Prom 28: Ravel, Szymanowski and Berlioz: Piotr Anderszewski (piano) / Royal Scottish National Orchestra / Stéphane Denève (conductor). Royal Albert Hall, 04.08.2006 (ED)

 

When you consider how extensive the Proms remit has become it is only a matter of time until a questionable concert is encountered. This concert was one such, but in this instance ‘questionable’ should be interpreted as ‘open to question’, as the concert was something of a curate’s egg.

 

I have not the slightest dispute with the piano playing of Piotr Anderszewski, particularly in the music of Szymanowski, whose music he interprets with such unassuming naturalness as to disarm the listener regarding the problematic facets of the writing. The Symphonie-Concertante, also the composer’s Symphony No. 4 in all but name, poses many questions of approach for the soloist.  Szymanowski wrote the piece so that he could perform the solo part and earn some much needed cash in his final years. The part for the most part weaves itself into the accompanying orchestral textures, but seems strangely reticent to display much in the way of virtuoso material or technique. The work seems neither concerto nor symphony in short, but the title as given is apposite given the prominent, if short, solo roles assigned throughout the orchestra. These were given with much sense of atmosphere and place within the overall by the structure by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra players. Stéphane Denève largely succeeded in unifying the work’s connected movements into a logical structure.

 

The preceding work on the programme, Ravel’s Mother Goose suite, was perhaps marginally less successful for Denève. Somewhat anonymous and stiff in his conducting style – has no one told him that you can flex your wrists when conducting? – he projected little obvious attachment to the piece. This gave the orchestra relatively little to work with, aside from some none-too-badly chosen tempi. Clearly projected wind lines caught the ear most easily until in the final pages Denève shaped a convincingly full-toned climax. Wasn’t it all too little, too late though?

 

Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique rounded off the concert and it is a work that should give any orchestra an opportunity to shine and a conductor a chance to show interpretive imagination, if he or she has any. Denève does indeed show signs of thinking outside accepted practice – the layout of his orchestra points to that, with antiphonal violins and double basses placed to the left, not the right. Overall though his interpretation had me leaving the hall scratching my head at what he thought he was doing. He conducted from memory – nothing wrong with that – but singularly failed to bring much flexibility to the music. If you know the ebb and flow that can be brought to this score by a conductor such as Sir Colin Davis, imagine the antithesis to it, and you will have something like Denève’s approach. Worse still, this work, subtitled “Episodes in the Life of an Artist” was too episodic, the internal structure of movements often on the verge of collapse. It is tempting to read something of Berlioz’s personal heartache over the actress Harriet Smithson into the work, but this was stretching the point too far, even for the so-inclined listener.

 

Numerous cues were either not given or mistimed so entries failed to register their full impact.  That said, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra strived valiantly to save something of the performance with playing of fluency and nuance in the ball-scene second movement. The third movement described a countryside scene rather than dragging one headlong through the fields and flowers, as it should. The doubts I had earlier regarding Denève’s ability to create a suitable climax in the Ravel were as nothing however to the abject disappointment confirmed after his March to the Scaffold and Dream of a Sabbath Night. The orchestra played with gusto at times, but where was the terror, when did the nightmarish fantasies kick in? They were nowhere to be heard – the off-stage oboe sounded too much on stage and the Dies Irae bells were all too sanely played.  Even the percussion with seemingly several men to a drum were all to tame: volume of sound does not equate to passion or tension – ever.

 

I know the French traditionally looked down on Berlioz, but I hoped those days were long gone. Sadly, it appears not, at least where Denève is concerned. But that begs the more important question: why programme such a well known and popular work if something good cannot be done with it? At the end of his first season as the Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s Chief Conductor there is hopefully some reason for them to want to keep him in post, though quite what that reason is has me stumped right now. I’d need to hear the orchestra and Denève again, and in different repertoire, prior to elaborating further in that regard.

 

 

Evan Dickerson