RSNO, 15/12/2018
Prokofiev : Winter Bonfire
Tchaikovsky : Variations on a Rococo Theme (Johannes Moser, cello)
Tchaikovsky : The Nutcracker (excerpts)
RSNO Junior Chorus
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård
Winter Bonfire is an orchestral suite, with a part for boys' chorus, written between 1949 and 1950. At this point in time, Prokofiev was on very shaky ground with the Party, after the condemnation issued in '48 under the new cultural policy of Andrei Zhdanov. As a result, his music was broadly deprogrammed from theatres and concert halls all over the country, and he was in severe financial straits. In addition, he was very ill, and was unable to devote the time to composition as he had been previously, and he had been a very prolific composer. The impact on his work is obvious; from 1948 to his death in 1953, the only really outstanding pieces of output are the 7th Symphony, and the works he wrote for the young Mstislav Rostropovich. Most of the rest fall into what's often categorised as his "Soviet" style, simple, tuneful, undemanding, even facile.
Winter Bonfire's music is, quite literally, very picturesque, from the opening train ride, to the wheeze and crackle of the great bonfire at its heart. It's picture-postcard music, depicting a day's outing to a collective farm for a group of Young Pioneers (who were sort of the Soviet version of the Scouts). It's bright and breezy, and completely reminiscent of all those Soviet propaganda movies with healthy, beautiful, young people marching gaily down the street (or open road, if it's in the countryside) with beaming smiles and waving Soviet banners. You get the picture, but that's not to say it doesn't have its charms, and Søndergård and the orchestra, as well as the delightfully fresh-voiced RSNO Junior Chorus, brought them out in a lively, bubbly performance.
To be honest, I don't like the Rococo Variations all that much, but if ever a performance was to convert me, I heard it tonight. Johannes Moser has been on the radio quite a bit recently, and what I had heard of him there (without, admittedly, paying all that close attention) was certainly a talented player, but hardly the only one out there. What I heard and saw tonight created an altogether different impression. Moser's cello sings, more than that, it talks, babbles, laughs, cries, sighs, there is a voice in that rich baritone timbre that is intensely personal and very vivid. There is the player in colloquy with his instrument, and they are in turn in dialogue with the orchestra. Moser flirts with the first violins, tossing phrases at them, getting back answers, responding again, and then he can sink into deep introspection, for the cadenza, or the minor key variation. This was a discourse, a learned argument full of light, virtuosity and humour. It was a performance to be watched as well as heard, Moser's playfulness and expressivity perfectly matched by the orchestra in a wonderful and elegant confection.
The second half of the concert saw the return of the Junior Chorus, with added Santa hats and tinsel leis, and the orchestra with red highlights added to their outfits, ranging from pocket squares or flower hair clasps to cummerbunds and full tops, all to ramp up the Christmas spirit for a performance of substantial extracts from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker. Søndergård chose, in order, the Overture, the opening of Act 1 up to and including the March, the conclusion of Act 1 (i.e. the Waltz of the Snowflakes), the start of Act 2 up to and including the Spanish Dance, the Dance of the Reed Flutes, the Flower Waltz, the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and Coda from the Pas de Deux, and the Final Waltz and Apotheosis. A generous selection, certainly, but I did think he had missed a trick or two. The three big waltzes were a given, particularly with the Junior Chorus still available for the Snowflake Waltz, and they were as lovely and clear here as in the Prokofiev. However, I would cheerfully have exchanged all of the opening of Act 1 for the glorious Transformation Scene, and the Adagio of the Pas de Deux for the Reed Flutes. On top of that, the performance got off to a somewhat rough start, with some imprecision in the articulation from the strings, the horns not on top form in the first scene, and the passage that usually goes along with Drosselmeyer's entry a little fudged.
Fortunately, it was a passing thing, and by the Snowflake Waltz, the orchestra had settled back into the excellent playing displayed earlier in the evening. Søndergård set a brisk pace for most of the pieces, probably a little too fast for actual performance, but as Andrew Litton (currently Music Director of the New York City Ballet) wryly remarked one evening at the helm of this same orchestra, dancers are always complaining that it's too fast! The advantage of playing ballet music in concert is that you can go at the speed you choose, and Søndergård certainly kept things lively. There was some lovely playing from clarinettist Rebecca Whitener in particular, her smooth and velvety sound pleasingly ear-catching, but there were many other felicitous details, from splendidly orotund sounds from the tuba to the rich ripple of the harps. A fine Christmas card from the orchestra to its audience, to close the year.
[Next : 13th January. Season's Greetings to you all]
Tchaikovsky : Variations on a Rococo Theme (Johannes Moser, cello)
Tchaikovsky : The Nutcracker (excerpts)
RSNO Junior Chorus
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård
Winter Bonfire is an orchestral suite, with a part for boys' chorus, written between 1949 and 1950. At this point in time, Prokofiev was on very shaky ground with the Party, after the condemnation issued in '48 under the new cultural policy of Andrei Zhdanov. As a result, his music was broadly deprogrammed from theatres and concert halls all over the country, and he was in severe financial straits. In addition, he was very ill, and was unable to devote the time to composition as he had been previously, and he had been a very prolific composer. The impact on his work is obvious; from 1948 to his death in 1953, the only really outstanding pieces of output are the 7th Symphony, and the works he wrote for the young Mstislav Rostropovich. Most of the rest fall into what's often categorised as his "Soviet" style, simple, tuneful, undemanding, even facile.
Winter Bonfire's music is, quite literally, very picturesque, from the opening train ride, to the wheeze and crackle of the great bonfire at its heart. It's picture-postcard music, depicting a day's outing to a collective farm for a group of Young Pioneers (who were sort of the Soviet version of the Scouts). It's bright and breezy, and completely reminiscent of all those Soviet propaganda movies with healthy, beautiful, young people marching gaily down the street (or open road, if it's in the countryside) with beaming smiles and waving Soviet banners. You get the picture, but that's not to say it doesn't have its charms, and Søndergård and the orchestra, as well as the delightfully fresh-voiced RSNO Junior Chorus, brought them out in a lively, bubbly performance.
To be honest, I don't like the Rococo Variations all that much, but if ever a performance was to convert me, I heard it tonight. Johannes Moser has been on the radio quite a bit recently, and what I had heard of him there (without, admittedly, paying all that close attention) was certainly a talented player, but hardly the only one out there. What I heard and saw tonight created an altogether different impression. Moser's cello sings, more than that, it talks, babbles, laughs, cries, sighs, there is a voice in that rich baritone timbre that is intensely personal and very vivid. There is the player in colloquy with his instrument, and they are in turn in dialogue with the orchestra. Moser flirts with the first violins, tossing phrases at them, getting back answers, responding again, and then he can sink into deep introspection, for the cadenza, or the minor key variation. This was a discourse, a learned argument full of light, virtuosity and humour. It was a performance to be watched as well as heard, Moser's playfulness and expressivity perfectly matched by the orchestra in a wonderful and elegant confection.
The second half of the concert saw the return of the Junior Chorus, with added Santa hats and tinsel leis, and the orchestra with red highlights added to their outfits, ranging from pocket squares or flower hair clasps to cummerbunds and full tops, all to ramp up the Christmas spirit for a performance of substantial extracts from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker. Søndergård chose, in order, the Overture, the opening of Act 1 up to and including the March, the conclusion of Act 1 (i.e. the Waltz of the Snowflakes), the start of Act 2 up to and including the Spanish Dance, the Dance of the Reed Flutes, the Flower Waltz, the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and Coda from the Pas de Deux, and the Final Waltz and Apotheosis. A generous selection, certainly, but I did think he had missed a trick or two. The three big waltzes were a given, particularly with the Junior Chorus still available for the Snowflake Waltz, and they were as lovely and clear here as in the Prokofiev. However, I would cheerfully have exchanged all of the opening of Act 1 for the glorious Transformation Scene, and the Adagio of the Pas de Deux for the Reed Flutes. On top of that, the performance got off to a somewhat rough start, with some imprecision in the articulation from the strings, the horns not on top form in the first scene, and the passage that usually goes along with Drosselmeyer's entry a little fudged.
Fortunately, it was a passing thing, and by the Snowflake Waltz, the orchestra had settled back into the excellent playing displayed earlier in the evening. Søndergård set a brisk pace for most of the pieces, probably a little too fast for actual performance, but as Andrew Litton (currently Music Director of the New York City Ballet) wryly remarked one evening at the helm of this same orchestra, dancers are always complaining that it's too fast! The advantage of playing ballet music in concert is that you can go at the speed you choose, and Søndergård certainly kept things lively. There was some lovely playing from clarinettist Rebecca Whitener in particular, her smooth and velvety sound pleasingly ear-catching, but there were many other felicitous details, from splendidly orotund sounds from the tuba to the rich ripple of the harps. A fine Christmas card from the orchestra to its audience, to close the year.
[Next : 13th January. Season's Greetings to you all]