RSNO, 27/11/2021

Wagner : Lohengrin - Prelude, Act 1

Þorvaldsdóttir : Metacosmos

Sibelius : Tapiola

Brahms : Piano Concerto No. 1 (Sunwook Kim, piano)

Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Jonathan Stockhammer

The first half of this evening's concert was a little curious; while the connections between Metacosmos and Tapiola were relatively easy to see, the Wagner seemed like an odd choice, and even more so that we were asked not to applaud between that and Metacosmos, suggesting it really should be seen as a prelude to the Icelandic piece.  Þorvaldsdóttir's programme note concerning her own piece calls it "constructed around the natural balance between beauty and chaos", but there's nothing 'natural' about the Wagner, since the swan evoked in the Prelude is not a swan at all, but a transfigured human.  None of this, of course, detracted from the ethereal beauty of the Wagner in the least.

Metacosmos begins with uneasy, sliding planes of sound crawling up from primordial depths, before evolving into a thumping, ritual dance, full of sharp, cracking sounds of snapping strings, but which ends in the purest triadic harmony, after which a somewhat melancholy epilogue drifts up and off into serene silence.   Without much basis for comparison, I thought this was very well played, the music had clear purpose throughout, the dance was compelling, and the conclusion, like a good meal, was both satisfying, yet left you wanting more.

Tapiola is, of course, all about the primeval, though Sibelius was thinking primarily about forests, at their darkest and most mysterious.  It was his last major work, his last completed orchestral score before almost thirty years of silence.  The play of light and dark, of sun and shadow, of storm and stillness is in constant motion here, we are drawn by playful glints and breezes, battered by storms, humbled and baffled by something vast and unfathomable, and mystified and enchanted by all of it.  Stockhammer is an energetic conductor, almost vibrating on his podium, and he exhorted the orchestra onwards, encouraging the sweep of the strings, and whimsicality in the winds, and drawing the piece ever onwards to its quietly radiant conclusion.

The second half of the concert was in more conventional territory, Brahms's 1st Piano Concerto.  Not since the later Beethoven concertos had a piano concerto had such a symphonic structure, and even Beethoven doesn't take it as far as Brahms; but then, Brahms at one point intended the first movement to be that of a symphony, and not a concerto.  However, Brahms had some fairly severe psychological hang-ups about writing a symphony, it would be another twenty years before he actually finished his official first one, and so at this point, he finally produced a piano concerto, but one very unlike anything previously known.  Without detracting in any way from the technical requirements of the solo piano, this is not the virtuoso showcase most concertos were (and would continue to be), the piano is not there to show off, but to engage in dialogue with, and frequently against, the orchestra.  Brahms would push that concept still further in the 2nd Piano Concerto which turned out to be even more imposing.  Here, however, it is perhaps Beethoven who stands as the model, in the scope of the work, and the last movement is certainly inspired by that of Beethoven's 3rd Piano Concerto.  

I would have liked to be more unreservedly enthusiastic about the performance.  While there was no denying Sunwook Kim's technique, with excellently articulated playing - essential, particularly given the absolute mountain of trills Brahms demands of the soloist - I found his piano tone a little hard, where I would have preferred something more meltingly lyrical and warm, and my attention wandered a little in the slow movement.  The finale, however, was splendidly muscular, from both soloist and orchestra, and concluded the evening with a suitable flourish.

[Next : 2nd December]