Other Links
Editorial Board
- UK Editors
- Roger Jones and John Quinn
Editors for The Americas - Bruce Hodges and Jonathan Spencer Jones
European Editors - Bettina Mara and Jens F Laurson
Consulting Editor - Bill Kenny
Assistant Webmaster -Stan Metzger
Founder - Len Mullenger
Google Site Search
SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL CONCERT REVIEW
Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky: Klassik Philharmonie Hamburg, Robert Stehli (conductor), Caterina Grewe (piano), Laeiszhalle Hamburg, 21.1.11 (TKT)
Mozart: Symphony
no. 25 in G Minor, K. 183 Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody
on a Theme by Paganini for Piano and Orchestra, op. 43 Tchaikovsky: Souvenir
de Florence, op. 70, Sextet for String Orchestra The
program consisted not exactly of evergreens, but of works that have been
popular for good reason. This is clearly the world in which Robert Stehli, who
also founded the Hamburg Proms, feels perfectly comfortable. He established the Hamburg Mozart Orchestra 32 years ago; in
2001, it was renamed Klassik Philharmonie. And the Swiss-born conductor has
just been awarded Germany’s Federal Cross of Merit. The
evening started like the orchestra: with Mozart, who wrote his “little G minor
symphony” at age 17. The piece has lost nothing of its verve and beauty.
Stehli’s interpretation did not contain the almost violent elements the
symphony can have, but it was forceful and highly energetic. Perhaps it did not
always sound quite as effortless as it could have, but the performance
definitely had moments of grace – altogether, an effective beginning Composed
in 1890, Tchaikovsky’s sextet Souvenir de Florence, here performed in
its version for string orchestra, concluded the program. (I am trying to banish
from memory the encore, a positively silly medley of A Little Night Music,
“Amazing Grace” and Scottish melodies, which however was well received.) Along
with his sixth symphony, Souvenir was Tchaikovsky’s last work consisting
of several movements. Its first and last movement having a sonata structure, it
is symphony-like itself. The title, however, is so private it is downright misleading,
as it is a memory of Florence only because that is where the
composer, who was working on something else at the time of his Italian sojourn,
conceived of the melody of the second movement. Other than that, there is
nothing Italian about the work, which in fact has a decided Slavic sound in its
last two movements. Be that as it may. That melody of the Adagio is pure
Tchaikovsky: beautiful and only seemingly simple but in truth quite complex.
Stehli and his orchestra successfully brought out the movingly painful sound of
Tchaikovsky strings. The
absolute highlight of the evening, however, came before the intermission:
Caterina Grewe’s performance of what may be called Rachmaninoff’s fifth piano
concerto. (It is possible to listen to the 24 variations as three groups, or
three movements: 1 to 11 [or 15, depending on your point of view], 12 [or 16]
to 18, and 19 to 24, with the middle group representing the slow movement.) Written
in 1934, within just a few weeks, the work is based on two themes that are not Rachmaninoff – Paganini’s much feared 24th Caprice and the Medieval “Dies
irae.” Ironically, it is nonetheless hard to imagine a piece that is more Rachmaninoff, as it contains everything that makes his music so powerful when
he was at his best. Since he was also one of the foremost pianists of his day –
who also played the piano part at the premiere under Stokowski – this also
means that it is a profoundly demanding piece. Grewe,
who has appeared as a soloist at Hamburg’s Laeiszhalle twice before – with Liszt’s first and Grieg’s only
piano concerto – mastered the difficulties with apparent ease. She had the
audience spellbound from the get-go with her complex understanding of this
work: at once passionate and light, intense and playful, ferocious and gentle,
her interpretation lacked even a touch of the vulgarity the work can have in
some performances. Nothing was flashy, everything was substance (to which the
encore, two selections from Prokofiev’s Visions Fugitives, attested as
well). The cantilena of the slow “movement” was introverted, played with deep
emotion. At times the orchestra was a tad too loud for this subtle reading of
the work, but the precise, controlled exuberance of Grewe’s performance was so
formidable, the audience was swept away. (See also
the interview with Ms Grewe coming up in Seen and Heard.) Thomas
K. Thornton
.