SCO, 12/05/2017
Widmann : Con Brio
Brahms : Double Concerto
(Christian Tetzlaff, violin; Tanja Tetzlaff, cello)
Beethoven : Symphony No. 7
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Robin Ticciati
There was a moment, right at the start of Jörg Widmann's Con Brio (created in 2008) when I wondered if we weren't about to get some sort of Beethoven parody, à la Dudley Moore. I do believe the piece is meant mostly in good humour, but more as an homage than a parody. The Beethovenian flashes are rhythmic as well as melodic, a drum-beat here, a string scale there, a punctuating chord another place, and in between, Widmann seems to delight in getting the winds to use their instruments in almost every fashion save that for which they were originally purposed. It's a lively enough piece, and not indigestible, but those flashes - is it really Widmann looking over his shoulder at his musical forebear, or is it Beethoven rolling over in his grave?
The Brahms Double Concerto came next to restore some gravitas to the evening, with the brother-and-sister team of Tanja and Christian Tetzlaff as the soloists. I felt that the cello's opening statement was not quite commanding enough, which left me a little unsettled for a few minutes, but Tanja Tetzlaff regained assurance quickly after that, and the pair settled into a broad, warm interpretation, very tender in the slow movement. There's no flamboyant virtuosity in this work, you want a strong sense of complicity between the soloists, for the musical line constantly passes seamlessly between the two instruments, and the Tetzlaffs achieved that effortlessly. I might have preferred a slightly richer tone quality from both of them, but it's a minor point.
The whoop from mid-stalls that greeted the conclusion of Beethoven's 7th more or less said it all; this was a boundingly, boundlessly energetic reading, vigorously paced, and concluding with an exhilarating flourish that captivated the audience. Ticciati had a fine-tuned engine at his command tonight, and one thing that was notably striking was the silences. There are a lot in the first movement especially, moments when Beethoven brings things to a dead stop, before picking up again. Quite often, there's a kind of vibration hanging in the air that blurs the moment, but not here; when they stopped, it was silent, and you held your breath in anticipation of the next beat. The Presto 3rd movement really was Presto, just falling the right side of helter-skelter, and throughout, the winds in particular, and the natural brass, made a fine showing, in an exuberant conclusion to this year's season.
[Next 13th May]
Brahms : Double Concerto
(Christian Tetzlaff, violin; Tanja Tetzlaff, cello)
Beethoven : Symphony No. 7
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Robin Ticciati
There was a moment, right at the start of Jörg Widmann's Con Brio (created in 2008) when I wondered if we weren't about to get some sort of Beethoven parody, à la Dudley Moore. I do believe the piece is meant mostly in good humour, but more as an homage than a parody. The Beethovenian flashes are rhythmic as well as melodic, a drum-beat here, a string scale there, a punctuating chord another place, and in between, Widmann seems to delight in getting the winds to use their instruments in almost every fashion save that for which they were originally purposed. It's a lively enough piece, and not indigestible, but those flashes - is it really Widmann looking over his shoulder at his musical forebear, or is it Beethoven rolling over in his grave?
The Brahms Double Concerto came next to restore some gravitas to the evening, with the brother-and-sister team of Tanja and Christian Tetzlaff as the soloists. I felt that the cello's opening statement was not quite commanding enough, which left me a little unsettled for a few minutes, but Tanja Tetzlaff regained assurance quickly after that, and the pair settled into a broad, warm interpretation, very tender in the slow movement. There's no flamboyant virtuosity in this work, you want a strong sense of complicity between the soloists, for the musical line constantly passes seamlessly between the two instruments, and the Tetzlaffs achieved that effortlessly. I might have preferred a slightly richer tone quality from both of them, but it's a minor point.
The whoop from mid-stalls that greeted the conclusion of Beethoven's 7th more or less said it all; this was a boundingly, boundlessly energetic reading, vigorously paced, and concluding with an exhilarating flourish that captivated the audience. Ticciati had a fine-tuned engine at his command tonight, and one thing that was notably striking was the silences. There are a lot in the first movement especially, moments when Beethoven brings things to a dead stop, before picking up again. Quite often, there's a kind of vibration hanging in the air that blurs the moment, but not here; when they stopped, it was silent, and you held your breath in anticipation of the next beat. The Presto 3rd movement really was Presto, just falling the right side of helter-skelter, and throughout, the winds in particular, and the natural brass, made a fine showing, in an exuberant conclusion to this year's season.
[Next 13th May]