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SEEN
AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL CONCERT REVIEW
Jörg Widmann,
Beethoven: Bavarian Radio
Symphony Orchestra / Mariss Jansons (conductor), Philharmonic Hall,
Gasteig, Munich 25.9.2008 (JFL)
Widmann:
“Con brio” (World Premiere performance)
Beethoven:
Symphonies no.8 & 7
On Thursday, September 25th, the Bavarian Radio Symphony
Orchestra opened the 2008/2009 Season with two Beethoven symphonies,
preceded by the world premiere of a commissioned overture by Jörg
Widmann. For Beethoven they chose the ‘sister symphonies’ Seven and
Eight, and beautiful and eager orchestral playing was notable right
from the explosive opening F-major bars of the Eighth.
Audibly happy to start the new season and to play under their music
director Mariss Jansons again (after a long summer of accompanying
competition concerts), the BRSO tore into the music with élan, a
lean sound, and refreshing vigor. Jansons presented the type of
modern Beethoven interpretation that incorporates the best ideas of
the Historically Informed Performance school with the best sound of
the modern symphony orchestra: full of energy and with dynamism that
makes these performances sound so exciting. Think of recent
recordings by Osmo Vänskä, Paavo Järvi, or Thomas Dausgaard as
exemplars. The symphonies end up sounding classical in perception
rather than late romantic, without pretending to be Haydn.
Jansons’ straight-laced and straightforward Eighth had nothing of
the burnished and indulgently shaped qualities that his neighbor at
the Munich Philharmonic, Christian Thielemann, might have brought to
it. Judging from the applause, most in the audience were taken away
by the verve of this reading – though a few probably wouldn’t have
minded a bit more mellowness especially in the opening Allegro
vivace e con brio.
The more popular and less demanding Seventh in F-major, the bigger
sister of the brilliant and clever Eighth, got a more conventional
treatment from Jansons, less fiery and only occasionally updated
with sharp accentuations of small phrases. From the bold Poco
sostenuto – Vivace to the tender, familiar Allegretto,
the impetuous Menuetto and the driven but meaty finale (Allegro
con brio), the high general standard one can safely expect from
this orchestra under this conductor, was met.
Although nominally sold out, not every subscription holder had come
to the Philharmonic Hall at the Gasteig to listen to a contemporary
piece. Perhaps if they had been told that Jörg Widmann’s “Con brio”
concert overture lasted only 12 minutes, they might have
reconsidered. They would have encountered a Beethoven tribute
certain to stir, but not likely disturb them. Widmann, a 35 year old
clarinetist and composer born in Munich with a significant
discography to his name in both functions, was commissioned to
compose Con brio as an overture for the BRSO’s new season –
and to relate it to the two Beethoven symphonies it would be paired
with.
Widmann complied in many ways – most obviously by using an identical
orchestra with two flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, and
trumpets, a timpanist and strings. Although he says that he didn’t
quote a single note from Beethoven, the work teems with quasi
quotations that may not be literal, but remind every listener
exactly which composer is receiving a tribute here. These familiar
chords first rip through the introductory hiss of the woodwinds’
toneless blowing and they return throughout the work – as
repetition, in addition to contrast and musical blocks, is the most
evident element Widmann employs.
The greatest achievement of Con brio might be the combination
of a conventional treatment of the orchestra and its instrumental
sections, and conventional beauty rearing its head throughout –
without ever sounding as though it pandered to the conservative
audience. It works because Widmann doesn’t treat the moments of
beauty and obvious tonality (F- and A-major, in reference to the
symphony) with the irony many other modern composers do, assuming
they dare touch traditional tonality or beauty at all.
The reoccurring fanfares, the brief moments that wouldn’t be out of
place on a James Bond soundtrack, a timpani part that sounds like a
hamster with unclipped nails locked in the dryer, the familiarity
that’s always just around the corner juxtaposed with unrepentantly
modern elements, the repetitions and a Copeland-esque touch at the
end, all result in a work that is eminently listenable. Anyone with
an appreciation of Schnittke would have been particularly pleased.
With brevity, the most underrated of musical values, on its side,
it’s an entertaining, interesting, and thoroughly invigorating 12
minutes. A treasure among so many commissioned pieces that aren’t,
and bound to find acceptance and play-time with many other
orchestras programming either of these two Beethoven symphonies.
Jens F. Laurson
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