The
‘Eroica’ and A Child of our Time make
an apposite coupling, both works being a reflection
of their respective composers’ political and
humanistic concerns. For Beethoven, his Third
Symphony was a commemoration of Napoleon’s
Republicanism and the triumph of people over
empire; for Tippett, A Child of our Time
was an expression of 1930s intolerance and
inhumanity, a work which was as spiritual
and pacifist in its scope as Beethoven’s work
was heroic and idealistic. Yet, if Beethoven
broke new ground with his symphony Tippett
looked back beyond the ephemerism of ‘new
music’ – or even the music of his day - to
the ideals of Bach and Handel to create a
work that, if not radically shaped, widened
cultural boundaries in the unorthodox handling
of his libretto (negro spirituals replaced
the Bachian congregational hymns, for example).
Such
an interesting coupling, however, did not
manifest itself in particularly gripping performances
of either work in the concert hall. The New
London Soloists are a very good orchestra
– some very assured brass playing in the Beethoven,
along with some outstanding woodwind solos,
impressed. But, such a thin body of strings
in both performances – with only six ‘cellos
and four basses – proved to be too little
to give the performances the depth of sound
both needed. Ivor Setterfield’s brisk tempi
for the Beethoven never once created a frisson
of drama or impact – and with such lacklustre
string tone this only added to the impression
of this being a weightless performance, one
that was neither HIP nor especially ‘modern’
in its approach. A luminous – and fast - account
of the funeral march almost benefited
from such spectral string tone – the first
and second violin figures of the fugal central
section – even though not divided as strings
– did embody an impressive sense of implied
division. Too often, however, a sense of architecture
was sacrificed for erratic tempi – and this
was certainly the case in the final movement
and its coda – which meant detail was irreparably
lost; and even though Setterfield conducted
without a baton there was little sense of
musical shape being given to the performance.
Tippett’s
A Child of our Time got off to a false
start but more problematical was the slowness
of the underlying tempi maintained throughout
the performance. Tippett, himself prone to
slowness in this work, at least realised how
crucial the brevity of pauses between the
movements should be; for Setterfield they
could be sustained for such an inordinate
length of time that all dramatic tension and
purpose was lost. But even given these problems
the performance did have some undoubted merits:
the sublime woodwind phrasing in ‘Is evil
then good?’ recalled the precision in the
Beethoven, and if the brass playing was often
tonally splendid one did yearn for better
balance (in the closing spiritual of Part
I the trumpets were all but obliterated by
the chorus). ‘The cold deepens’ was intoned
with a delicate balance between sombre strings
and plangent brass.
The
four soloists were uneven. Rebecca Ryan had
some pitch problems in her solo ‘How can I
cherish my man in such day’ and in the following
spiritual an excessive vibrato drew attention
to her voice when it should in fact have been
drawing attention to the text. Jeanettte Ager’s
mezzo didn’t always have the requisite evenness
of tone in the lower register but she phrased
beautifully, her opening solo setting the
sun on a performance that was richly imagistic.
Wynne Evans seemed to weaken vocally as the
performance developed – his solo ‘My dreams
are all shattered’ was slightly masked by
the orchestration (although Tippett doesn’t
make it difficult for the tenor to ride above
the orchestra). Andrew Foster-Williams’ bass
bestrode his narrative magnificently – perhaps
not quite as deeply toned as would be ideal,
but impressive to listen to nevertheless.
The choruses – not always together – sang
heroically, if without the precision on some
recordings of the work.
Both
Tippett (see below) and Beethoven need greater
advocacy than they were given in this concert.
Marc Bridle
Further
Listening
Tippett, A Child
of our Time, Jessye Norman, Janet Baker,
Richard Cassilly, John Shirley-Quick, BBC
Singers, BBC Choral Society, BBC Symphony
Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis, Philips 4200752PH
(nla in UK, but available in Germany).
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