BBCSSO, 07/02/2019
Bernstein : Candide - Overture
Bloch : Schelomo (Jian Wang, cello)
Moylan : Klez'Mahler
Mahler : Symphony No. 1
She'Koyokh
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Thomas Dausgaard
This was another of the BBCSSO's "Composer Roots" concerts, the roots in this case being the Jewish heritage of all three composers, and specifically the itinerant klezmer bands Mahler might have heard in his youth, and whose music is so clearly reflected in his 1st Symphony.
In the complete Candide, there is, of course, the character of the Old Lady, with her show-stopping Tango, whose Jewish origins are unmistakable, but her music does not appear in the ebullient overture. That said, this bold, brassy, joyous piece is pure Broadway, and Broadway's debt to Jewish composers and artists is immense. This was a good, snappy performance, providing a hearty injection of pure energy to begin tonight's concert.
Bloch originally intended to write a vocal setting of text from the Book of Ecclesiastes, apocryphally attributed to King Solomon, but found himself unable to fix on the right style for the work, until he encountered the Russian cellist Alexandre Barjansky, and reconsidered the work as a concertante piece for cello and orchestra, with the cello representing the voice of Solomon. Bloch's orchestral scores tend to use a large, richly-coloured palette, leaning a little towards the Post-Romanticism of composers like Korngold, but with an underlying sense of rigour that holds them back from some of the indulgent excesses of contemporary pieces. The solemnity of the cello's music, lyrical yet sober, is a constant reminder of one of Ecclesiastes' recurrent messages, "All is vanity", and even after the orchestra's most passionate outbursts, the cello returns in quiet reflection or in lament to rein in its extravagance. Jian Wang's lean yet full cello tone was well suited to this serious contemplation, and contrasted beautifully with the opulent colours of the orchestra.
She'Koyokh is a British klezmer band, consisting of seven performers led by Paul Moylan. One of the seven is a vocalist, so only the six instrumentalists were present in the hall tonight, playing Klez'Mahler, a piece concocted by Moylan and the band as a prologue to the Mahler, and riffing off themes from the symphony, mostly from the third movement. It was quite an entertaining piece, the band playing with the orchestra, their contrasted sounds blending in interesting ways. Right at the start there was a particularly striking instance of the mellow, rounded tones of the orchestral clarinet playing in counterpoint to the characteristic wail of the klezmer clarinet, for example. The piece developed into a jaunty knees-up that one might easily imagine originating in some slightly louche back-street cafe of Istanbul.
To conclude, however, the orchestra fell silent, and the band resumed a more contemplative mood, processing from the platform into the stalls and out the back of the hall, the clarinet embroidering over a sustained drone from the other instruments - the same drone that opens Mahler's 1st Symphony. It was a very nicely calculated segue. As if energised by this folksy introduction, the symphony was delivered with a bright, fresh tone and plenty of vigour. I've never quite understood why this symphony is sometimes nicknamed "Titan" - it should have been called "Spring" or "Pastoral" (with all due respect to Beethoven), for the powerful nature symbols of the first movement, the exuberant country dancing of the second, and the turbulent storms of the finale. Even the cock-eyed funeral march of the third movement has a frolicsome air to it, a sort of gallows humour, if you will. The odd split note here and there aside, the playing was generally excellent, and Dausgaard did something I've not seen before in the last movement; in order to ensure the triumphant brass fanfares ring out clearly at the end, all the horns - all seven of them - and the first trumpet and trombone were standing to play the last pages of the score, bringing the symphony to a suitably radiant conclusion.
[Next : 5th March]
Bloch : Schelomo (Jian Wang, cello)
Moylan : Klez'Mahler
Mahler : Symphony No. 1
She'Koyokh
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Thomas Dausgaard
This was another of the BBCSSO's "Composer Roots" concerts, the roots in this case being the Jewish heritage of all three composers, and specifically the itinerant klezmer bands Mahler might have heard in his youth, and whose music is so clearly reflected in his 1st Symphony.
In the complete Candide, there is, of course, the character of the Old Lady, with her show-stopping Tango, whose Jewish origins are unmistakable, but her music does not appear in the ebullient overture. That said, this bold, brassy, joyous piece is pure Broadway, and Broadway's debt to Jewish composers and artists is immense. This was a good, snappy performance, providing a hearty injection of pure energy to begin tonight's concert.
Bloch originally intended to write a vocal setting of text from the Book of Ecclesiastes, apocryphally attributed to King Solomon, but found himself unable to fix on the right style for the work, until he encountered the Russian cellist Alexandre Barjansky, and reconsidered the work as a concertante piece for cello and orchestra, with the cello representing the voice of Solomon. Bloch's orchestral scores tend to use a large, richly-coloured palette, leaning a little towards the Post-Romanticism of composers like Korngold, but with an underlying sense of rigour that holds them back from some of the indulgent excesses of contemporary pieces. The solemnity of the cello's music, lyrical yet sober, is a constant reminder of one of Ecclesiastes' recurrent messages, "All is vanity", and even after the orchestra's most passionate outbursts, the cello returns in quiet reflection or in lament to rein in its extravagance. Jian Wang's lean yet full cello tone was well suited to this serious contemplation, and contrasted beautifully with the opulent colours of the orchestra.
She'Koyokh is a British klezmer band, consisting of seven performers led by Paul Moylan. One of the seven is a vocalist, so only the six instrumentalists were present in the hall tonight, playing Klez'Mahler, a piece concocted by Moylan and the band as a prologue to the Mahler, and riffing off themes from the symphony, mostly from the third movement. It was quite an entertaining piece, the band playing with the orchestra, their contrasted sounds blending in interesting ways. Right at the start there was a particularly striking instance of the mellow, rounded tones of the orchestral clarinet playing in counterpoint to the characteristic wail of the klezmer clarinet, for example. The piece developed into a jaunty knees-up that one might easily imagine originating in some slightly louche back-street cafe of Istanbul.
To conclude, however, the orchestra fell silent, and the band resumed a more contemplative mood, processing from the platform into the stalls and out the back of the hall, the clarinet embroidering over a sustained drone from the other instruments - the same drone that opens Mahler's 1st Symphony. It was a very nicely calculated segue. As if energised by this folksy introduction, the symphony was delivered with a bright, fresh tone and plenty of vigour. I've never quite understood why this symphony is sometimes nicknamed "Titan" - it should have been called "Spring" or "Pastoral" (with all due respect to Beethoven), for the powerful nature symbols of the first movement, the exuberant country dancing of the second, and the turbulent storms of the finale. Even the cock-eyed funeral march of the third movement has a frolicsome air to it, a sort of gallows humour, if you will. The odd split note here and there aside, the playing was generally excellent, and Dausgaard did something I've not seen before in the last movement; in order to ensure the triumphant brass fanfares ring out clearly at the end, all the horns - all seven of them - and the first trumpet and trombone were standing to play the last pages of the score, bringing the symphony to a suitably radiant conclusion.
[Next : 5th March]