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Liadov,Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky: Natalia Gutman (Cello) St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra: Conductor Yan Pascal TortelierBarbican Hall London 18 .10. 2008 (GD)

Liadov: Kikimora, Op 63
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No.1 in E flat, Op.107
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74, ‘Pathetique’


This concert was to have been conducted by Yuri Temirkanov but due to illness he had to cancel and Tortelier agreed to step at very short notice. I was looking forward to hearing Temirkanov and his excellent St Petersburg orchestra so I didn’t quite know what to expect although I had  previously known Totelier as a fine conductor of Ravel, Debussy, Dutilleux, as well as some impressive Hindemith, mostly from recordings. I had had not  heard him in Russian repertoire, but almost immediately, at the opening of Liadov’s brilliantly orchestrated miniature, I was disabused of any doubts by the impressive way Tortelier moulded the dark brooding opening with the initial melody on the cor anglais. And those St Petersburg double basses : dark luminosity with a trenchant edge that I could almost feel! Toscanini used to programme this Russian gem, depicting a Russian folk-tale about a female phantom, regularly, but it is not much played today. Tonight Tortelier conveyed all the grotesque brilliance of the piece - with its screeching woodwinds and glissandi brass -  with great wit and assurance. We were also reminded that no other orchestra can quite bring off this very Russian sound like the the St. Petersburg Phiharmonic.

I suppose it is almost a commonplace to record that Tortelier received his initial musical training from hisfather the great cellist Paul Tortelier -  and that he would have an instinctive understanding of cello repertory. His  father was a distinctive exponent of Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto, so it is probable the Yan Pascal grew up with the work.  Also the Leningrad Philharmonic (as it was then called) gave the first performance of it in 1959 with Rostropovich and Mravinsky conducting. So we had some excellent credentials tonight for something very special. And special it proved to be. Natalia Gutman demonstrated an instinctive feel (and tone) in the opening four note cell (G,E,B,Bflat). This motif dominates most of the long first movement ‘Nocturne’ - ‘Allegretto’  and I sensed a complete dialogue between cellist and conductor. This is very much a concerto where the cellist leads in terms of pace and thematic material and Gutman kept to a more or less steady, firm ‘Allegretto’ tempo with subtle shades of rubato for the more reflective sections,  which the soloist intones for the orchestra. There was something stunningly direct and rugged about her phrasing and articulation which, while not quite as virtuosic as Tortelier or Rostropovich, registered something  more essential to this gritty, sometimes acerbic music. The second grouping of themes in this movement which lead to a variant of the Shostakovich musical signature DSCH,  were all handled in an exemplary and assured manner by both soloist and orchestra. The reflective second movement ‘Moderato’ in the manner of a ‘sarabande’ was notable for its sustained, hushed concentration, with a wonderful horn contribution - very Russian sounding with a slight edge, but totally idiomatic. The transition from the third movement ‘Cadenza’, where Gutman unfolded the second movement's themes, now transmuted into a ghostly semblance of themselves, into the finale, revealed fully the composer's staggering art of thematic economy and almost bizarre contrast.

The finale, suitably marked ‘Burlesque’ ‘Allegro con moto’, was also staggering, not just in terms of orchestral/soloist virtuosity but in perfectly regrouping the key themes from the opening movement, and making them register in an affirmative, if ironic, almost carnivalesque mood. Throughout the St. Petersburg orchestra played this music  inimitably. The gutsy strength of the whole string section,  particularly in the ‘moto perptuo’ register of the finale had to be heard to be believed  and the brass, the woodwind and percussion were all exemplary in a distinctly Russian sense. It says a lot for Tortelier as a conductor that such a unique orchestra followed his every gesture, in terms of pacing, phrasing, rhythm, and instinctive musical nuance and insight. As an encore Gutman played a very reflective and engaging rendition of the ‘Sarabande’ from Bach’s First Suite for Cello in G major.

Tchaikovsky’s last and greatest symphony (he thought of it as his greatest composition) is extremely difficult bring off in performance. Just in terms of sustained dynamics Tchaikovsky’s score calls for a range of extremes: ppppp to ffff in the first movement alone. Also, and more elusively, the work has a  tremendous range of moods and emotion, from tender melody and graceful waltz themes to frenetic terror and sombre, almost apocalyptic,  catastrophe. In short the ‘Pathetique’ needs a great conductor. Toscanini, Mravinsky, Fürtwangler and Markevich, in their different ways, could all achieve greatness and I am hard pressed to think of a living conductor who could match them. So how did tonight's conductor manage? Well for one thing he had the tremendous advantage of the St Petersburg Philharmonic who, with their fabled training from Mravinsky , have this music in their blood. Up to the first movement's ff sforzando crash which initiates the ‘Allegro vivo’ of the development section,  things went quite well, with the all important great melody in the strings sounding beautiful but never cloying, dragging, or sentimental. Tortelier wisely opted antiphonal violins here and throughout the concert, a St Petersburg tradition going back to Mravinsky's time, which greatly helped matters.

When it came,  the crash didn’t register quite the shock it should have done:  it was ff but I heard little sforzati in brass and timpani. The rest of the development, with its vast array of tonal gear changes and complex dynamic rhythmic registers seemed to play itself. But I didn’t have that underlying sense of threat, dread and tension which  one hears in the greatest performances. The solemn intonation on trombones in B minor of the Russian Orthodox Mass for the Dead failed to make its lugubrious effect. The great climax with ffff tutti markings sounded impressive, especially in the brass and timpani, but I felt that with this orchestra the passage would sound impressive even without a conductor. The second movement waltz went quite well although some of the phrasing seemed prosaic. The third movement march gathered momentum in anticipation of the great march statement on full orchestra: this  sounded tremendous, and elicited fromthe audience a kind of spontaneous applause -  which was understandable, although I was a little disconcerted when some of those who applauded looked amazed and surprised when the finale began. But here again in the greatest performances,  one feels a sense of frenzy underlying the triumphant march rhythms which was absent tonight. This despite the conductor who, at one point in the march’s climax, vigorously jumped and stamped up and down on the rostrum, introducing another percussive effect of his own.

The great ‘Adagio lamentoso’ finale was unsentimental  and well moulded by Tortelier,  but I missed that ghostly, hushed tone in the consolatory, hymn like second subject so well understood by Furtwangler and Mravinsky.  And Tortelier introduced an accelerando into the final surging B minor climax thus robbing the music of its full stoical /tragic impact. Tchaikovsky marks the passage ‘Moderato assai’ which is exactly right in terms of related tempo continuity and achieving the matching sense of power/drama/pathos. The following single stroke on the gong (for Tovey ‘the most ominous sound in the orchestra’) seemed too loud, too indiscreet; it should certianly be made to sound ominous but also distant. So overall, this was certainly not the greatest ‘Pathetique’ I have heard but  it was still a thrill and pleasure to hear this great Russian orchestra ‘live’ in music, which, as I've said, they have ‘in their blood’.

Geoff Diggines


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