Aquí está encerrada el alma de … “Herein
is enshrined the soul of …” - so wrote Elgar at the head
of the published score of his Violin Concerto. Depending on which
source you consult there is still some debate as to the identity of
the ‘soul’. Putting that to one side, what is clear is
that this is an intensely personal and profound work. Therein lies
the paradox that taxes performers and audiences to this day. On one
hand you have a work of elusive introspection and deeply private emotion
yet on the other it is a big bold work full of typically Elgarian
gestures and public rhetoric. As well as confronting the considerable
technical hurdles it presents the soloist and conductor with an artistic
conundrum: which emotional/musical path must they follow and how to
find a balance that is both effective and satisfying.
Clearly this is a challenge relished by the modern generation of international
soloists with excellent versions in recent years from the likes of
James
Ehnes,
Gil
Shaham,
Thomas
Zehetmair,
Philippe
Graffin,
Tasmin
Little and
Nikolaj
Znaider to name some off the top of my head. Many of these players
offer dreaded unique selling points from Znaider’s use of Kreisler’s
violin to Little’s variant cadenza or Graffin’s original
manuscript to add to their undoubted musical gifts. So into such a
competitive field how does a relatively unknown player accompanied
by one of Germany’s less recorded orchestras fit? Pretty sensationally
well is the simple answer. The Staatskapelle Weimar is the world’s
second oldest orchestra, founded as it was in 1491. Since World War
II they languished behind the Iron Curtain and were not used as one
of the East’s flagship recording ensembles. As a result they
are all but unknown with a still-small recorded catalogue limiting
their international profile. Even so, they are a sensational orchestra
as evidenced on discs such as the Naxos recording of Strauss’s
Alpine Symphony. They are just as good live as a recent UK
tour proved - producing a sensationally rich and burnished bass-orientated
tone with power, personality and virtuosity to spare. Given this current
recording is of a live performance - just one, with some rehearsal
patching, one assumes - I am happy to report that all those qualities
are preserved here too.
What is ‘special’ about this version? To my ear it is
the total unity of vision between soloist, orchestra and podium. Dig
a little deeper into how this could have been achieved and one discovers
that Canadian-born soloist Catherine Manoukian is in fact the wife
of Swedish conductor Stefan Solyom who is in turn the principal conductor
of the Staatskapelle Weimar. This is, quite literally, a labour of
love. As ever in Elgar, the balance between emotion and sentiment
is a tricky one to find but here it works superbly. Other benefits
are found with an orchestra not burdened with a tradition of how Elgar
should go. The work’s opening is a perfect example. Initial
knee-jerk reactions tell you it is slow. Compared to any of the above
- Shaham in Chicago is the nearest - and they are all significantly
faster, often by a good 10%. Then check your score and put on a metronome
and Solyom is right on the money at crochet=100 as marked in the score.
Solyom is very close to the printed tempi in the other movements too.
Instantly the movement has a breadth and, yes, nobility that I find
rather wonderful. Likewise consider the soloist’s first entry;
famously playing the second, answering, half of the main theme. Elgar
marks this
f (loud) but tellingly with his trademark
nobilmente.
Manoukian is exactly that: strong but dignified. Compare that to some
famed performers struggle to pitch the ‘feel’ of their
first entry well. Try Kennedy both with Handley and far worse with
Rattle when he gives his entry an almighty kick with surely an
ff
dynamic and accents to nigh on every note. No one can doubt Manoukian’s
power or intensity at any moment but conversely she does not feel
the need to attack the listener. All this subtle detail needs a quality
orchestra to be able to sustain the requisite warmth. Again the Weimar
players are more than equal to the task.
My one sorrow is that the violins have not been split left and right.
Elgar tosses melodies mid-phrase between the sections and this registers
best when that aural division is most apparent. Elgar micro-manages
the solo part in particular with barely a bar going by without the
soloist being told to adjust dynamic, phrasing or articulation. Manoukian’s
great skill is not to be enslaved to that while at the same time inhabiting
wholly the spirit (soul?) of the piece. Likewise Solyom is masterly
in his handling of the great melodies in which this work abounds.
The great danger in Elgar is the anticipation of a tempo change by
changing the tempo. Superficially this can give the music a sense
of ebb and flow but the danger is that the musical line can grind
to a halt in wallowing emotionalism. Solyom achieves an excellent
balance between expressive rubato and keeping the music moving even
when his basic pulse is slower than one might often expect. Throughout,
Solyom’s interpretation initially surprises then wholly convinces.
He seems like a natural Elgarian and one hopes that in the light of
the success of this project he will investigate the larger orchestral
works.
Technically Manoukian is completely on top of this work which is demanding
both in its length and virtuosity. Throughout, this is a vibrantly
passionate performance but one that does not sacrifice beauty of tone.
At the same time, she does not exaggerate the music’s high Romanticism.
For sure there are passing moments where the tone is fractionally
forced but this is music-making in the white heat of inspiration.
This is in line with her vision of the work; in the liner-note she
and her husband contribute Manoukian argues that by recording the
work ‘as one’ live in concert the momentum is better maintained
and the perception of the piece as long, perhaps too long, is diminished.
My only query is that in seeking to achieve this Manoukian sacrifices
much of the fantasy that inhabits the finale and especially the famous
accompanied cadenza. It’s an impressive technical
tour de
force but the elusive mystery of the writing is missing. To my
mind this is the only interpretative mis-calculation in the work albeit
rather an important one. Revisiting the performance as a whole several
times before writing this review I get a growing impression that it
‘works’ in the overall arc. In the hall on that night
it must have been mightily impressive. I do feel that re-conceiving
things from the cadenza to the end would take a very fine performance
and would make it into a truly great one. Listen to the hushed string
accompaniment and it has exactly the kind of rapt intensity that is
just so right. The final pages expand wonderfully to the work’s
heroic end. As mentioned, this is a live event but until the enthusiastic
applause which comes in very quickly - and for quite some time - after
the final chord you are not aware of the audience’s presence
at all.
The avid collector of this concerto suffers from an embarrassment
of modern riches. Putting to one side classic versions from everyone
from
Sammons
to
Menuhin,
Heifetz,
Haendel,
Bean
and Kennedy (
Handley)
- who I like once past the aggressive opening - all of the more recent
releases mentioned above have real worth. If forced to choose from
those new discs interestingly I would probably plump for the other
‘live’ version from Gil Shaham in Chicago to put alongside
this but this is to praise the quality of this new release rather
than diminish in any way the others.
The disc is completed - slightly curiously it would seem - with two
Elgar miniatures for violin and piano. I say “it would seem”
until one makes the intuitive leap that the uncredited pianist is
surely Stefan Solyom. Nowhere on the liner does it say as much but
it must surely be so. Again, the unity of expression is quite superb
with Solyom proving to be as attentive an accompanist on the piano
as he was with the orchestra. There is a touchingly intimate simplicity
to the playing here that allows the spirit of the music to shine through.
How apt that they play “Love’s Greeting” (
Salut
d’Amour) as well as the rarer slightly later
Offertoire.
The Berlin Classics engineers place Manoukian slightly further back
from the microphones which gives her already beautiful tone more air
in a way wholly appropriate to these charming but essentially simple
pieces. The
Offertoire shows Elgar’s skill at negotiating
a salon style that teeters on the edge of sentimental and maudlin
but in fact comes off as touching and beautiful. Manoukian ‘pitches’
her performance absolutely perfectly and the pair work as an unexpectedly
charming and successful
bon bouche after the sheer scale and
impact of the concerto.
Berlin Classics have produced a very good disc; relatively short playing
time aside. Perhaps in the flesh the orchestra sound even richer than
here. Also I would not have minded if the soloist had been taken a
step further back into the orchestra. She has been given a very immediate
balance but it must be reiterated that her playing bears this kind
of scrutiny with ease. The CD is presented in a gatefold digipack
with a rather appealing
Art Nouveau style cover with the liner-note
tucked into a slot on the front sleeve. A personal note from conductor
and soloist, rehearsal photographs and a good liner regarding the
works complete the package. With such a multi-faceted piece no single
performance can ever hope to encompass all its myriad riches but I
have been greatly impressed by the coherence and sheer quality of
this version. The music-making that is happening in Weimar under Solyom
deserves far greater international currency as does the violin playing
of Ms Manoukian. Together they are a potent and exciting team. More
please.
Nick Barnard
Masterwork Index: Violin
concerto
