SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

SEEN AND HEARD UK CONCERT REVIEW
 

Rossini, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev: Nikolai Demidenko (piano), BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Matthias Bamert (conductor), Brangwyn Hall, Swansea 19.6.2010 (GPu)

Rossini, Overture – The Thieving Magpie

Rachmaninov, Piano Concert No. 4

Prokofiev, Romeo and Juliet - excerpts

This was the final concert in the BBC National Orchestra of Wales’ 2009-10 Swansea season of concerts. Unfortunately it was a less than entirely satisfactory conclusion to a generally rewarding series. The overture to Rossini’s La Gazza Ladra of 1817 provided the concert opener. The most memorable performances of Rossini generally have a kind of lithe animality to them, a recognition that this is music driven by appetite, much as Rossini himself was, and a well developed sense of Rossini’s characteristic wit. This reading of the overture began with some promising fizz, but then sadly lapsed into a kind of studied correctness that made for an excessively straight-laced and largely mechanical efficiency.

The second work involved a transition to a very different sound world and an emotional realm equally different. Nikolai Demidenko is, of course, a Rachmaninov interpreter of real distinction and authority. From the very beginning of this performance his authority was clear; one might, indeed, speak in terms of authenticity as much as of authority. There was an air of conviction and purposeful assurance to all that he did; throughout he did much to establish the underlying coherence of the work, in a manner that often eludes interpreters of this relatively perplexing concerto. His playing of the Largo was especially eloquent, full of unforced poetry in its rapt stillness. In the ensuing Allegro Vivace he made Rachmaninov’s writing seem so natural and easy, that one quite forgot about the very real technical demands it makes on the soloist. Unfortunately, the work of the orchestra, as conducted by Matthias Bamert didn’t always complement Demidenko’s playing as fully as one would have liked. There was a relative stiffness to some of the rhythms and, at least until the Finale, what felt like a degree of reticence and tentativeness and a marked absence of the poetry and the fluid evanescence of mood that so typified Demidenko’s contribution. In that Finale there was a greater relaxation, and a greater vividness and passion to the orchestra’s contribution.

The interval was followed by a generally pleasing performance of eleven selected numbers from the three suites which Prokofiev created from the music he wrote for the ballet Romeo and Juliet: Montagues and Capulets, Aubade, Juliet as a Young Girl, Tableau, Morning Dance, Masks, Dance, The Death of Tybalt, Romeo and Juliet before Parting, Romeo at Juliet’s Tomb and Death of Juliet. For the most part, the more ceremonial and ‘public’ the music, the better it fared. So Tableau and Morning Dance, along with The Death of Tybalt, were particularly impressive; in such pieces there was a real vigour and there were some vivid orchestral colours. Dance had some subtle rhythmic touches and a pleasant delicacy. The Death of Tybalt was perhaps the stand out performance, full of genuine theatricality and hammering chords, and benefiting from a funeral march that had weight and solemnity. Elsewhere in the more ‘private’ pieces, the pieces needing more creation of character and a greater emotional depth, the results were often less satisfying. Juliet as a Young Girl didn’t develop much sense of individuality; Romeo and Juliet before Parting was similarly undercharacterised. But in the sentimental (rather than fully tragic) music of Romeo at Juliet’s Tomb and the Death of Juliet there was some powerful and passionate playing.

I have often found a good deal to enjoy in Matthias Bamert’s recordings of Mozart and his contemporaries with the London Mozart Players; but there was a relative stiffness and dullness to rather too much of the music-making on this evening. There seemed to be quite a few deputies in the orchestra (a couple of section leaders were missing) and this may have been a contributory factor. Whatever the reasons this was a relatively disappointing final concert of the season.

Glyn Pursglove