Seen and Heard Concert
Review
Mackerras Brahms Cycle (III):
James Ehnes (violin), Philharmonia Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras
(conductor), Royal Festival Hall, 5 April, 2005 (AR)
Charles Mackerras and the Philharmonia Orchestra continued their
superlative Brahms cycle with a spirited account of the composer’s
Academic Festival Overture. Mackerras’ tempi were
brisk and taut, securing the thrusting line of this majestic music.
Again the Philharmonia were in brilliant form playing with great
panache and aplomb. After recently hearing less than secure playing
from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the RFH one realises why
the Philharmonia remains one of the world’s leading symphony
orchestras.
Mozart’s concerti do not sit well beside Brahms in concert
(nor, for that matter, with Mahler, with whom they are also frequently
coupled) and his Violin Concerto No. 5, K219 just sounded like
being on alien territory: a light-weight, pristine and sedate
party piece - not the most challenging of concerti for a violinist
of James Ehnes’ undoubted talent. However, he played the
Allegro moderato in a refreshingly direct and simple manner with
lean and sparse phrasing producing shards of light from his bow.
The Adagio was refined and eloquent, consciously understated and
devoid of excessive sweetness. Soloist and orchestra switched
mood and metre with the concluding Presto playing with an earthy
ruggedness teasing out the 18th century characterisation of quasi-Middle-Eastern
sounding music which gave birth to the concerto’s nickname
‘The Turkish’.
Like Mackerras’ recent paradigmatic accounts of the First
and Third Brahms Symphonies, his rigorous interpretation of the
Fourth Symphony was perfectly realised in conception and execution,
eschewing the sluggish romanticism that has bedevilled this score,
peeling away the sticky layers of superimposed sentimentality;
noticeably in the Andante moderato which had a reserved
classicism. Again Mackerras adopted Toscanini’s rigid observation
of dynamic markings and metre, taking each movement far more quickly
than is customary today. The Allegro non troppo had a
wonderful lilting grace and pulsating urgency, with beautifully
pointed woodwind, concluding with incisive, almost brutish, timpani
playing by Andrew Smith. Another revealing feature throughout
this performance was the incredible detail and clarity of the
timpani parts that serve as the line-metre of the score: without
hearing this anchoring device the work would lose much of its
gravitas and pulse.
The Allegro giocoso was taut, tough
and gritty with Mackerras making the music sound darker and more
intense that we are accustomed to hearing. Mackerras conducted
the Allegro energico in one fell swoop and at lightning
speed: exactly as it should be done in the Toscanini tradition.
Mackerras made the music urgent, brittle and bleak securing stern
and brooding playing from a Philharmonia who were truly elevated
and exhilarated. I certainly have never heard this movement done
with such menacing intensity and with such power since listening
to Toscanini’s RFH 1952 Philharmonia recording of the work.
Alex Russell
Further listening:
Mozart:Violin Concerto No. 5; Beethoven Violin
Concerto; Wolfgang Schneiderhan (violin); Berlin Philharmonic
Orchestra, Eugen Jochum (conductor): DGG The Originals: Stereo
447 403-2
Brahms: Symphony No.4; Philharmonia Orchestra,
Arturo Toscanini (conductor); Royal Festival Hall, 1952. Testament:
SBT 3167
