Tchaikovsky, Bizet: Barry Douglas (piano), Hallé orchestra/Cristian Mandeal (conductor) Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, 8.03.2007 (RJW)


Tchaikovsky:   Overture, The Storm

 

Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1 in B flat minor

 

Bizet arr. Shchedrin:  Carmen Suite

 

 

 

A good house, about 85% capacity, gave Mandeal a hearty welcome when he took the rostrum and we all settled down for an enjoyable concert. Originally, the Russian pianist, Elizabeth Leonskaja was billed to have appeared but Barry Douglas substituted for her with appropriately adequate notice since his name appeared in the printed programme. Rehearsals had clearly been more than adequate judging from the quality of presentation of all three works.

The  early piece by Tchaikovsky was composed whilst a student at the St. Petersburg Conservatory (founded only three years earlier by Anton Rubinstein, in 1861) Tchaikovsky regarded this overture as his most important work, inspired by a doleful play written by the Russian, Ostrovsky. Rubinstein expected Tchaikovsky to submit an opera overture that would be dark in character: instead, he received a piece whose core material was both colourful and dramatic, and scored unusually for harp, cor anglais and tuba. The Storm overture was never performed during the composer's lifetime. It was heard for the first time only in February 1896 at Beliaiev’s third Russian Symphony Concert in St. Petersburg, conducted by Glazunov. M. P. Beliaiev eventually published the overture in 1896 as Tchaikovsky 's Op. 76.

 

An effective opening with sharp chords, coupled with a deep undercurrent of tremolando activity, represents lightning and the gathering storm. This then opens out into a tranquil plateau of brightly textured melody. Has the storm prematurely subsided? It is possibly this effect that made Rubinstein criticize Tchaikovsky’s treatment of alternating the lightning/thunder elements with a number of rainbow sections. The introductory themes (Andante misterioso) were employed by Tchaikovsky in later works: both themes of the opening and song, Iskhodila mladen'ka, appear in his Overture in C minor (link),and its opening was re-used by the composer in the entr'acte to Act II of his opera, The Voevoda (link).

 

What we witnessed by the Hallé was a  spirited performance, full of energy and, where appropriate, contrasted by delicate handling in the romantic middle sections of the piece. Thunder crashes, with lively attack by forte brass and percussion, provided a performance that was nicely shaped by Mandeal despite its uneven construction as a tone poem by the composer.

 

The piano concerto was the work I was looking forward to most in the concert. With so many eminent pianists having given stunning performances of this popular work how would Douglas measure up to the competition?  Barry Douglas was an appropriate choice as artiste in this performance, having won the gold medal at the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition twenty-one years ago and already enjoying a long association with the local Manchester orchestras (Hallé, BBC Philharmonic and Manchester Camerata). Douglas was given a warm initial reception that expanded to hot applause by the end of the concerto. His fine performance would not be classed as particularly magical, but was secure and confident nevertheless.

 

An impactful opening to the Allegro secured the attention of the audience and a calculated rise and fall of dynamics was sensitively handled by both soloist and conductor. Delicate sensitivity in the Andantino was shown in the pizzicato and flute’s tender and haunting legato/lullaby. Strong expression and deft fingerwork in the Prestissimo produced a feast for one’s ears whilst giving good contrast to powerful staccato passages that followed. Mandeal emphasised long orchestral chords to good effect and held them at a mellow level of intensity to provide lingering warmth. In fact, throughout the balance between orchestra and soloist was superb. Clearly, soloist and orchestra were in unison, each anticipating the other, thanks to Mandeal’s clear direction.

This was my first hearing of the Shchedrin arrangement of Bizet's Carmen music that rounded off the concert and it is not one I would go out of my way to hear again. Arranged for a Bolshoi ballet of 1967 its official reception proved frosty and I think I can understand why. The 60s was a decade when it became the vogue to tinker with established patterns of writing and presumptuously consider that the romantic idiom can be improved upon.

Arranger Shchedrin, married to the prima ballerina Plisetskaya, adapted Bizet’s music freely. In this there is nothing wrong or unusual for the time. What is unusual, however, is the scoring, for we find chunks of the score played by xylophone and vibraphone, hardly instruments to give a Spanish ambience. Much of the flow of dance is unnecessarily interrupted by other percussion instruments; and while castanet and tambourine seem totally in place, the added colours of xylophone and vibraphone were intrusive. Cowbells sounding like saucepans also daubed colour that was crude.

 

The opening chimes, which also appeared later, carried residual harmonics that were slightly out of tune with the orchestra. This would not have been obvious had they been masked by another section before dying out and I was left thinking that they were as burdensome as the xylophone and vibraphone's excessive popularity in the 1930s.  In Shchedrin’s arrangement, a side/snare drum is much overused towards the end: the more mellow tympani would have been more appropriate and more appreciated in Bizet’s score.

 

The arrangement of this piece put aside, the Hallé presented the work well. Mandeal was as enthusiastic here as he was in the first part of the programme with the percussion section kept fully occupied throughout as they moved across from one instrument to the other and back again. The audience showed them especial appreciation at the close of the work.

 

Raymond J Walker