SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

SEEN AND HEARD UK CONCERT REVIEW
 

Rossini, Mozart, Weber and Richard Strauss: Sabine Meyer (clarinet), Dag Jensen (bassoon), BBC Philharmonic Orchestra/Gianandrea Noseda (conductor) Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, 13.11.2010 (MC)

 

Rossini: Cenerentola (Cinderella) - Overture (1817)

Mozart: Bassoon Concerto, K191 (1774)

Weber: Clarinet Concerto No.1 (1811)

Richard Strauss: Duet Concertino (1947)

Richard Strauss: Macbeth - Tone Poem, Op.23 (1888, rev. 1891)

 

I recall an older relative of mine affectionately reminiscing about having seen the great Jascha Heifetz and Vladimir Horowitz in concert. Part of me wondered if the passing of years had somehow embellished these memories. Having now attended amazing recitals by Daniel Barenboim and of Maxim Vengerov I know at first hand that the playing of a consummate performer can provide wonderful lifetime memories. After this magnificent concert at the Bridgewater Hall there cannot be many audience members who wouldn’t include Sabine Mayer in any list of great performers.

André Previn once said, “In classical music, it is almost always the music that is better than the performance.” That said, Meyer came close with her incredible performance of Weber’s Clarinet Concerto No.1. Along with the Mozart clarinet concerto the two Weber concertos are the most commonly performed in the repertoire. The previous day Meyer had explained to me how she was content playing the same works time and time again. Her fresh, invigorating and compelling interpretation reached lofty heights that I hadn’t thought possible. In the Bridgewater there was an alchemy produced between Meyer and the BBC Phil with extraordinary results. Totally at one with the music Meyer was not just playing notes she was living the music. Right from the opening Allegro there was a swagger about her astonishing playing. In the genial slow movement her performance was so refined demonstrating her ability to go so incredibly soft yet still project her glorious sound to all corners of the hall. At times in the exuberant Rondo Meyer was dancing beguilingly with the clarinet in her hands.

The first woodwind concerto of the evening was the amiable and bubbly Bassoon Concerto of Mozart played by the renowned exponent Dag Jensen. His impressive intonation was evident right from his opening passage. In a splendidly engaging performance Jensen made light work of the technical difficulties especially in the enthralling first and second movement cadenzas.

Sabine Meyer and Dag Jensen came together for Richard Strauss’s Duet Concertino for clarinet, bassoon and large string orchestra. One of the composer’s last works it seems that Strauss may have imagined a Beauty and the Beast scenario with the clarinet and the bassoon representing a princess and a bear. When the princess dances with the bear it magically changes into a prince. This warm and intense conversation between the two woodwind instruments was riveting if the music seemed a touch convoluted. Strauss’s substantial extensive gestures were gloriously played by these two master instrumentalists supported by assured and refined orchestral support.

The concert opened with the appealing and tuneful overture to Rossini’s opera Cenerentola (Cinderella). The scene was set from the opening measures with Gianandrea Noseda asking for a biting attack from his BBC Phil. With a performance out of the top-drawer the sharp-edged and wholehearted playing was brisk and invigorating.

The work that I was most looking forward to was Macbeth Richard Strauss’s early tone poem for large orchestra. Inexplicably Macbeth is rarely heard in concert overshadowed by the more illustrious tone poems such as Also Sprach Zarathustra; Don Juan; Ein Heldenleben; Don Quixote and Till Eulenspiegel. Revealing a considerable depth of imagination Noseda never allowed his players to get bogged down by the dense scoring. Making a strong case for Macbeth this performance was remarkably full-blooded with a sumptuous, well rounded sound. Strauss’s massive Matterhorn-like climaxes made an awe-inspiring impact.

This is Gianandrea Noseda’s final season as chief conductor of the BBC Phil and the strides that he has made with the orchestra is remarkable. Currently there is an excellent crop of young conductors on the scene today and Noseda is undoubtedly one of the finest. Thanks to the brilliance of Sabine Meyer and the BBC Phil under Gianandrea Noseda the Bridgewater audience witnessed a magnificent and unforgettable five work concert.

Michael Cookson