Having missed the season opener during my European culture-fest, I had to wait until the end of November to hear my first concert of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra's season. When the time came, the concert was well worth the wait.
The centrepiece of the concert was a stunning performance of the Brahms Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77. Violinist Blake Pouliot and conductor Andrei Feher between them certainly made this long-time Brahms fan sit up and listen to the music with new and attentive ears.
Gone was any suggestion of the patrician coolness and poise which has so often been thought appropriate for this composer's work by other interpreters. Pouliot tore into his opening bars with fierce energy, and kept on very much as he began. His performance was marked by its edge and attack throughout the first and last movements. Not to say that his playing lacked refinement by any means -- that quality was also fully present in the quieter, more meditative moments, and particularly in his contrasting dreamy treatment of the violin's first entrance in the beautiful slow movement. But overall, this was a revelation of the more impassioned side of Brahms, a side that too many interpreters have ignored.
Feher matched Pouliot's near-aggressive approach with orchestral playing similarly marked by clean attack and sharp staccato. One noteworthy feature of the joint approach of these two artists was a reduction in the amount of rubato. Other performances in my experience have pushed and pulled the music all over the map with unnecessary pauses and hastenings of tempo. Pouliot and Feher instead presented a reading in which the through line of the music remained clear and present at all times, without excessive distortions. Combined with the immense energy generated, this led to a Brahms concerto performance of power and passion.
The beauty of the situation is that the Brahms concerto is such a masterpiece that it can not only endure, but thrive on varying interpretations such as this.
The Brahms was framed in this programme by two rarities. The concert opened with the Overture, Scherzo, and Finale by Robert Schumann. I've written about it in more detail in my companion blog on rare music, Off the Beaten Staff. Here's the link: Schumann's Not-Quite-A-Symphony
The piece is essentially a symphony in 3 movements, but it's much more lightly orchestrated than Schumann's four numbered symphonies -- and much more rarely played. Feher and the orchestra truly captured the essential lightness and joy of the score, treating it to a performance that bounced along with Mendelssohnian grace in the livelier moments and sang with the morning stars in the more lyrical pages. Textures remained absolutely clear even in the more robust fugal textures of the finale, and the concluding apotheosis of the theme as a grand chorale resounded magnificently through the hall. An absolute delight.
The concert concluded with a major work from a composer totally unknown to me, Friedrich Gernsheim. I was so taken with the music that I immediately sat down to write a blog post about this one as well. You can read it here: Gernsheim Symphony # 2
In this work, the orchestra produced beautiful tone and blend in the complex textures of the first movement. The winds in particular shone in the multiple passages of the first movement that separated them off and highlighted them. The second movement Tarentella rolled along with unstoppable momentum combined with crisp articulation in the rapid passagework. Feher and the orchestra avoided cloying sweetness in the slow movement, and managed the somewhat abrupt transition into the finale very neatly. The brief stretto leading to the final climax and closing cadence was also done very neatly, with no rough edges during the acceleration. A very rewarding performance of a work that few, if any, in the audience had ever heard before.
I'm sure many people went home talking about Blake Pouliot's powerhouse performance in the Brahms concerto, and rightly so, but for me it was the chance to hear two beautiful rarities of the Romantic era that really made this concert a worthwhile experience. And the performance was delightful, from first to last.
In this work, the orchestra produced beautiful tone and blend in the complex textures of the first movement. The winds in particular shone in the multiple passages of the first movement that separated them off and highlighted them. The second movement Tarentella rolled along with unstoppable momentum combined with crisp articulation in the rapid passagework. Feher and the orchestra avoided cloying sweetness in the slow movement, and managed the somewhat abrupt transition into the finale very neatly. The brief stretto leading to the final climax and closing cadence was also done very neatly, with no rough edges during the acceleration. A very rewarding performance of a work that few, if any, in the audience had ever heard before.
I'm sure many people went home talking about Blake Pouliot's powerhouse performance in the Brahms concerto, and rightly so, but for me it was the chance to hear two beautiful rarities of the Romantic era that really made this concert a worthwhile experience. And the performance was delightful, from first to last.
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