SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Beethoven, Brahms: Paul Lewis (piano) London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis (conductor) Barbican, London, 17.6.2009 (GDn)

Beethoven: Piano Concerto no. 5 in Eb major Op. 73 ‘Emperor’
Brahms: Symphony no. 3 in F major Op. 90


Accolades for Paul Lewis’ Beethoven are difficult to ignore. He is clearly the critic’s choice when it comes to the sonatas, and his recent tour of Europe and America with them received near universal acclaim. Clarity and precision are the musical virtues he champions, virtues that he has inherited from his mentor Alfred Brendel. But unlike Brendel, Lewis has no qualms about presenting Beethoven’s music at face value, without insisting on an ostensibly intellectual structure to his interpretation. The result here is a performance of Beethoven’s last and grandest concerto - the Emperor - that remains firmly placed at the culmination of the long 18^th century, the heir to Mozart rather than the benefactor of Brahms.

The accuracy of Lewis’ playing can be taken as a given, but it is the economy of his means that distinguishes his interpretation. The pedal is used sparingly, depressed and released with the same precision as the keys. His range of dynamics, and indeed of articulations, is modest. He favours sudden tempo changes over the brief transitions that Beethoven can also permit. This is not period performance as such, a modern orchestra and modern instrument are clearly its home, but a sense of revisionism underpins the clarity, pre-empting any suspicions of naivety or lack of commitment. That said, there is room for growth here, and as with Brendel before him, it will be very interesting to see which direction Lewis takes with his Beethoven in years to come.

The orchestra matched the soloist’s attention to detail, if not the modesty of his interpretive decisions. The London Symphony Orchestra are not the kind of ensemble to sit on the fence, stylistically speaking, when it comes to repertoire as central as this. Velvety strings, punchy brass and lyrical woodwind made for a consummate tonal palette. But technical precision was the common factor, allowing the orchestra’s disciplined Romanticism to compliment rather than stifle the controlled formal elegance of the soloist.

The Third Symphony of Brahms requires a rather different, but no less acute, balance of the Classical and the Romantic. Sir Colin Davis, the LSO’s President and Honorary Conductor, is approaching his fiftieth year of association with the orchestra, and his association with the symphonies of Brahms can be scarcely any shorter. A certain lack of physical dynamism on the podium is perhaps inevitable for a conductor who is now in his eighties, but Davis is able to communicate with the orchestra and inspire and lead it without recourse to histrionics. The result was a performance with accuracy, passion and drive that demonstrated the immeasurable benefits of experience over raw enthusiasm. Davis takes a less interventionist approach to this music than many of his younger peers; he is always in control, indicating finer points of balance with his left hand for example, and giving clear indications of tempo changes, but he is also able to let other aspects of the performance play out by their own means. The work’s rigorous structural logic requires little intervention from the conductor, and Davis is never temped to grind the gears at the tempo changes. The composer’s precisely notated dynamic and articulation details need only acknowledgement; they would suffer though exaggeration. There is no doubting that he was one of the 19^th century’s musical heavyweights, but Colin Davis demonstrates that sometimes with Brahms, less can be more.

Gavin Dixon


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