Tag Archives: Johannes Brahms

In concert – Janine Jansen and friends play Brahms @ Wigmore Hall

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Janine Jansen (violin), Timothy Ridout (viola), Daniel Blendulf (cello), Denis Kozhukhin (piano)

Brahms
Violin Sonata no.2 in A major Op.100 (1886)
Viola Sonata no.2 in E flat major Op.120/2 (1894)
Piano Quartet no.3 in C minor Op.60 (1855-75)

Wigmore Hall, London
Thursday 21 December 2023

Reviewed by Ben Hogwood. Photos of Janine Jansen & Timothy Ridout (c) Marco Borggreve

After the unfortunate cancellation of a concert in her series the previous week, violinist Janine Jansen and friends returned to health and to a Christmassy Wigmore Hall for another all-Brahms programme.

Jansen (above) and pianist Denis Kozhukhin (below) began with the Violin Sonata no.2, a late substitution for the first sonata but a breath of fresh air on a winter evening. One of Brahms’s best-loved chamber piece, its charming first theme has enough to weaken the hardest heart. So it was here, with Jansen’s affectionate playing. Her creamy tone was complemented by the incisive piano playing of Kozhukhin, who was deceptively relaxed in his body language but very much in tune with Brahms’s intricate rhythms and phrasing. The two excelled in the central section of the second movement, which tripped along with admirable definition of those rhythms, and in the finale, where the two enjoyed a more assertive musical dialogue.

Brahms’s last completed chamber work followed, Kozhukhin joined by violist Timothy Ridout (below) for a performance of the Viola Sonata no.2, arranged by Brahms from the clarinet original. This account exhibited elegance, poise and no little power. Ridout’s burnished tone was ideal for the music, capturing the shadowy outlines of music from a composer in his twilight years, but putting down suitably firm markers in the second movement. Ridout’s high register playing was a treat throughout, his tuning exemplary, and as the two players navigated the theme and five variations of the finale there was an ideal give and take between the part-writing. Particularly memorable was the plaintive stillness of the fourth variation, its mystery dispelled by the affirmative ending.

After the interval we heard the Piano Quartet no.3, competed in 1875 when Brahms was working on the completion of his first symphony. The two works have a good deal in common, beyond sharing the same tonality, for Brahms brings an orchestral dimension to his writing for the four instruments. This grouping needed no invitation to take up the mantle, powering through the first movement with relish, their dramatic account notable for strength of tone and unity of ensemble playing. Jansen and Ridout in particular stood out, their unisons absolutely as one, yet the real hero of the performance was Kozhukhin, elevating the heroic elements of a score closely associated with Goethe’s Werther while keeping the nervousness emanating from Brahms’s syncopated rhythms.

Lest he be forgotten, cellist Daniel Blendulf (above) delivered an understated solo of considerable beauty to begin the Andante, providing respite from the high voltage drama elsewhere but getting to the heart of Brahms’s soulful writing for the instrument. The quartet regrouped for the finale, another show of breathtaking power but with room for reverence in the chorale themes and their development. For all the bravura the air of uneasiness remained as an undercurrent, Brahms never quite at rest even when the quartet reached its emphatic conclusion. This was a truly memorable performance, capping an outstanding evening of music making for which all involved should be immensely proud.

Published post no.2,047 – Friday 22 December 2023

In concert – Carolin Widmann, CBSO / Nicholas Carter: Haydn, Ligeti & Brahms

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Carolin Widmann (violin, below), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Nicholas Carter

Haydn Symphony no.96 in D major Hob.1/96 ‘Miracle’ (1791)
Ligeti Violin Concerto (1989-93)
Brahms Symphony no.3 in F major Op.90 (1883)

Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Wednesday 1 November 2023

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

Tonight’s concert by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra saw a collaboration with the well-regarded Nicholas Carter – former chief conductor of the Adelaide Symphony, now holding that position with Bühnen Bern alongside guest appearances in Europe and the US.

Few conductors would nowadays begin a programme with a Haydn symphony, and Carter’s take on no.96 did not lack for conviction. The Miracle of a falling if harmless chandelier may have taken place at the premiere of no.102 but does not lessen the quality of this work, its slyly portentous Adagio introducing an Allegro whose motivic unity is most evident in a tensile development and agile coda. With felicitous writing for oboe (rendered so by Helena Mackie) and violin (a welcome ‘guest lead’ from Zoë Beyers), the Andante is the highlight – Carter making the most of antiphonal violins where the gains in clarity or incisiveness were never in doubt. Steady but with a lilting grace then a piquant trio, the Minuetto was a perfect foil to the final Vivace – its energetic interplay duly capped by a coda of uninhibited verve.

Good that the CBSO marked György Ligeti’s centenary with his Violin Concerto, combining the composer’s love of polyrhythms and varied tunings with a heady recall of his Hungarian heritage. No stranger to this piece, Carolin Widmann emphasized the teasing reticence of its Praeludium and found aching nostalgia in the folk inflections of its Aria-Hoquetus-Choral. The coruscating build-up of its Intermezzo and finely wrought intensity of its Passacaglia were well judged, Carter bringing out the strangeness of orchestral writing with its extremes of register and an array of unorthodox instruments. The final Appassionato was trenchantly done, and while Widmann’s overly matter-of-fact cadenza robbed the closing ensemble bars of their barbed humour, it proved a small blemish on this otherwise captivating performance.

Brahms’ Third Symphony has done well by the CBSO in recent seasons, and Carter’s reading was no exception. Any hint of stolidity at the outset of the initial Allegro had gone during the exposition’s repeat, then the development accrued a momentum such as carried through to the end of this movement. The coda’s transfigured poise (Brahms’ riposte to Tristan?) was no less evident in the Andante, its melodic simplicity belying an emotional ambiguity as was implied by its ruminative asides before suddenly being made explicit during the confiding final pages.

The Poco allegretto was (rightly) taken not as an extra slow movement, rather an intermezzo of a pathos which was accentuated by its deft forward motion. The final Allegro then brought a culmination in all respects – Carter alive to its stark contrasts between the speculative and the combative, with a thrilling transition into the reprise then a coda that recalled the work’s defining motto with mingled aspiration and benediction on its way to an ending of perfectly judged repose. Never the easiest symphony to bring off, this was a Brahms Three to savour.

Carter will hopefully be working with this orchestra again soon. Next Wednesday’s concert brings Cristian Macelaru in a programme with Sibelius and Mendelssohn, while Thursday’s Centre Stage recital has a welcome revival of the Clarinet Quintet by Elizabeth Maconchy.

You can read all about the 2023/24 season and book tickets at the CBSO website. Click on the artist names for more information on violinist Carolin Widmann and conductor Nicholas Carter, and for more about composer György Ligeti

Published post no.1,998 – Friday 3 November 2023

In concert – Noriko Ogawa, English Symphony Orchestra / Kenneth Woods – Brahms, Grieg & Sibelius

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Noriko Ogawa (piano), English String Orchestra / Kenneth Woods

Brahms Tragic Overture, Op. 81 (1880)
Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16 (1868)
Sibelius Symphony No. 5 in E flat, Op. 82 (1915-19)

Town Hall, Cheltenham
Sunday 16 April 2023

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

The English Symphony Orchestra’s latest concert had no English (or British) connection and no premieres or unfamiliar music. In short, a mainstream sequence of overture, concerto and symphony which worked as a programme simply because these pieces went so well together.

Although it has never lacked for performances, Brahms’s Tragic Overture remains among his more unusual conceptions: a concert overture whose deftly modified sonata design admits an element of evocation as if some intangible drama were being played out. It was to the credit of this performance when such subjection offset an otherwise unwavering formal trajectory, Kenneth Woods integrating the speculative central episode with a conviction that made the heightened reprise of the main theme the more telling for its implacably wrought fatalism.

Brahms’s writing of an overture with components as if ‘in the wrong order’ made an unlikely link to the Piano Concerto by Grieg, which still offers a wealth of surprises in a sympathetic reading. This it received from Noriko Ogawa – bringing out the unforced eloquence of what, the opening Allegro in particular, is much more than a loose sequence of enticing melodies in search of coherence. As her imaginative take on its cadenza underlined, Grieg left nothing to chance as the movement turns decisively full circle. With its easeful horn melody (courtesy of James Topp) and alluring solo response, the Adagio exuded an understated allure, and if the finale lacked for any rhythmic verve, the central section with its rapt flute melody (courtesy of Laura Jellicoe) sounded as affecting as its heightened peroration at the close was majestic.

The ESO and Woods are currently working towards a Sibelius cycle and their account of the Fifth Symphony had all the hallmarks of complete identity with, here again, a determination not to take to take anything in so familiar a work for granted. This was especially notable in the opening movement – its segueing between what began as two separate entities rendered with due seamlessness. Not least that central climax, out of which the scherzo emerged then proceeded to accrue motion imperceptibly through to a coda whose velocity was irresistibly evident. Much more than a whimsical interlude, the Andante had keen appreciation of those ambiguous shadows which inform its progress at crucial junctures, yet without undermining that guileless essence to the fore in the closing pages with their felicitous woodwind playing.

Making an attacca (and rightly so) directly into the finale, Woods brought out the productive contrast between its ideas – thus, the initial theme with its onrushing strings, then the ‘swan melody’ with its harmonic allure and intricate textural layering abetted here by the up-front acoustic of Cheltenham Town Hall. Just how so tensile and compact a movement generates an apotheosis of such grandeur cannot easily be explained, yet such an outcome was tangible as those concluding chords emerged with an inevitability as undeniable as it was heartening.

They certainly set the seal on an impressive performance which was warmly received by the sizable house. The ESO can be heard in Worcester early next month with assistant conductor Michael Karcher-Young, then with Woods in June for the latest edition of The Elgar Festival.

For more information on the artists in this concert, click on the links to read about Noriko Ogawa Kenneth Woods and the English Symphony Orchestra.

In concert – Behzod Abduraimov, CBSO / François Leleux – Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto no.2; Brahms: Serenade no.1 & Academic Festival Overture

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Behzod Abduraimov (piano, above), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / François Leleux (below)

Brahms Academic Festival Overture Op. 80 (1880)
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto no.2 in C minor Op.18 (1900-1901)
Brahms Serenade no.1 in D major Op.11 (1858-9)

Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Thursday 13 April 2023

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

Its first concert since returning from a European tour saw the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in a programme which tellingly placed Rachmaninoff’s most famous composition within the context of less often heard or uncharacteristically (?) humorous pieces by Brahms.

Cinematic and other extra-musical associations often obscure the purely musical qualities of Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto, so credit to the Uzbek pianist Behzod Abduraimov for duly underlining these in a reading full of incident and unfailingly cohesive. Among the former might be mentioned the limpid elegance of the first movement’s second theme and its improvisatory continuation before the coda, bewitching transition from the Adagio’s central scherzo back to the main melody, and those evocative interludes after the finale’s ‘big tune’ – this latter returning to cap the whole work in unforced ardour. Integration between piano and orchestra was unfailing, as too the emotional immediacy of the CBSO’s response, and who could question Abduraimov’s decision not to provide an encore after so fine a performance.

Rachmaninoff and Brahms seldom complement each other in concert, though the Academic Festival Overture provided an ideal curtain-raiser. Typically more than a potpourri of student songs (drinking or otherwise), the cunningly fashioned sonata design was deftly unfolded by François Leleux so that its portentous and uproarious elements were held in perfect accord. The percussion audibly relished its rare outing in a Brahms score, not least at the close when the hymn-like ‘Gaudeamus igitur’ emerges to see this piece through to its exhilarating close.

Following the interval, a relatively infrequent hearing for Brahms’s First Serenade. Originally planned for chamber ensemble and later rescored for late-Classical forces (with four horns), its equivocally symphonic ambitions and proportions were inevitably overshadowed by what Brahms went on to achieve, but its musical attractions are many and Leleux had its measure. Not least during an initial Allegro, its dextrous horn theme setting the tone for a movement whose impetus was engagingly maintained through to the touching insouciance of its coda.

Omitting repeats in this movement’s exposition and the first half of the Scherzo – which latter anticipates Brahms’s intermezzos in its speculative aura and understated progress – ensured a viable balance with the Adagio. A pre-echo of slow movements to come, the observance of its ‘non troppo’ marking prevented any loss of expressive focus across the methodically evolving whole. If the remaining movements are closer conceptually to serenade rather than symphony, Leleux gave them their due – whether the twin Menuettos with their enticing contrast between woodwind and strings, a second and more rhythmic Scherzo with rustic horn writing here and in the trio, then the final Rondo in which Brahms looks back to those comparable movements from early Beethoven and Schubert with a lack of inhibition he was only rarely to recapture.

Such was the effect of an account that received an enthusiastic response from the near-capacity house. The CBSO strings take the stage next Saturday for a coupling of Schubert arranged by Mahler and Vivaldi interspersed with Piazolla, directed by their leader Eugene Tzikindelean.

You can read all about the 2022/23 season and book tickets at the CBSO website. Click on the artist names for more on Behzod Abduraimov and François Leleux

In concert – Eugene Tzikindelean, CBSO / Alpesh Chauhan: Brahms, Nielsen & Shostakovich

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Brahms Tragic Overture Op. 81 (1880)
Nielsen Violin Concerto DF61 (1911)
Shostakovich Symphony no.5 in D minor Op.47 (1937)

Eugene Tzikindelean (violin), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Alpesh Chauhan

Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Wednesday 7 December 2022 [2.15pm]

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

A gratifyingly large house greeted this afternoon concert given by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with its former assistant conductor Alpesh Chauhan, taking in works long established in the repertoire and a concerto which remains on or about its periphery.

Tackling Brahms’s Tragic Overture depends on whether one sees it as an overture pure if not so simple, or as a tone poem with its ‘programme’ subsumed into the music’s inner workings. Chauhan favoured a viable mid-way course, his steady if never flaccid approach keeping its sonata design firmly in view but with enough expressive license to bring out the pathos in its second main theme and, especially, that spellbinding transition to its reprise when a wistful vulnerability steals over the music as if denying the implacable fatalism otherwise dominant.

CBSO leader Eugene Tzikindelean then took the stage as soloist. A bold if unexpected choice for such an appearance, Nielsen’s Violin Concerto has never quite received its due outside of Denmark but that it makes a cogent impression was never in doubt in a reading as insightful as this. Its Praeludium keenly yet sensitively rendered, Tzikindelean despatched the ensuing Allegro with the right chivalrousness and suavity. A broken string in the development caused only minimal delay as he produced its replacement then restrung his instrument with alacrity.

Its self-sufficient halves make sustaining an overall trajectory the crucial factor in this piece and Tzikindelean succeeded admirably, drawing inward rapture from the second movement’s lengthy Poco adagio before steering a never too hasty course through its lightly ironic Rondo. Tzikindelean responded to the enthusiastic response with the opening ‘Country Musicians’ section from Enescu’s Impressions d’Enfance as a delectable encore: maybe we can expect that composer’s Caprice Roumain or Pascal Bentoiu’s Violin Concerto on a future occasion?

Throughout this performance, Chauhan proved steadfast and attentive in support, then came into his own after the interval with an impressive take on Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony. If the earlier stages of the Moderato seemed a little reined-in, the development accumulated the requisite intensity on the way to a powerfully conceived reprise, then a coda of aching regret. Steadier and less capricious than usual, the ensuing Allegretto yielded a keen impetus and, in its trio, a deftly ‘knowing’ contribution from Tzikindelean having retaken the leader’s chair.

It was the Largo that proved the highlight of this performance. Chauhan sustained its heartfelt interplay of themes with unforced rightness, CBSO woodwind heard to advantage in its rapt central episode before a climax of wrenching eloquence that subsided into expectant stillness. Launched (almost) attacca, the final Allegro unfolded with due emphasis on its ‘non troppo’ marking; its calculated aggression pointedly undercut by musing circumspection, before the heady ascent towards an apotheosis which was more than usually defiant in its equivocation.

A performance that provided ample indication of Chauhan’s emergence as a conductor of the front rank. Hopefully he will be returning to the CBSO soon, the latter’s activities continuing with the customary Christmas and Viennese New Year concerts with which to see out 2022

You can read all about the 2022/23 season and book tickets at the CBSO website. Click on the artist names for more on Alpesh Chauhan and Eugene Tzikindelean