While the combination of Mozart and Shostakovich
seemed a rather arbitrary coupling the contrasting
scores were unified by the superlative performances
of both works.
I have never heard Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto
played with such subtlety and aplomb. Julian
Bliss proved himself to be an artist of international
stature; he is no mere wunderkind showing
off a precocious, dazzling technique – despite
his youth he is a consummate musician of astonishing
maturity.
His consciously discreet and thoughtful interpretation
was deliberately understated: Bliss interpreted
this late melancholic score in a restrained
and mature manner rather than treating it
as a virtuoso showpiece. His subdued and mellow
playing had a sense of vulnerability, which
emphasised the music’s fragile pathos. In
the Allegro Bliss played with effortless
grace, producing sounds of great delicacy
and refinement, whilst in the Adagio
the notes seemed to hang in the air, creating
a sensation of sublime tranquilly. For the
Rondo Allegro Bliss produced elegant,
graceful phrasing, playing with wit and sheer
charm. Jirí Belohlávek got sensitive
support from the BBC SO, reining them back
to complement Bliss’ subtle reserve, resulting
in a perfect balance between orchestra and
soloist. This was pure bliss indeed.
Shostakovich’s Symphony No.13 ‘Babi
Yar’ was given an intense performance
by Belohlávek, whose taut and direct
conducting brought out the score’s rugged
angularity and intrinsic violence. Ostensibly
based on the five Yevtushenko poems commemorating
the massacre of the Jews at Kiev, this work
represents the composer’s most overt criticism
of the brutalities of the Soviet communist
regime. Belohlávek’s urgently paced
conducting unified the poems, treating the
symphony more like a single tonepoem.
Throughout Alexashkin had a commanding presence,
projecting his magnificent sombre bass voice
with authority and passion, ranging from sonorous
to the most delicate sotto voce. The
small, all male BBC Chorus had a convincing
Russian accent and sung with great force,
but never drowning out the orchestra or soloist,
as is sometimes the case with massed choirs
at this venue.
At the beginning of Babi-Yar Belohlávek
urged the brass and percussion to play with
an incisive brutishness, culminating in the
violence of the shattering climax after the
reference to Anne Frank. Humour was
conducted faster than we usually hear it with
the conductor conjuring up a sense of viciousness
from the rasping brass and sardonic percussion,
with the shrieking woodwind verging on hysteria.
The ‘cellos and double-basses produced deeply
expressive playing in the opening of In
the Store while the castanets and wood-block
(immitating the banging of cans in a shop)
had an eerie threatening effect. The most
dramatic moment was the eight punctuating
percussive chords, which had a manic intensity,
evoking a sensation of sheer terror. Fears
opened with a reverberating gong, rumbling
bass drum and a forwardly projected moaning
tuba solo which had an ominous and macabre
effect casting a black pall of sound over
the hall: this was the most haunting music
of the evening. Performances today tend to
tone down the solo tuba but here it took on
an ominous resonance.
A Career began with humorously pointed
woodwind playing, followed by a delicate intermezzo
played on pizzicato strings as if coming
from a dream only to be awoken by threatening
trombone glissandi, ending with an
energetic fugue. This was followed
by the most haunting and poignant section
of the symphony: the waltz of the string quartet.
The conductor created a sense of eerie distance
from the subdued celeste and bell casting
a meditative spell over a mesmerised audience.
Alex Russell
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