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Schubert, Respighi, Mendelssohn: Maria Luigia Borsi (soprano), Scotish Chamber Orchestra, Maurizio Benini, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, 26.2.2009 (SRT)

Schubert: Overture in C (In the Italian Style)
Respighi: Il Tramonto
Respighi: Ancient Airs and Dances Suite No. 3
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 “Italian”


Hats off again to the Scottish Chamber Orchestra for a highly successful evening which saw the end of their commemorations of the Mendelssohn bicentenary: no Mendelssohn season would be complete without the Italian Symphony, but in a typically intelligent example of programming we heard it as part of an evening whose whole focus was on Italy, and featured one other German trying to put on Italian airs. The 1816 Overture in the Italian Style saw Schubert trying to be Rossini, but not pulling it off especially well. It’s a direct result of Schubert’s first exposure to Rossini’s music and, while it seems bizarre to us today, it was probably his most popular work in his own lifetime; it was certainly the first of his works to be performed in public. It’s consciously modelled on the form of a Rossini Overture (slow – fast – even faster), but it’s in no way what Schubert was best at. The throbbing opening Adagio came across to my ears as repetitive and the main allegro contained lots of effects that didn’t seem to achieve much purpose. There’s plenty of zing to the conclusion, though and the orchestra certainly played with the requisite pizzazz.

The Mendelssohn, however, is a far more successful example of a German pretending to be an Italian, and this was the most thrilling performance I’ve heard in a long time. The crack of the opening chord was like firing a starting pistol as the first theme took off to soaring violins and pulsating winds. This was also a performance with a good deal of nuance too, such as in the shaping of the first movement’s second subject where first the winds and then the cellos leaned into their phrasing, making this much more than a foil to the flying first theme. Benini kept the pace up through the second and third movements, essential to keep the drama flowing, before unleashing the finale with terrifying force! The Saltarello was positively breakneck, but never in such a way that lost detail or became muddy, and that’s a real compliment to the virtuosic playing. The tarantella theme in the strings flowed smoothly but with an element of menace and the climactic surge was full-blooded and gripping. Others may complain that there was little room to expand, but I left the concert hall with my pulse quickened and my faith in this work fully restored. Bravo!

The real revelation of the evening, however, was the Respighi section which was both compelling and surprising. Il Tramonto was a real revelation. It’s an Italian setting of Shelley’s 1816 poem The Sunset, which tells of the death of two lovers, and Respighi unleashes a wash of string sound that envelops the listener like a tidal wave. The sheer unashamed Romanticism of atmosphere is reminiscent of late Strauss or Rachmaninov. The intense atmosphere threatens to overwhelm or tire us out, but there is variety and subtlety there too, such as the section which tells of the woman’s old age, and a beautiful resignation hangs over the final bars.  Soloist Maria Luigia Borsi has a small voice and was often obscured by the textures of the orchestra. It’s partly because she is singing what is really a mezzo role and it lies very low for her soprano voice, though she isn’t helped by the way she doggedly reads the score throughout. This also damaged her characterisation and gave her interpretation an air of the academic. Still, her voice is dark and colourful, and quite right for the melancholic mood of the poem. She blended well with the string ensemble and the final peroration of the poem was powerful, especially her gradations of volume on the climactic Pace. After this, the Ancient Airs and Dances were like a different world. They are Respighi’s arrangements of old Italian melodies, and they contain a world of moods. Above all else, Respighi was an orchestrator, and the suite showed what wonders he could do with only a string section. The mood was in turns melancholy and folksy, and it finished with a take-no-prisoners Passacaglia.  The textures and the context made me think more than once of Vaughan Williams’s arrangements for string orchestra: while the character of the melodies is entirely different the aim and the textures are strikingly similar, though I doubt that either would have been flattered by the comparison.

Holding the evening together was veteran Italian (of course!) conductor Maurizio Benini who clearly loves this music. He tended to show a light touch on the podium, but there was an Italian bounce to his understated gestures and a dance-like feel to his control of the rhythms. His vast experience in the opera house brought marvelous theatricality to his readings, and he enervated all of these works in a way that I will remember for a long time. Bravi tutti!

Simon Thompson


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