BBCSSO, 11/10/2018
Dohnányi : Violin Concerto No. 1 (Barnabás Kelemen, violin)
Kodály : Dances of Galánta
Borodin : Symphony No. 2
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Gergely Madaras
Given Dohnányi's dates - 1877 to 1960 - his lush, late-Romantic style comes across as reactionary for the period, and it's not altogether surprising that this Hungarian composer should be so heavily overshadowed by the admittedly more original figures of his compatriots (and contemporaries) Bartók and Kodály. However, that's overlooking compositions of considerable appeal, and I know that I've barely scratched the surface of his music. This 1915 Violin Concerto is an imposing piece of high virtuosity, something like a (good) cross between Brahms and Korngold, and a thorough test of the soloist's stamina and technique. Certainly the opening theme of the first movement, solemnly intoned by the brass over mysterious, plucked strings, has the memorable quality of a good title theme for a film, in the kind of slightly over-heated vein that Korngold or Waxman introduced to Hollywood.
The violin is a free spirit, set against the orchestra much of the time, coming in to counter its dark moods, or to soothe its troubled breast, so to speak, often underpinned by the harp in these moments. As the concerto progresses, violin and orchestra come closer together; by the scherzo, the violin is literally leading the dance. It's a long concerto, some 40 minutes, and the final theme and variations outstays its welcome a little, but the return of the first movement's opening theme in the final pages is welcome. Dohnányi's Hungarian voice is not particularly strong in this piece, he was certainly looking more towards Brahms than anything or anyone else, but the concerto as a whole is well worth exploring, and it was given a persuasive reading by Barnabás Kelemen, playing with occasionally edgy intonation (in the first movement particularly), but a great deal of well-judged flourish, and richly supported by the orchestra and Madaras.
That 'Hungarian voice' that was absent from the Dohnányi concerto was present in full force in Kodály's "Dances of Galánta", and excellently delivered, Kodály's scintillating orchestration given full measure, with the velvety solo clarinet of Barry Deacon well to the fore. Passionate melancholy, suggestive of homesickness, whirling energy, even good-humoured, lurching tipsiness, it was all there in an exhilarating and poetic interpretation.
The orchestra's brass section (including the horns), already remarked in the Dohnányi, was again very much to the fore in the Borodin 2nd Symphony, with a big, lustrous sound, a bit bullying in the first movement (but that's the nature of the music), but more winning later on. Borodin's gift for sinuously enticing, vaguely oriental-sounding melodies represents much of the allure of this symphony, lovingly rendered in the slow movement in particular. Madaras exhorted the orchestra to a high-octane, colourful performance of considerable charm. This is the kind of programme, and the quality of performance, that makes the BBCSSO concerts particularly interesting, long may they continue in similar vein.
[Next : 13th October]
Kodály : Dances of Galánta
Borodin : Symphony No. 2
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Gergely Madaras
Given Dohnányi's dates - 1877 to 1960 - his lush, late-Romantic style comes across as reactionary for the period, and it's not altogether surprising that this Hungarian composer should be so heavily overshadowed by the admittedly more original figures of his compatriots (and contemporaries) Bartók and Kodály. However, that's overlooking compositions of considerable appeal, and I know that I've barely scratched the surface of his music. This 1915 Violin Concerto is an imposing piece of high virtuosity, something like a (good) cross between Brahms and Korngold, and a thorough test of the soloist's stamina and technique. Certainly the opening theme of the first movement, solemnly intoned by the brass over mysterious, plucked strings, has the memorable quality of a good title theme for a film, in the kind of slightly over-heated vein that Korngold or Waxman introduced to Hollywood.
The violin is a free spirit, set against the orchestra much of the time, coming in to counter its dark moods, or to soothe its troubled breast, so to speak, often underpinned by the harp in these moments. As the concerto progresses, violin and orchestra come closer together; by the scherzo, the violin is literally leading the dance. It's a long concerto, some 40 minutes, and the final theme and variations outstays its welcome a little, but the return of the first movement's opening theme in the final pages is welcome. Dohnányi's Hungarian voice is not particularly strong in this piece, he was certainly looking more towards Brahms than anything or anyone else, but the concerto as a whole is well worth exploring, and it was given a persuasive reading by Barnabás Kelemen, playing with occasionally edgy intonation (in the first movement particularly), but a great deal of well-judged flourish, and richly supported by the orchestra and Madaras.
That 'Hungarian voice' that was absent from the Dohnányi concerto was present in full force in Kodály's "Dances of Galánta", and excellently delivered, Kodály's scintillating orchestration given full measure, with the velvety solo clarinet of Barry Deacon well to the fore. Passionate melancholy, suggestive of homesickness, whirling energy, even good-humoured, lurching tipsiness, it was all there in an exhilarating and poetic interpretation.
The orchestra's brass section (including the horns), already remarked in the Dohnányi, was again very much to the fore in the Borodin 2nd Symphony, with a big, lustrous sound, a bit bullying in the first movement (but that's the nature of the music), but more winning later on. Borodin's gift for sinuously enticing, vaguely oriental-sounding melodies represents much of the allure of this symphony, lovingly rendered in the slow movement in particular. Madaras exhorted the orchestra to a high-octane, colourful performance of considerable charm. This is the kind of programme, and the quality of performance, that makes the BBCSSO concerts particularly interesting, long may they continue in similar vein.
[Next : 13th October]