forming a fitting prelude to
the Seventh Symphony to come.
In theory,
Berglund’s slow-motion reading of Sibelius’
Seventh Symphony in C minor should
have collapsed in stasis but the conductor
held all the complex transitions and tempi
gear shifts together with total precision.
Yet very much like the notoriously slow performances
of late Klemperer, this late Berglund account
may have been excessively slow, heavy and
broad but his mammoth conception came off
in what was a radiantly glowing performance.
Unlike
the performance of the Sixth, the brass were
given much more prominence throughout with
the horns and trombones shining through with
an auratic glow. The authoritative and profound
conducting, with the golden playing of the
brass and sublime string playing seemed to
elevate both the music and audience to the
stratosphere. The most moving moments were
in the closing passages, with Berglund grunting
loudly to encourage painfully strident sounds
from the razor sharp strings, soon to be followed
by the glowing entrance of the three trombones
which gave this performance such a radiant
and elevating quality. The closing passages
died away with a sense of serene anxiety:
a profoundly moving performance which won
well deserved applause from a packed FRH.
Alex Russell
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