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Fauré, Beethoven and Sibelius: Jack Liebeck (violin), Kensington Symphony Orchestra, Russell Keable, Cadogan Hall, London, 28.1.2009 (BBr)

Fauré: Pelléas et Mélisande, suite, op.80 (1898)
Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D, op.61 (1806)
Sibelius: Symphony No 3 in C, op.39 (1904/1907)


We seldom, if ever, hear any of Fauré’s orchestral works in concert these days, apart from the lovely Pavane. This is, of course, our loss, for although there are few pieces, there are some splendid things – the Ballade, op.19 (1881) and Fantaisie, op.111 (1919), both for piano and orchestra, how I would welcome one of these delightful pieces instead of the usual Piano Concerto fare, the Incidental Music for Shylock, op.57 (1889) and the late orchestral suite Masques et Bergamasques, op.112 (1919). Therefore, it was a real treat to be given this lovely performance of the Suite from the incidental music Fauré wrote for a London production of Maeterlinck’s play, a mere five years after the première. Keable directed an agreeably lightweight performance, with finely judged tempi, and, because of this, the concluding Death of Mélisande had a deeper, more spiritual, feel to it than is usual.

As I have only ever heard Jack Liebeck in sonata works the chance to hear him in a Concerto was very pleasing. In the event, I was rather disappointed. To be sure, Liebeck is up to the challenge of the Beethoven, he has the technique, the insight of a fine musician and the power to easily communicate with his audience. However, tonight he didn’t seem to be on top of the piece and, for me, the performance simply failed to take flight: it was just one of those unfortunate things that happen from time to time.

After the interval the orchestra gave a wonderful Sibelius 3^rd. We seldom hear this work – after the indescribably beautiful 6^th (the Cinderella of the set) this is the least heard of the 7, and this is probably because it’s a transitional work with the composer trying his hand at rolling two different sections into one satisfactory whole – a procedure he achieved to perfection in the opening movement of the 5^th, and later in the towering 7^th. It poses a challenge for any conductor because of its “raw” state of experimentation. That Keable didn’t quite manage to bind the two different sections together was not his fault for there are many problems in the way the music is written and he did what he could, with a sure sense of the architecture of the music, bringing about a most satisfactory conclusion to the work. Before this we had Sibelius’s supposed depiction of fog on the English Channel in the first movement – it is often forgotten that this work is dedicated to Granville Bantock, an early English champion of the Finn’s work, and this, probably, accounts for the, supposedly, foggy music. This first movement is a splendid achievement with good tunes and fabulous orchestration, and tonight the orchestra enjoyed every note, with Keable building big climaxes which filled the hall, but knowing exactly when to relax and let the ebb and flow of the music, and thus the English Channel, speak for itself. The middle movement, of the three, is another of those easy going variation pieces and the wind playing was particularly distinguished here.

All in all, Keable and his players gave a performance which was finely tuned to the feel of the work and gave an excellent exposition of this slightly flawed piece which had me wondering why we hear it so seldom. Full marks for this.

Bob Briggs


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