If I am completely honest I still have some doubt as
to whether there is a real future for purely orchestral and instrumental
music on DVD. With the exception of opera I know few music lovers who
are ecstatic enough about the medium to rush out and purchase a newly
released DVD of orchestral music. Yet that same buyer would not hesitate
if a highly acclaimed CD of the same music were released. Time will
tell and I hope that I am proved wrong.
Where the medium really can come into its own and provides
an added dimension to the music is in the special features that are
often on offer. This disc gives us a fine example in its interviews
with Gergiev and Bashmet. Perhaps more to the point I should say the
interview with Bashmet for Gergiev’s brief six-minute contribution on
Stravinsky and Prokofiev is exceptionally uninformative, the maestro
edgily glancing around as if he is being kept (as no doubt he was) from
his notoriously manic schedule. Bashmet on the other hand is utterly
engaging, sitting forward in his seat and speaking with sincerity and
warmth about a man who clearly meant a great deal to him. His fascinating
account of his personal relationship with Schnittke and the events leading
up to the creation of the Viola Concerto (Bashmet waited no fewer
than nine years for the piece) is riveting and all the more moving in
the knowledge that just ten days after the composer completed the work
he suffered the first of a series of strokes that were ultimately to
claim his life.
Bashmet is no less engaging in his performance of the
work, a model of concentration and profound intensity. This is Schnittke
at his finest, utterly characteristic and strikingly original. Classically
inspired melodies jostle with melodies of our time in archetypal polystylistic
fashion. Haunting, hymn tune like accompanying chorales in the strings
and later brass, are blown apart by outbursts of shattering, even cataclysmic
violence and the driving viola part in the central Allegro molto
is challenged by orchestral writing of imagination and virtuosity. Schnittke’s
compositional style was shortly to undergo a radical change following
the onset of his dreadful health problems but this work has to be considered
one of the finest achievements of his latter years.
The performances of the Prokofiev and Stravinsky both
offer much to enjoy although not without some reservations, notably
in the Prokofiev. The opening Allegro together with the Larghetto
are unremarkable although the Finale hurtles along at breakneck
speed, all the more exciting for the fact that one can sense Gergiev
has the players on the edges of their seats. Gergiev’s choice of phrasing
in the Gavotta robs the music of the feeling of pomposity that
for me is essential to Prokofiev’s inspiration and Gergiev’s characteristically
eccentric technique, flapping hands and quivering fingers galore, does
have the capacity to annoy at times. During his interview Gergiev comments
that his objective in The Firebird is to bring the theatricality
of the score to the fore. In this he succeeds admirably, evidenced in
his careful attention to the characterisation of Stravinsky’s masterpiece
and drawing sumptuous, at times ravishing playing from his Viennese
forces in the process. The sense of atmosphere throughout the performance
is strong and rarely have I found myself holding my breath in the bars
leading into the final hymn as I was here.
Ultimately though, it is the compelling performance
of Schnittke’s Viola Concerto that makes this DVD truly recommendable,
whilst Bashmet’s equally compelling interview only serves to add a further
element of poignancy to his profound playing.
Christopher Thomas
Vienna Philharmonic
Orchestra – Valery Gergiev 
[100 min including special features]