RSNO, 22/04/2017
Sibelius : Finlandia
Mahler : Des Knaben Wunderhorn (extracts - Roderick Williams, baritone)
Sibelius : The Oceanides
Beethoven : Symphony No. 1
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård
I'm getting used to the idea that Mahler and Beethoven are more or less the pillars of Thomas Søndergård's musical world; I have heard few concerts of his in which one or the other (if not both) is not represented, and tonight was another case in point. It would get tedious if he wasn't pretty good at both of them, and if he didn't leaven the mix judiciously, as with the Sibelius tone poems heard tonight. Finlandia certainly got the evening off to a cracking start, snarling brass and timpani to begin with, leading to brightly resolute fanfares, and plenty of energy to spare for the whole.
Fifteen years and four symphonies separate Finlandia from The Oceanides, and it shows. The latter is a more complex, subtle score which, while it may lack the youthful enthusiasm of the earlier work, is a surer indicator, in many ways, of the sheer quality of Sibelius's orchestral writing. It is also surprising in his output, since for once it's not the legends or the forested landscapes of his homeland he depicts, but the warmer waters of the Aegean, and the sea-nymphs of Greek mythology. The ever-shifting colours of the sea are evoked in the layers of orchestral texture, while the paired flutes frolic lightly above. The great, slow surge of the storm was vividly portrayed.
Mahler's Wunderhorn settings mostly date from the 1890s, and those that are now best-known were published as a collection of 12 in 1899, at much the same time as Finlandia. Choosing just five of them for performance cannot have been particularly easy, for they are all particularly characterful, and all quite different, but the selection tonight was a good mix of the humorous and the melancholy, beginning with "Der Tamboursg'sell", which was impeccably paced, when it is all too easy to make it funereally slow. Roderick Williams's baritone is one of the darker-timbred ones, so the youth of the character didn't quite come across, but the extreme simplicity of his reading was effective. He followed this up with "Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt", sung gleefully while the orchestra chuckled and gurgled behind him, and then the equally satirical "Lob des hohen Verstands".
"Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen" was sung with a kind of distant tenderness. In the pre-concert talk, Williams said he believed the soldier in the song is already dead, and although it's true there's nothing in the text to confirm or deny that, the music's remote fanfares are undeniably ghostly. I've certainly always thought this was a ghost story, and that when he promises his sweetheart that she'll see him within the year, he means beyond the grave. The set ended with the flirtatious "Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?", lightening the mood again, and allowing Williams to conclude with a flourish, on that extended 'yodel' that closes the song.
Dropping back a full century for the Beethoven was a little shock to the ears, but in some respects, the First Symphony shares a certain exuberant vigour with Finlandia. While the symphony's model might be Classical, a clear continuation from, or descendent of, Haydn, there's really no mistaking Beethoven's stamp from the very beginning. The articulation of the strings wasn't quite as precise and pristine (particularly in the last movement) as I would have liked, but again, as in the Sibelius, brass and timps were on fine form, and the overall impression was very positive.
[Next : 27th April]
Mahler : Des Knaben Wunderhorn (extracts - Roderick Williams, baritone)
Sibelius : The Oceanides
Beethoven : Symphony No. 1
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård
I'm getting used to the idea that Mahler and Beethoven are more or less the pillars of Thomas Søndergård's musical world; I have heard few concerts of his in which one or the other (if not both) is not represented, and tonight was another case in point. It would get tedious if he wasn't pretty good at both of them, and if he didn't leaven the mix judiciously, as with the Sibelius tone poems heard tonight. Finlandia certainly got the evening off to a cracking start, snarling brass and timpani to begin with, leading to brightly resolute fanfares, and plenty of energy to spare for the whole.
Fifteen years and four symphonies separate Finlandia from The Oceanides, and it shows. The latter is a more complex, subtle score which, while it may lack the youthful enthusiasm of the earlier work, is a surer indicator, in many ways, of the sheer quality of Sibelius's orchestral writing. It is also surprising in his output, since for once it's not the legends or the forested landscapes of his homeland he depicts, but the warmer waters of the Aegean, and the sea-nymphs of Greek mythology. The ever-shifting colours of the sea are evoked in the layers of orchestral texture, while the paired flutes frolic lightly above. The great, slow surge of the storm was vividly portrayed.
Mahler's Wunderhorn settings mostly date from the 1890s, and those that are now best-known were published as a collection of 12 in 1899, at much the same time as Finlandia. Choosing just five of them for performance cannot have been particularly easy, for they are all particularly characterful, and all quite different, but the selection tonight was a good mix of the humorous and the melancholy, beginning with "Der Tamboursg'sell", which was impeccably paced, when it is all too easy to make it funereally slow. Roderick Williams's baritone is one of the darker-timbred ones, so the youth of the character didn't quite come across, but the extreme simplicity of his reading was effective. He followed this up with "Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt", sung gleefully while the orchestra chuckled and gurgled behind him, and then the equally satirical "Lob des hohen Verstands".
"Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen" was sung with a kind of distant tenderness. In the pre-concert talk, Williams said he believed the soldier in the song is already dead, and although it's true there's nothing in the text to confirm or deny that, the music's remote fanfares are undeniably ghostly. I've certainly always thought this was a ghost story, and that when he promises his sweetheart that she'll see him within the year, he means beyond the grave. The set ended with the flirtatious "Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?", lightening the mood again, and allowing Williams to conclude with a flourish, on that extended 'yodel' that closes the song.
Dropping back a full century for the Beethoven was a little shock to the ears, but in some respects, the First Symphony shares a certain exuberant vigour with Finlandia. While the symphony's model might be Classical, a clear continuation from, or descendent of, Haydn, there's really no mistaking Beethoven's stamp from the very beginning. The articulation of the strings wasn't quite as precise and pristine (particularly in the last movement) as I would have liked, but again, as in the Sibelius, brass and timps were on fine form, and the overall impression was very positive.
[Next : 27th April]