SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL CONCERT REVIEW
 

Musikfest Berlin 10 - Bartók, Berio and Stravinsky: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra/Mariss Jansons, Philharmonie, Berlin, 5.9.2010 (MC)

 

Stravinsky - Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1920, rev. 1945/47)

Bartók - Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, Sz. 106 (1936)

Luciano Berio - Quatre dédicaces for orchestra: Fanfara (1982); Entrata (1980); Festum (1989); Encore (1978; rev. 1981)

Stravinsky - The Firebird, ballet suite for orchestra (1909/10, rev. 1945)


This concert by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under conductor Mariss Jansons at the Philharmonie forms part of the musikfest berlin 10 which is Berlin’s major festival for orchestral music. The festival committee invites orchestras from various countries for this two-week event. Concentrating mainly on symphonic repertoire, the musikfest berlin provides opportunities for rarely heard, forgotten or unusual works while also giving weight to programming interesting contemporary items. A dual spotlight this season is given to the works of Pierre Boulez (b. 1925) and Luciano Berio (1925-2003).

For the Concertgebouw’s visit, the 2,450 seater Philharmonie auditorium was full to bursting, probably mostly because the enthusiastic and sophisticated Berlin audience was keen to attend a concert by the ‘best orchestra in the world’ under its chief conductor Mariss Jansons, rather than being attracted by the actual programme. Many audience members were relieved to see maestro Jansons appear since an on-line news report on 20th August 2010 from DutchNews.nl © stated, “Bernard Haitink is to conduct the Concertgebouw orchestra in three concerts in September. He is replacing conductor-in-chief Mariss Jansons who is ill…. Jansons has been ill for some time. He underwent an operation in June 2010 and is now scheduled for a second one.”

The well constructed all 20th century programme was outside the standard repertoire without being by any means avant-garde. It was certainly a fascinating concert of four superbly written works which certainly deserve to be heard more often and I should think present only minor challenges for an audience. As much as the next person I adore hearing the world’s top orchestras playing Beethoven, Bruckner and Mahler: equally, to hear something different of high quality makes a refreshing change.

The opening score was Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments composed in 1920 and revised some years later in 1945/47. This often overlooked work is cast in a single movement and is scored for woodwind and brass. Using significant economy Stravinsky described this affecting work as, “an austere ritual which is unfolded in terms of short litanies between different groups of homogeneous instruments.” The Concertgebouw wind playing was as precise and smoothly blended as I have heard and I was struck how maestro Jansons maintained a beautifully geared pulse throughout this tricky and rewarding score.

Written in 1936 and cast in four movements Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta is one of the composer’s key works. In my view the moniker ‘neglected masterpiece’ is certainly appropriate here. Maestro Jansons gives the third movement Adagio an otherworldly nocturnal atmosphere that feels almost sinister and I especially enjoyed the playing of the Allegro molto final movement which provides an exhilarating and exuberant conclusion to the score.

The most challenging work on the programme was Luciano Berio’s Quatre dédicaces for orchestra. These are four short orchestral pieces written independently between 1978/89. At the behest of Berio’s friend Pierre Boulez they were brought together by Paul Roberts, Berio’s assistant and published as a set. The Quatre dédicaces were given a posthumous world première by Boulez with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2008 at Chicago and I understand that this performance of Quatre dédicaces by Mariss Jansons and the Concertgebouw was the German première.

What struck me most of all was how maestro Jansons underlined all of Berio’s variety and invention together with providing intense passion and a kaleidoscopic spectrum of colours, despite all the technical complexities of Quatre dédicaces. These orchestral pieces work brilliantly well individually and are well contrasted as a set. For me, the performance by the Concertgebouw was an exciting and most satisfying experience. Especially remarkable was the third piece Festum (1989) and I was at the edge of my seat with its shocking uproar and force of near brutality.

Stravinsky’s first score for Diaghilev and the famous Ballet Russes The Firebird was one of his finest achievements; certainly his earliest real success. Here maestro Jansons has selected the Firebird suite prepared in 1945 from the 1910 ballet.

Under Mariss Jansons’ baton of the Dance of the Firebird simply skitters and scampers with wondrous lightness. Played with utmost sincerity the Supplication of the Firebird is given a chilling and ghostly rendition. Beautifully and sensitively played, the Khorovod of the Princess is bewitching and quite enchanting. Sadly one audience member broke the spell for me by choosing to emit a loud cough which was noticed momentarily by the conductor although there was glorious woodwind playing here especially from the oboist. The rapidly shifting rhythms of Kashchei’s infernal dance evoked a wild revelry and by contrast the Berceuse (Lullaby) was hauntingly tender; as soft as feathery down.

Throughout the concert maestro Jansons and his magnificent Concertgebouw were on peak form. With tempi generally on the swift side, I loved the forthright treatment and full blooded Romanticism. In addition the vivid and contrasting colours produced were quite remarkable. The delighted audience demanded two encores and received what sounded to me like Dvořák Dances; attractive icing on the cake to cap a wonderful concert at the Philharmonie.

Michael Cookson

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