BBCSSO, 20/01/2022

Tailleferre : Le marchand d'oiseaux

Poulenc : Concerto for two pianos (Duo Jatekok)

Saint-Saëns : Symphony No. 3 "Organ" (Michael Bawtree, organ)

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

Ilan Volkov

Germaine Tailleferre and Louis Durey are the 'forgotten' members of Les Six, the group of French composers who became associated with the avant-garde of French music in the 1920s.  Durey's musical style did not entirely mesh with the others, but one must assume Tailleferre's neglect is solely due to her gender, because certainly in the early days, she fit right in with the others, the bright, dizzy young things looking forward and back at the same time.  The Bird-seller was a ballet, written in 1923, right at the start of Tailleferre's career.  I assume that what we heard tonight was a suite drawn from the complete score, because at around nineteen minutes of music, it's a little short for the theatre - one-act ballets tend to run at around half-an-hour.  The plot is very slight - a gently moral little tale about not letting yourself be taken in by appearances - but the music is delightful, very neo-classical at the start, with a clear nod to Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, and perhaps Stravinsky's Pulcinella, a sweetly wistful nocturne at the centre (which was probably a pas-de-deux), and ending with a rumbustious dance which owes a thing or two to Ravel - with whom Tailleferre was friends and who was something of a mentor to her.  There's humour and charm aplenty, and it was nicely delivered, though I did feel at times that the balance between brass and strings was tipped a little too far in favour of the brass.

The last time I heard the Poulenc Concerto fo Two Pianos, the pianists in question were Marta Argerich and Nicholas Angelich, which, you will concede, is quite an act to follow, so the Duo Jatekok (who are French, despite the name) had some big shoes to fill.  Their advantage, so to speak, was that they are a full-time duo, as opposed to two soloists coming together for a special occasion.  The synchronicity of the playing, the fluidity with which the musical material was passed from one piano to the other, was admirable, and spoke of their complete confidence in each other.  The other thing that I really enjoyed about this performance was really hearing the orchestra, Volkov making his presence felt without taking away from the soloists in the least.  The two pianists don't sound exactly the same; Naïri Badal has a slightly warmer tone than Adélaïde Panaget, lightly golden as opposed to clearly silver, but the harmony between them, in all senses, was exceptional.  The generosity of spirit apparent in the Poulenc translated further into two encores, the first an extravagantly virtuosic arrangement of the Habanera from Carmen.  The arrangement went uncredited, but when they went on to play Bach arranged by Kurtag, I wondered if the Bizet too might not be his work.  I had been thinking Ligeti in a playful mood.  

Curiously enough, the closing item at that Argerich/Angelich concert mentioned earlier was also the Saint-Saëns "Organ" symphony.  Although, once again, the organ was a transportable chamber organ, since Glasgow's City Halls do not have an integrated organ, at least this time we felt its presence as well as heard it.  That subsonic rumble during the slow movement really is an integral part of the effect, and it's sorely missed when you don't get it.  The brass that I had felt slightly obtrusive in the Tailleferre had now been shunted up to the chorus stalls, presumably for reasons of spacing on-stage, which allowed them to ring out proudly, and this time, the balance was just right, with some lovely, sweepingly rich playing from the strings.  

If I have a quibble, it's one I suspect might arise with many an orchestra in this country.  Much of the specificity of French orchestral music in the 19th Century, and going into the 20th, from Berlioz to Messiaen, is in the handling of the wind instruments.  The French wind school was famous, composers took full advantage of their qualities, and it is something that needs to be heard.  There was absolutely nothing wrong with the wind-playing tonight, it just didn't come through as characteristically as it could have, and the whole section rather took a back seat to the strings and brass, in a way that should not have happened.  As a whole, however, this was a very enjoyable performance, with well-judged tempi, no excess sentimentality, nice, lush strings and a suitably rafter-raising finale.

[Next : 3rd December]