SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Hindemith, Debussy, Ravel and Mussorgsky (orchestrated by Ravel): Jean–Efflam Bavouzet (piano), BBC Symphony Orchestra, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Barbican Hall, London, 5.11.2010 (BBr)

Hindemith: Konzertmusik, op.50 (1930)
Debussy: Fantasie for Piano and Orchestra (1889/1890 rev 1909)
Ravel: Pavane pour une infante défunte (1899 orch 1910)
Mussorgsky (orchestrated by Ravel): Pictures at an Exhibition (1874 orch 1922)



 A friend of mine studied harmony with Hindemith in Berlin in 1930. I asked her what he was like as a man. “He was the funniest person you could hope to meet,” she told me, “it’s a shame that he never showed that in his music!” Perhaps his works suffer from their titles, which can tend to be rather severe – Konzertmusik, Kammermusik, Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber (imagine that in German!) - and I am the first to admit that Hindemith’s music doesn’t elicit many belly laughs, but his work was never without humour, one only has to listen to the Konzertmusik op.50.

Written to celebrate the 50^th birthday of the Boston Symphony – what a celebration that was, as it also included, apart from this work, specially commissioned pieces from Honegger, Howard Hanson, Albert Roussel and Prokofiev (their 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th Symphonies respectively), Copland’s Symphonic Ode and Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms – the Konzertmusik contains the four movements of a traditional symphony cleverly telescoped into two. It’s a brilliant, virtuoso work, scored for strings and brass alone and in the right hands, it packs a real punch. Tortelier certainly has the right hands. This was as fine a performance as one could have hoped for with resplendent brass – full-voiced and richly sounding, balanced by the large string body, which Hindemith said should be “as strong as possible” – sounding dazzling and opulent. And the humour? There’s lots of it to be found in the interplay between the sections, and the fugue of the second movement, whilst a devil of a thing to play, is a hoot from beginning to end. I am mystified as to why we so seldom hear Hindemith’s works in concert, for, at his best, he is as fine a composer as any of his contemporaries who find their way into our concert halls, and certainly he can stand on his own two musical feet before an audience, which need not fear something unpalatable.

Debussy’s Fantasie is an early work; it pre–dates the String Quartet and l'après-midi d'un faune, and despite its revision at the time of Debussy’s fullest musical maturity, it still sounds like an apprentice work. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet obviously believes, wholeheartedly, in the work, even going so far as to memorise the score – how many pianists would do that for such a piece? His performance tonight was totally assured, showing the work to be a concertante piece and not a concerto. He was willing to let the orchestra take centre stage as he embellished their music with arabesques and colourful figuration. One cannot make any claims for this as a lost masterpiece but surely it deserves more than the very occasional hearing. Indeed, Bavouzet told me that he had never heard it in concert! As an encore he gave a sparkling performance of Massenet’s delightful Toccata. These same performers have recorded Debussy’s Fantasie, coupled with both of Ravel’s Concertos and some solo pieces by Massenet, including the Toccata, on Chandos (CHAN 5084) and it can be heartily recommended.

Ravel’s fragrant Pavane pour une infante défunte made a lovely bridge from Debussy’s work to his own technicolour arrangement of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Tortelier didn’t hang around for this performance, choosing generally fast tempi and running the pieces together so that a large canvas was revealed instead of a group of separate pieces. This approach worked and there was a cumulative growth in the music as it progressed; Gnomus and Baba–Yaga were suitably malevolent, the Tuileries and Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks were delightful in their energy and lightness, while The Old Castle and Bydlo were mysterious and lumpen by turn. Bo Fuglsang’s solo trumpet in Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle was little short of miraculous and the whole was topped with a stunning Grand Gate at Kiev.

Throughout, the BBC Symphony Orchestra was on top form, relishing the chance to play some unfamiliar repertoire. Because of a journalist’s strike the show couldn’t be broadcast live – and this meant that we didn’t have to suffer the embarrassing sight, and sound, of a Radio 3 announcer on stage introducing the works to us; many in the audience, as we went in, were expressing their delight at this loss. It will be broadcast at a later date; don’t miss it. And I must say that because of the BBC’s misguided decision that its evening concert must start at 7, instead of the more usual 7.30, it isn’t always easy for the public to get to the Barbican by that time. If concerts on the continent can start at 8, why do we have to have such an early start time? Of course, on the plus side, it means that we’re in the pub by 9.15 with a good 2 hours drinking ahead of us, but I doubt that that’s the reason.

 Bob Briggs