Thursday 26 November 2015

New Hall, Classic Orchestra

I'm currently on holiday, and staying for just 3 nights in London after flying over from Canada.  But it's November, and the arts season is in full swing.  So, unlike the height of the summer, there are classical concerts all over the city -- in every venue from huge concert halls to little churches.

I had half a dozen choices for my two available nights, and finally opted for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra tonight, largely because they were playing in a venue I'd never heard of before: Cadogan Hall.  I would urge you to google the Hall's website and have a look, because it's quite the place with quite the unusual history.

But long story short: it's a former Christian Science Church that's been completely renovated into a beautiful concert hall, somewhere between neo-classical and art deco in style, with lovely acoustics and less than 1000 seats, making it more intimate than such venues as the Barbican, Royal Festival Hall, and especially the gargantuan Royal Albert Hall.  Tonight's concert was conducted by Christoph Koenig and featured cellist Laura van der Heijden.

The concert opened with Schubert's beloved Unfinished Symphony.  Koenig's performance of this work was classically shaped and avoided all interpretive excesses -- except one.  I felt the entire symphony was just a little too fast.  But this is a matter of personal taste.  Certainly Koenig heeded the famous advice of Sir Donald Tovey that the basic tempo of the two movements should be beat for beat identical, and if anything slightly faster in the second "slow" movement.  Koenig allowed the music to breathe beautifully without obviously speeding up or slowing down, and that's an art that seems to escape many conductors nowadays.  This entire work brought the most beautiful and poetic playing in the critical horn parts, and the clarinet's sustained lyrical lines in the second movement were an absolute delight too.

Believe it or not, this is the first time I have ever heard the Unfinished played live.  It seems to have become one of those works, like Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, that are "never played because everyone has heard them so often."  Well, after this concert, I can only say, "That's a pity."

Cellist van der Heijden then took centre stage for Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme.  In all honesty, I have to admit that this is not one of my favourite works, either by Tchaikovsky or for the cello and orchestra.  But if we are going to have it, then van der Heijden and Koenig certainly teamed up to show us how it ought to be done.  Solo playing was crisp and clear at all times, with even the quiet notes coming across clearly thanks to Cadogan Hall's live and open acoustic.  The orchestra's role often requires them to "interrupt" the soloist, and these interruption entries were neatly done too.  The performers worked up to a rousing ending.

After the intermission, the concert concluded with Dvorak's impassioned and tragic Seventh Symphony.  This, too, was a first-time-live for me, and I was certainly not disappointed.  This work brought the largest orchestra of the evening with five horns and three trombones. 

Considering how many trombone jokes one hears going around, the quiet playing of that section was certainly admirable.  After one weak moment in the first movement, the horns excelled themselves again, as did the clarinet and oboe.  The cello section in particular impressed with their beauty of tone in the slow movement. 

This is a powerful work, designedly so.  Dvorak wanted to prove that there was more to him than pretty tunes and folk dances, and he definitely achieved that end.  It's actually a pretty rare bird in the repertoire, a symphony that ends in the height of its dark and tragic power.  Gone is the idea of the progression from darkness to light that was so common from the time of Beethoven onwards.  Indeed, the massive and tragic coda of the final movement is the most powerful moment of the entire symphony.

If there was ever a work that would tempt a conductor to over-conduct, this would be it -- but Koenig didn't fall into that trap.  With a simple clear beat, and sparing interpretive gestures, he led the orchestra in a reading that brought up all the power and drama of the work without overriding any of the quiet lyrical moments that provide necessary relief.  Noteworthy was the gentle lilt of the third movement, a piece whose cross-rhythms sometimes seem to make players and conductors edgy and nervous -- if one can judge by recordings.  And the final coda was big, bold, and dramatic enough for anyone's taste while still maintaining perfect balance among the various sections.

By any standards, this was a very rewarding concert indeed -- and to say that I was greatly impressed by the beauty and quality of Cadogan Hall would be a gross understatement!

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