SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Weber, Schumann and Mussorgsky (arr. Ravel) : Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Neeme Järvi (conductor) Barbican Hall London, 25.6.2008 (GD)

Weber: Euryanthe Overture
Schumann: Symphony No 1, Op 38 ‘Spring
Mussorgsky (orch. Ravel): Pictures at an Exhibition


This was the first of two concerts scheduled at the Barbican by the Concertgebouw Orchestra,  the second concert to take place the following day. The orchestra's chief conductor Mariss Jansons was to have conducted both concerts but was unfortunately taken ill and hospitalised. Janson’s fellow Baltic colleague, the Estonian Neeme Järvi, agreed to conduct both concerts at very short notice. Tonight's programme remained unchanged and opened with an extremely swift rendition of the Euryanthe overture. Right away one was impressed by the accuracy and delicacy of the Concertgebouw strings and woodwinds in the exhilarating opening. I would have welcomed a slightly broader tempo for the first entry of Adolar’s lyrical theme on the cellos, but overall this was a most well balanced and engaging concert opening. Throughout the concert Järvi retained the fashionable violin seating with firsts and seconds all bunched up on the his left. This arrangement was probably adopted in line with Jansons' requirements; Järvi has in the past adopted the more revealing antiphonal arrangement.

Schumann’s ‘Spring’ Symphony, his first, is not that frequently played in concert today, although there are plenty of recordings of it. Järvi gave an eminently straightforward rendition eschewing any trace of  the ‘romantic’ rhetoric associated with more ‘traditional’ teutonic renditions. Again, tempi tended to be on the swift side apart from a most expressive and beautifully contoured ‘Larghetto’ second movement,  although here Järvi quite correctly kept the song like lyricism on the move; larghetto means less slow than largo.  Particularly notable here was the beautifully balanced interplay between vioins, viola and celli.  Järvi certainly achieved a Spring-like grace and buoyancy in the outer movements although I  did notice some slight rhythmic inaccuracies towards the codas of the first  and last movements; probably in part due to the extremely short time scale allowed for rehearsal. Although there was much to enjoy here, particularly the general excellence of orchestral playing, a certain blandness crept into the outer movements and the D minor Scherzo. Overall I missed the ‘poetry’ in phrasing and musical imagination that a conductor like Josef Krips used to bring to this charming score.

One of Neeme Järvi’s lasting achievements is in recording an almost unrivalled array of underplayed orchestral music from the old and new world. When he was in charge of the Detroit orchestra, he recorded much seldom heard American music; including the likes of: Barber, Beach, Creston and Ellington,  not to mention many unheard gems emanating Eastern Europe and the Baltic States.

I mention this because I was slightly disappointed that the last work scheduled was such a war-horse and  so over-played. This is in no way to denigrate either Mussorgsky’s musical inspiration or Ravel’s unsurpassed orchestration,  but  I was imagining how much more interesting the concert would have been if Järvi had replaced ‘Pictures’ with say a symphony by the American 'Schumann'; William Schuman whose symphonies are of the highest quality and hardly ever  played in concert; at least in  London venues.

But here one must get back into the real world;  there was insufficient rehearsal time,  the Concertgebouw can probably play ‘Pictures’ blindfolded and last but not least ‘Pictures’ is a crowd-puller in a way a symphony by William Schuman is not.

Predictably,  just hearing this world-class orchestrta play the old war-horse was a joy in itself. And here I think it payed off to have a conductor who played the work as written; who let the music play itself and  whowas never tempted to ‘sex the work up’ as I imagine the more flamboyant Jansons might have done.  Notable was the sustained ‘piano’ string playing that Järvi achieved in ‘A medieval castle’, with beautifull playing from the alto saxophone. ‘Bydlo’ as a model orchestral ostinato and crescendo/diminuendo, was never overlayed with exagerrated dynamics à la Bernstein, and achieved an almost symphonic status in relation to the work's overall design. From the ‘Two Polish Jews’ through to ‘Le marchéà Limoges’ (with superbly agile woodwinds),  ‘Catacombae’ and  ‘Baba-Yaga’ leading to the concluding ‘Great Gate at Kiev’, Järvi achieved an ongoing symphonic coherence which I have only hitherto heard from Toscanini and Igor Markevich. And, as already noted, the Concertgebouw excelled at every level, in the final peroration at the 'Great Gate of Kiev' I could hear clearly every orchestral strand, so often occluded beneath too loud brass.  In recent years,  I have rarely heard such magnificent playing in concert;  which says a lot for Jansons (continuing the great tradition of Mengelberg and Van Beinum) and also for Järvi, a conductor that the great orchestra obviously regard highly.

As an encore ( I was glad there was only one!) Järvi demonstrated the full and wonderful range of the Concertgebouw strings in Sibelius’s ‘Andante festivo’,  tThe last soaring crescendo literally taking my breath away.

Geoff Diggines


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