Overture, The Hebrides [10:01]
Symphony No. 3 Scottish [37:48]
Robert SCHUMANN (1810-1856)
Piano Concerto [31:28]
Maria Joćo Pires (piano)
London Symphony Orchestra/John Eliot Gardiner
rec. live, Barbican, London, January 2014
BD-A, Blu-Ray video and Hybrid SACD included in package
LSO LIVE LSO0765 SACD/BD-A [79:17]
After Gergiev's (in my view unsuccessful) performance
of Berlioz's Symphonie
Fantastique, this is the second in LSO's new bumper package
of concert discs. Each gives us the same programme on a Hybrid SACD, a
BD-A and a BD film of the concert. It's a treat to have such largesse
at no extra cost and, while I welcomed the innovation for the Berlioz,
I said that it is to be hoped that LSO Live will repeat the experiment
with a more successful performance. They have done so here.
To get the technical elements out of the way first, the BD-A sound is
excellent. Listening in DTS, everything comes across with brightness and
clarity, without any sense of fog. The engineers have done a great job
of capturing what should come out of each speaker, though I might have
wanted a bit more presence from the surround speakers. However, the bass
is rich without dominating and the overall experience is very good indeed.
They have also solved the problem of very low recording level that marred
Gergiev’s Berlioz performance on the stereo CD: this time around
it felt much better. The accompanying video of the concert is very flashily
produced with excellent picture and sound. You even get a bonus on the
video (Pires' encore, a number from Schumann's Waldszenen)
that you get on neither CD or BD-A.
The performances are all very good. Gardiner has a very winning way with
The Hebrides. It unfolds naturally in his hands, with a nod to
the undulation of the waves but with violent passion to the storm sequence.
The orchestra's string tone is delightful, too. There's
a particularly attractive edge to the cellos when they play their second
theme in such a beautiful major key toward the end of the recapitulation.
As when I heard Gardiner
conduct this symphony in Leipzig, he gets the violins and violas to
stand throughout, which I have since discovered was Mendelssohn's
own practice at the Gewandhaus. That takes authenticity to a whole new
level, I suppose, though who knows whether it increases confidence any
more than it increases fatigue. The performance itself is very good, though.
The winds are plangent for the lament of the opening and the strings respond
with minimal vibrato, heightening the mood of intense concentration. An
effective sense of swirl takes over once the main Allegro begins, and
the agitato direction feels very real. I also loved the way he
uses the timpani to punctuate delicately rather than to dominate. This
adds to the sense of a reading that has been carefully considered. The
Vivace second movement has an exhilarating swirl to it, and the
vibrato-less strings of the slow movement add a really expressive edge
to the main theme. The finale, too, has a pleasing sense of the Scotch
snap and it builds pleasingly to a wonderful peroration. The orchestra's
playing matches Gardiner’s vision very well indeed and, in fact,
it is high but well deserved praise to put this version alongside the
LSO’s excellent. if rather different, performance of this symphony
for Abbado on DG.
Maria Joćo Pires brings her famously expressive playing style to Schumann’s
Piano Concerto and this makes her an ideal partner in this work. She listens
every bit as much as she plays, and this means that the work sounds even
more thoughtful than usual. Her treatment of the first theme, after the
opening flourish, sounds like a participant in a conversation, and her
cadenza sparkles in a way that is never showy. She also brings just the
right amount of flourish to the main theme of the finale, with a sense
of elation setting in as the finish line comes into view. Gardiner, too,
conducts with a real ear for detail, bringing inner textures to light
in a very refreshing manner. Listen, for example, to the little moment
towards the end of the first movement’s exposition when the solo
clarinet dreamily plays with the main theme (beginning around 2:33 into
track two): a few extra notes are included in the descent which I have
never heard before. I wonder whether that’s musical archaeology
bringing something new to light, or Gardiner simply encouraging the musicians
to bring something new to the familiar score? Either way, it worked for
me, and it’s typical of the sensitivity with which Gardiner brings
this score to light.
I was delighted to read that this is to be the first volume in a series
exploring the complete Mendelssohn symphonies with Gardiner on the LSO.
Unlike Gergiev’s touted Berlioz series, I can’t wait for the
next instalment of this one.
Simon Thompson
Previous review: David
Barker (Recording of the Month October 2014)
Masterwork Index:
Mendelssohn symphony 3 ~~
Schumann piano concerto
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