Seen and Heard Concert
Review
Messiaen, Berg, Tchaikovsky
Christian Tetzlaff (violin); LPO/Vladimir Jurowski, Royal Festival
Hall, 26 May, 2005 (CC)
Lisa Batiashvili was the intended soloist for the Berg Violin
Concerto, but ‘indisposition’ meant that it fell to
Christian Tetzlaff to step into the breach. Nerves were clearly
on edge – Jurowski decided not to wait for silence before
the work’s dreamy opening. If the opening boded well (once
it had actually started) with Tetzlaff’s blanched tone for
the initial arpeggiations creating contrast to the warmth of the
orchestra immediately thereafter, it soon became clear that the
orchestra was rather at sea. There were moments of confusion in
a score where Hauptstimmen and Nebenstimmen are clearly indicated
by the composer when any doubt may be in evidence. Further, Tetzlaff
seemed rather weak of projection throughout the work. Rawness,
so vital to the second part of this concerto, was in short supply.
A pity also that the solo violin’s presentation of the chorale
theme, though warmly stated, was effectively stripped of its underlying
meaning (the text reads, ‘It is enough; take then my spirit,
Lord’).
Messiaen’s L’Ascension, another product of
the 1930’s (1932-3; the Berg is 1935), is subtitled ‘Four
Meditations’. It poses terrific challenges for an orchestra,
not least in the wind-and-brass only opening movement, ‘Majesty
of Christ claiming his glory from his Father’. Tuning left
this listener unconvinced, and a generally unhypnotic aura meant
that the big ‘arrival point’ was almost but not quite
resplendent.
The proto-birdsong (i.e. not yet quotations) of ‘Serene
Alleluias of a soul longing for Heaven’ worked well; just
a pity the end was under-powered. Jurowski opted for an overtly
dancing gait as opposed to power in the ‘Alleluia on the
trumpet, alleluia on the cymbal’ and in doing so lost any
tangible feeling of ecstasy (it is marked ‘lively and joyful’).
The final ‘Prayer of Christ ascending to His Father’
again fell short of truly religious concentration, this time because
the concentration simply was not there. A sort of near glow is
simply not good enough in music that speaks so strongly from religious
fervour as it describes in literal terms the ascent of Christ.
Tchaikovsky’s ‘Pathétique’ is yet another
work full of raw emotions. And again, it brooks no half-measures.
Auguring well, the double-basses at the opening were superbly,
gorgeously balanced at a remarkably soft dynamic level. Indeed,
the first movement breathed a commendable structural integrity,
the second subject emerging as the logical continuation of the
preceding passage. Individuals stood out, not least the principal
clarinettist, whose shading of the line at near inaudability was
heart-stopping. Problems of ensemble dogged the third movement
(allegro molto vivace) but it was the finale that was most disappointing.
More dark-ish purple than black and nods to the world of the ballet,
Jurowski’s interpretation resolutely failed to take us to
the netherworlds.
There was a thread of death running through this programme, from
L’ascension through the early demise of the inspiration
for Berg’s Violin Concerto, Manon Gropius, to the valedictory
nature to the Pathétique’s finale. What
could have been a deeply moving experience that could have stayed
with the audience for long after the end of the concert was effectively
scuppered by too much evidence of slack preparation and interpretations
that have yet to mature.
Colin Clarke
Further Listening:
Berg Violin Concerto: Daniel Hope on Warner Classics
plays a new edition of the score (courtesy of Berg scholar Douglas
Jarman) that lends his recording authority: 2546-60291-2. Both
Mutter and Perlman provide memorable readings also.
Tchaikovsky 6: Mravinsky/Leningrad Philharmonic
DG The Originals 447 423-2
