Category Archives: In concert

Online Concert: Chouchane Siranossian, Leonardo Garcia Alarcón, Balázs Máté @ Wigmore Hall – Bach, Schmelzer, Farina & Walther

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Chouchane Siranossian (violin), Leonardo Garcia Alarcón (harpsichord), Balázs Máté (cello)

J.S. Bach Violin Sonata in G minor BWV1021 (1732-5)
Farina Sonata quinta detta ‘La Farina’ (pub. 1626)
J.S. Bach Violin Sonata in C minor BWV1024: Adagio; Fugue in G minor BWV1026 (before 1712)
Walther Passacaglia from Sonata no.7 (pub. 1688)
Krikor Naregatsi Improvisation on Havun Havun
Locatelli Sonata in D minor for solo violin Op.6/12 (pub. 1737)
Schmelzer Violin Sonata ‘Victori der Christen’ (c1683-4)

Wigmore Hall, Monday 5 June 2023 1pm

by Ben Hogwood

This attractive programme of works for wind ensemble began with a rarity.

September is a prominent line in the sand in the course of the classical music year. The Proms ends, everyone else gears up for the start of an Autumn season, and a fresh wave of creativity begins.

The resumption of the BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert on Mondays at the Wigmore Hall is always a prominent part of the changing of the guard, and the choice to begin the new season with violinist Chouchane Siranossian, harpsichordist Leonardo Garcia Alarcón (both above) and cellist Balázs Máté was an inspired one.

The trio gave a recital based on their Bach Before Bach album of November 2021, bringing forward some of the master’s work for violin and harpsichord but putting it in the context of contemporaries Walther and Schmelzer, as well as some inspired earlier choices.

Bach himself began the programme, the Violin Sonata in G major BWV1021 featuring some effortlessly stylish playing. Siranossian has a particularly beautiful tone and a sense of ornamentation that fits this music instinctively. The same can be said for the fluent harpsichordist Alarcón, an expressive player of exceptional balance, complemented by the burnished tones of cellist Máté. A songful Adagio gave way to an enormously enjoyable, quickfire Vivace, which itself led to a tasteful, florid Largo, led by legato harpsichord. An attractive Presto finished an uplifting account.

We then had a rare opportunity to hear the music of Carlo Farina, whose work is not often heard in concert. With performances like these he deserves much better, for the Sonata quinta detta featured lively passagework and darker colours, the music glinting at the edges as the violin became prone to passionate outbursts over rich harmonies. Siranossian selected a shorter bow for this music, playing to the snappy, playful interjections.

Two Bach movements followed, cleverly linked – a deeply profound Adagio, given great depth and character by the violinist, then a virtuosic Fugue, a very tricky proposition given Bach’s writing but brilliantly played. Walther’s Passacaglia, meanwhile, was a fiery complement, setting out the main theme in relatively polite tones but then liable to explosive outbursts of virtuosity.

After all this activity came the brilliantly timed Improvisation on Havun, Havun, from 10th century Armenian monk Krikor Naregatsi. This introduced a remarkable stillness to the concert, time standing still as the violin turned ornamental phrases over a drone from the cello’s open A and D strings. Siranossian segued straight into the Locatelli, a solo sonata with daring feats of virtuosity here but retaining some of the bird-like qualities found in the Naregatsi. Her impeccable intonation and bow control were striking, but the music reached a truly exalted level in the fifth movement Capriccio ‘prova dell’intonazione’, the sky truly the limit for the violin’s highest register!

There was also a bold opening to Schmelzer‘s pictorial sonata Victori der Christen, with multiple stopping and very descriptive writing, especially in the slow and sorrowful sections. To complement the drama of the Schmelzer, Siranossian introduced the first movement of the Sonata in D major from Georg Muffat. This was another excerpt from the trio’s disc, but one whose sunny countenance was the perfect foil – and which put the seal on a remarkable concert with playing of an exceptional standard.

You can listen to Bach Before Bach via Spotify below:

For more livestreamed concerts from the Wigmore Hall, click here

BBC Proms 2023 – BBC Symphony Orchestra / Semyon Bychkov: Bruckner Symphony no.8

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Prom 65 – BBC Symphony Orchestra / Semyon Bychkov

Bruckner Symphony no.8 in C minor WAB108 (1884-7, rev. 1889-90 [ed. Nowak])

Royal Albert Hall, London
Monday 4 September 2023

by Richard Whitehouse photos by Chris Christodoulou / BBC

It may have taken 70 years for its Proms premiere but the Eighth has since become the second most often played of Bruckner’s symphonies (this being its 21st hearing), and a near capacity house greeted tonight’s performance by the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Semyon Bychkov.

At home across a broad repertoire, Bychkov has of yet directed relatively little Bruckner, and the first movement took its time to settle. Fugitive rather than speculative in their emotional import, those distinct motivic elements lacked a final degree of definition and only began to take on greater cumulative focus during a development whose unfolding drama was matched but not exceeded by the climax of the coda – after which, that inexorable winding down into silence was precisely controlled while curiously unevocative in its sense of time running out.

With the outer sections taken at a swift but never headlong tempo that enabled its underlying ostinato pattern to be perceived throughout, the Scherzo exuded energy while also mystery in what remains Bruckner’s most powerful instance of a genre he made his own. The brass was at its most assured, and Bychkov duly avoided any temptation to make the lengthy trio a self-contained episode. Its unforced progress brought winsome contributions from woodwind and harps, the reprise then having audibly greater impetus as it surged towards its decisive close.

As so often in this symphony, the Adagio found the interpretation and its realization in most potent accord. Mindful to draw its continual thematic restatements into a consistent process of developing variation, Bychkov conveyed the music’s expressive but also spatial grandeur with an assurance hardly less evident in its unfolding tonal trajectory. Nor did the excising of material in revision impede its course, even if the sudden appearance of cymbals and triangle at its climax sounded more than usually redundant. A pity, moreover, that momentary failings of intonation among Wagner tubas affected what was otherwise his near perfect rendering of the coda – Bruckner’s distilling of main motifs, underpinned by the halting accompaniment, finding closure only at that point where everything stops as the movement comes full circle.

From here the Finale set out with due purposefulness, even though the occasional rhythmic hesitancy gave notice of an approach in which the whole did not quite match the sum of its admittedly impressive parts. Strategically coinciding with those divisions of the movement overall, the chorale-like main theme brought a resplendent response as left its eloquent then ominous successors sounding incidental within the ongoing formal scheme, and though the extensive development did not lack for variety of content, its discursiveness made for a less than perfect unity. Any remaining tentativeness was none the less dispelled in a coda whose gradual emergence made for an apotheosis of unusual clarity – the superimposing of themes not just ingenious in its technical skill but cathartic in its conveying of a journey completed.

The illustrious rollcall of conductors who have tackled this work at the Proms speaks for itself, and while Bychkov might not yet have joined the ranks of Wand, Haitink and Mehta et al, his belief in and commitment to Bruckner’s Eighth was amply communicated to all those present.

For more on the 2023 BBC Proms, visit the festival’s website at the BBC. Meanwhile click on the names for more information on the BBC Symphony Orchestra and guest conductor Semyon Bychkov – and finally composer Anton Bruckner

BBC Proms 2023 – Kirill Gerstein, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin / Vladimir Jurowski: Weill, Adès & Rachmaninoff

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Prom 60 – Kirill Gerstein (piano), Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra / Vladimir Jurowski

Weill Kleine Dreigroschenmusik (1928, arr. 1929)
Adès Piano Concerto (2018) [Proms premiere]
Rachmaninoff Symphony no.3 in A minor Op.44 (1935-6, rev. 1938)

Royal Albert Hall, London
Thursday 31 August 2023

by Richard Whitehouse photos by Andy Paradise / BBC

Marking its centenary this October, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra may be less known abroad than other Berlin orchestras but this Proms debut under chief conductor Vladimir Jurowski confirmed an ensemble at home across the broad range of modern and contemporary music.

Not least in Little Threepenny Music, a ‘selection’ Kurt Weill arranged from his and Bertold Brecht’s reworking of The Beggar’s Opera which takes in several of that show’s best-known numbers while also affording a demonstrable overview of its satirical concerns. The BRSO responded with vigour and not a little pathos – above all, in the Threepenny Finale and its juxtaposing pensive ambivalence with a glowering decisiveness: that final chorale making plain its damning inditement of German cultural failings in the era of the Weimar Republic.

A spirited participant, Kirill Gerstein took centre-stage for the first hearing at these concerts of the Piano Concerto written for him by Thomas Adès. Now as before, Gerstein’s dexterity in negotiating this score’s pert amalgam of intricacy and bravura warranted respect: whether in what might be called the ‘Self-Portrait with Gershwin and Ligeti (though Prokofiev is also there)’ of the first movement, Stravinskian cortège of the central Andante, or the interplay of vivacity and uncertainty in the final Allegro. An attentive accompanist, Jurowski summoned playing as tensile and supple as the orchestral writing demands – though abetting the overall impression (his recent works in particular) that even as consummate a conceptualist as Adès needs to instil those ideas, often arresting in themselves, with comparable musical substance.

Gerstein’s transcription of Rachmaninoff’s In the Silence of the Secret Night (Op.4/3) duly prepared for the latter’s Third Symphony. First given at the Proms 85 years ago, it still attracts dislike from those who find it a self-conscious update of the composer’s inherently Romantic idiom as well as those who dislike such an idiom in any case. Not that Jurowski’s account brooked any compromise in marrying consistent technical precision to a powerfully shaped conception of music often appealing, frequently intriguing and not a little unsettling.

The stark rendering of its introduction – spectral ‘motto’ then surging tutti – set the course for an initial movement where contrast between expectancy and eloquence came to a head in the development with its anguished fusion between heart and brain. The Adagio unfolded with an almost Sibelian inevitability, not least in the seamlessness by which its outer sections flowed into then out of a central scherzo abounding in that sardonic humour as became a mainstay of Rachmaninoff’s later years. Nor was there anything blandly predictable about a finale whose opening exuberance was ably maintained through a consoling but never wantonly languorous secondary theme, eventually resolving into a coda whose unfolding as a crescendo of activity brought the whole work – and the present reading – animatedly and satisfyingly full circle.

Impressive music-making on all levels and Jurowski further cemented the Proms connection, specifically that between Rachmaninoff and Henry Wood, with the latter’s transcription of the former’s Prelude in C sharp minor Op.3/2) – as tempestuous as it proved exhilarating.

For more on the 2023 BBC Proms, visit the festival’s website at the BBC. Meanwhile click on the names for more information on artists Kirill Gerstein, the Berlin Radio SO and conductor Vladimir Jurowski – and finally composer Thomas Adès

BBC Proms 2023 – Jon Hopkins with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Jules Buckley

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Prom 58

Hopkins
ATHOS (arr. Jules Buckley) (BBC Commission, world premiere)
Feel First Life (arr. Peter Riley & Leo Abrahams)
The Wider Sun (arr. Sam Gale)
Singularity (arr. Simon Dobson)
Music for Psychedelic Therapy – excerpt (arr. Peter Riley)
Form by Firelight (arr. Peter Riley)
Luna Moth (arr. Sam Gale)
Collider (arr. Simon Dobson)
Abandon Window (arr. Tom Trapp)
Recovery

Jon Hopkins (piano, programming), Leo Abrahams (guitar), BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Chorus (chorus master David Young), BBC Symphony Orchestra / Jules Buckley

Royal Albert Hall, London
Tuesday 29 August 2023

by Ben Hogwood photos by Mark Allan / BBC

Electronic and orchestral music are more closely related than you might think, with Jon Hopkins a classic case in point. For 15 years, the pianist and producer has been carefully sculpting his music either as a contributor for other artists (King Creosote, Coldplay and Brian Eno to name just three) or making his own, weather-beaten albums. Starting with Opalescent and Insides, these have developed into immersive meditations (Singularity and the most recent long player Music for Psychedelic Therapy) by way of more full-bodied rave music (2013’s Immunity). How, then, does this music hold up in a packed and expectant Royal Albert Hall?

Extremely well as it turns out. In order to achieve what he described beforehand as ‘a meditation for 5,000 people’, Hopkins has to temporarily turn his back on beat-driven, post-rave landmarks such as Collider or Form By Firelight. When such material appears, its percussive impact is modified so that the main job is done by the timeless, meditative chorale echoing around the hall.

Hopkins’ music is repetitive, but as with the best exponents of minimalism – Steve Reich, Philip Glass and John Adams, for instance – the material under repetition rewards the investment made. The mind is eased, enjoying the upfront melodies but also taking up the option of picking out new threads beneath the surface, like examining a tartan pattern under a magnifying glass.

The tartan analogy is purposeful, for Hopkins’ earlier music has a distinctive Celtic edge furthered by his work with King Creosote. The Wider Sun, from 2009 album Insides, has an authentic left of centre tuning, is slow but packs emotional heft, beautifully arranged by Sam Gale and masterfully weighted by Jules Buckley and the BBC Symphony Orchestra strings.

Before that we hear a new piece, the 25-minute ATHOS demonstrating Hopkins’ control of larger structures. This is a natural direction for his music to be taking after Music for Psychedelic Therapy, for it is effectively an album ‘A’ side of several interwoven tracks. The profile and material of ATHOS sits closely to composers such as Arvo Pärt, and in particular his Credo, but Hopkins has up his sleeve a number of heart-shifting modulations. Accentuated by the Royal Albert Hall organ, these are once heard, never forgotten moments.

So, too, are the choral passages, thanks to pinpoint interpretations from the BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Chorus, whose lines float effortlessly above the orchestral forces. Their vocal control is masterful and effortless, ensuring the sustained notes keep their emotional impact without wavering. Lesser singers would have tailed off long before these ones even think of blinking!

The sequence of music, running for approximately 75 minutes, is well chosen. Only on occasion does the source material become oversimplified, and as it turns out these moments serve as natural pauses for breath in the musical tapestry.

Guitarist Leo Abrahams, appearing for the last two numbers, makes a critical contribution (above). A good friend and established collaborator with Hopkins and Eno, he brings a sharper timbre to the shredded distortion of Recovery, which is – as throughout – complemented by imaginative and sympathetic lighting.

This was a multisensory Prom, containing a different sort of symphony to which the Royal Albert Hall is normally accustomed. Hopkins has proved his credentials in mastering larger structures, and his development in this field will be worth watching for sure. For now, the afterglow remains.

For more on the 2023 BBC Proms, visit the festival’s website at the BBC. For more on the artists, click here to read about Jon Hopkins, Leo Abrahams, Jules Buckley and the BBC Symphony Orchestra

BBC Proms 2023 – Christian Tetzlaff, BBC Symphony Orchestra / Sakari Oramo – Weir, Schumann & Elgar

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Prom 51 – Christian Tetzlaff (violin), BBC Symphony Orchestra / Sakari Oramo

Weir Begin Afresh (BBC commission, world premiere) (2022-3)
Schumann Symphony no.1 in B flat major Op.38 ‘Spring’ (1841)
Elgar Violin Concerto in B minor Op.61 (1907-10)

Royal Albert Hall, London
Thursday 24 August 2023

by Ben Hogwood photos by Andy Paradise / BBC

The BBC Symphony Orchestra and their chief conductor Sakari Oramo have been on fine form this Proms season, and for their fourth outing together chose a concert whose first half celebrated the vibrancy of spring.

Judith Weir (below) has already written about green matter for orchestra, with her tone poem Forest premiered in 1995 and appearing at the Proms in 2019. Begin Afresh, its title inspired by Philip Larkin verse, takes a more forensic approach, looking at the wonder of trees in an urban setting. Effectively a musical diary, it begins in April, where we found orchestra leader Igor Yuzefovich teaming up with the woodwind section to lead an awakening from months of darkness. Fresh textures and opulent harmonies promised much, but October assumed a heavier tread, trees struggling to produce leaves with the onset of colder weather. Darker colours, including the sharper tone of the piano, came to the fore, but there was strong resolve reminiscent of Sibelius in the colours and phrasing, tonal but restless. True darkness set in among the lean lines of February, where roots fought against the frost, their sinewy profiles etched by the lower strings. Begin Afresh found its victory to be hard-won, but proved to be an attractive and pictorial piece deserving of more outings in the future.

Schumann’s Spring symphony, written in 1841 in the heady aftermath of his marriage to Clara, occupied an odd place in the program but benefited from a freshly minted performance. The initial fanfare set the tone for an interpretation of clarity and poise, the burbling woodwind on fine form. The ensuing Allegro molto vivace was bracing, and was complemented by a softly voiced second movement Larghetto. Here the softer shades were ideally weighted, the strings’ intimate thoughts conveyed with deep feeling. The Scherzo found the violins applying extra force, the theme balanced by two light-footed trio sections that danced happily. Oramo’s fluent reading of this wonderful symphony ended with a convincing last movement affirmation.

If spring was the main focus of the first half, Elgar’s Violin Concerto was ideally suited to late summer. There are many violin concertos in this year’s season – 13 at last count – and although this is the longest work by some distance, it did not tarry here. This was thanks in part to relatively quick tempo choices but mostly due to wholehearted investment from Oramo and soloist Christian Tetzlaff, who clearly loves the piece. From his first statement the violinist was in full, assertive control yet his most meaningful contributions were also the quietest, beckoning the audience in to Elgar’s most intimate thoughts and emotions.

The orchestral counterpoint was clearly and carefully managed by Oramo, himself a dignified Elgarian, with opportunity given for the strings to release ardent feelings in the climax points. The main themes were lovingly delivered, especially in the rapt slow movement Andante, the audience largely silent as the compelling dialogue took hold. While Tetzlaff took every opportunity for virtuoso display, reminding us that no less a violinist than Fritz Kreisler commissioned this work in 1904, none of the acrobatics were for personal gain. Instead they were at the service of Elgar’s expression, which made the final pages all the more telling. As the quiet music took hold a chill spread through the music, a sombre realisation that love – in this case – might not prevail. This realisation unwittingly found a parallel, a musical realisation of the temperatures dropping and the nights drawing in as they do in late August.

The concerto may have had an affirmative finish but these thoughts remained, reinforced by a tastefully restrained encore of the Andante from Bach’s Solo Violin Sonata no.2 in A minor BWV1003. As with the performance before, it was beautifully judged.

For more on the 2023 BBC Proms, visit the festival’s website at the BBC. Meanwhile click on the artist names for more on Christian Tetzlaff, Sakari Oramo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.