I do not see the point
of this product and I shall not be returning
to it in a hurry.
It is almost tempting
to leave the review at that for fear
that once I start enumerating my objections
I shall never stop. This live performance
from the Festival Hall (with its notorious
acoustic) is obviously a showcase for
Naïve’s darling of the moment,
François-Frédéric
Guy. How they can offer just the Second
Concerto with no filler at all in this
day and age is completely beyond me.
A mere 47 minutes long, there is ample
space for, say some late solo piano
music (some of the marvellous Opp. 116-119,
perhaps?).
The crux of the problem
seems to be Guy’s essential lack of
identification with the Brahmsian sound-world.
The literalism of his ‘replies’ to the
(marvellous) opening horn solo (Richard
Bissil) hardly bodes well, although
at least he is accurate. A divide between
soloist and orchestra soon emerges,
with Berglund encouraging the LPO towards
some lovely string playing. But even
here there seems to be a lack of longer-range
thought that means that the music positively
sags towards the end. Some of the more
dynamic passages are distinctly under-powered
too (eg 6’38ff). The difficult (technically
speaking) passage at 9’03ff is a virtuoso
exercise in perfunctory playing from
all parties involved.
Guy skirts around the
piano part of the Scherzo, a pity as
Berglund encourages the strings to Sibelian
surgings within an unstoppable momentum
(interesting that the concert this performance
is taken from included Sibelius Fifth
Symphony). The Andante is indeed walking
pace (no lingering here), a shame as
it would have been nice to enjoy cellist
Richard Truman’s rich tone more. The
speed would not have been a problem
if it had brought with it some sense
of repose – alas, there is an inappropriate
nervous undercurrent exacerbated by
Guy’s hard tone. The only word to describe
the finale is deflated, like a forlorn
balloon waiting desperately for someone
to blow it up. Even the orchestra sounds
bored by this stage, while Guy continues
resolutely along the path of the hopelessly
literal.
Maybe it just worked
better in the concert hall. Certainly
our own AR’s review implies this was
the case (http://www.musicweb-international.com/SandH/2003/May03/wagner315.htm).
Yet on disc this is as lacklustre as
they come.
The design is strange.
Easy on the eye at first (someone at
naïve has a purple-fixation), the
disc itself has purple writing on a
purple background. Mark Rothko might
well have approved. But then he didn’t
try to include discographical information
on his colour juxtapositions, did he?.
Colin Clarke
François-Frédéric Guy (piano);
London Philharmonic Orchestra/Paavo Berglund.