Andris Nelsons made his debut with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in
2008 and has since been a regular guest in Amsterdam. I encountered the
partnership on a magnificent disc recorded at the Lucerne Festival which
included a memorable account of the Shostakovich Eighth Symphony (
review). Nelsons has just taken up the Musical
Directorship of the Boston Symphony Orchestra but I’ve wondered more than
once if he might instead have taken the helm of the Royal Concertgebouw had
his mentor, Mariss Jansons, announced a little earlier his forthcoming
retirement as Chief Conductor of the orchestra. Given that Nelsons is still
only 36 years old I wouldn’t bet against him taking over the leadership of
this great orchestra at some time in the future since this set of Strauss
recordings confirms that they make an impressive partnership.
Andris Nelsons has already given us excellent audio recordings of
Also
Sprach Zarathustra and
Till Eulenspiegel as part of his series
of Strauss symphonic poems for Orfeo with the CBSO (
review). Now that he’s to leave Birmingham at the
end of the 2014/15 season to concentrate on the Boston Symphony Orchestra I
don’t know if any further Strauss recordings from Nelsons and the CBSO will
be forthcoming. These live performances from Amsterdam postdate in both
cases his Birmingham recordings.
The first performance on the programme is a Christmas Day account of
Also Sprach Zarathustra. I don’t always find this the most
appealing of Strauss’s tone poems but, my goodness, Nelsons and the RCO
impressed me. The famous opening is imposing and a few minutes later I was
delighted by the ravishing sounds of the front desk string players at the
start of ‘Von den Hinterweltlern’. The ardent, surging playing in ‘Von der
großen Sehnsucht’ makes a terrific impression. ‘Von der Wissenschaft’ is
splendidly done: the slow quiet fugue begins mysteriously on the lower
strings and as other instruments join in and the textures and tension build
there’s fine control both by the players and from the podium. Nelsons builds
‘Der Genesende’ excitingly to the tutti reprise of the Nature theme. ‘Das
Tanzlied’ is very nicely inflected; hereabouts Nelsons grins widely and I’m
not surprised, such is the delicacy of the orchestra’s playing, the rhythms
very well sprung. The ending is sensitively done with all the nuances of
Strauss’s writing imaginatively brought out. This is a very fine account
indeed of
Also Sprach.
Macbeth is the earliest work on the programme. It’s a fairly rare
visitor to concert halls nowadays though it hasn’t fared badly on disc –
there are eight other recordings listed in our Masterworks Index. It’s not
one of Strauss’s best tone poems but Nelsons makes a very strong case for it
in this performance. He conducts it with gusto and evident belief and once
again the playing of the RCO is marvellous. It’s a dramatic reading but even
so none of the ideas lodged in my memory and that, I suggest, underlines the
relative weakness of the piece. Still, it’s good to find this excellent
Strauss conductor exploring one of the composer’s less familiar pieces and
doing it with such conviction.
We’re on much more familiar and, dare I say, stronger ground with
Till
Eulenspiegel. Nelsons is in his element here. The opening couple of
minutes are dashing yet a great attention to detail is in evidence also. The
performance is brilliant with wit and finesse in abundance. The orchestra
collectively is on imperious form – the woodwind playing is a special
delight - and there’s some marvellous solo playing to admire. Here I must
single out – as Nelsons does at the end – the leader, the principal horn and
the E-flat clarinet player, all of whom take their solo opportunities with
relish and no little character. This colourful, vivid performance is so good
that, despite the very fine renditions of the other two pieces, one feels
the best has been saved till last. Nelsons conducts with tremendous flair
and evident enjoyment; it must be very satisfying and exciting to conduct
one of the best orchestras in the world in this flamboyant virtuoso
showpiece.
So, here are three distinguished and exciting Strauss performances by an
orchestra that has the music in their blood under the direction of a man who
is fast establishing a reputation as a leading interpreter of this
composer’s music. The presentation is worthy of the playing: the camera-work
is first rate, as is the sound.
John Quinn
