What
a refreshing change to hear this underplayed
Beethoven, rather than Nos. 3, 5, 7
or 9, and under the completely commanding
baton of Sir Colin Davis, this Eighth
was even more ebullient than usual. This is
one of the composer’s happier works, and from
the way the orchestra dug in to the score,
it is clear they enjoyed it, too. Davis made
an elegant figure on the podium, and his sweeping
movements encouraged the musicians to pursue
that long line; his phrasing, it can’t be
said often enough, is one of his huge strengths.
In an age when routine over-management causes
a score’s momentum to be lost, Davis has a
straightforward approach that is quite appealing.
He also found a good bit of humor in some
of Beethoven’s high contrasts.
After
Sunday’s superb Peter
Grimes
and what was probably an expertly served feast
of Sibelius on Monday night (which unfortunately
I could not attend), I would venture that
many in the audience had been hotly anticipating
this Firebird, and they cannot have
been disappointed. One impressive feature
was the very soft dynamic level demonstrated
initially by the double basses, and then matched
virtually everywhere else as needed by the
violins, violas and cellos. It is difficult
to play softly and maintain articulation,
but everything – and I do mean everything
-- could be heard here.
At the
risk of name-dropping, one of the friends
with me had played the piece with Stokowski,
and recalled his more…shall we say, dramatic
approach. For Davis’ performance, she used
the word "noble," and I agree. Never
overindulgent, he poured out a rich, solid
reading instead of what can sometimes seem
like a race to the finishing line. I must
have heard this piece close to a hundred times,
either live or on recordings, and was amazed
yet again at how much color and invention
are in its forty minutes, and in Sir Colin’s
hands, some passages had the luxuriousness
of Zemlinsky. Throughout, Davis encouraged
a balanced approach – shocking us now and
then (in a good way), but never abandoning
the tight, overall structure. The glittering
flourish that ends the Infernal Dance of
All Kastchei’s Subjects was quite overwhelming,
followed by complete silence that was so effective
that some in the audience apparently thought
the piece was over, and tossed out a few limply
delivered handclaps.
Fortunately
for the rest of us, the evening was not over;
otherwise we would have missed some utterly
fantastic playing in the final pages. With
principal Maurice Murphy leading the charge,
the trumpets cut loose with a rock-steady
blaze that was never out of proportion in
the sound mix. And among many others, the
LSO’s three harp players – Karen Vaughan,
Nuala Herbert and Thelma Owen – did some beautiful
turns in a score that tests them constantly.
As the curtain calls began – a rather chaste
three or four, given the cheering – the child
in me secretly wanted to hear the last five
minutes as an encore, until Sir Colin grasped
the hand of guest leader Radoslaw Szulc to
lead the artists offstage.
If this
was not the brush with hysteria that Gergiev
and the Kirov offered in the same piece at
Carnegie recently, Davis was just as impressive
in a thoroughly no-nonsense reading, and maintained
a fine sense of momentum, helped by keen attention
to rhythmic details. And although Stravinsky’s
language might seem far away from Beethoven’s,
Davis clearly sees a connection between them.
Bruce Hodges
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