RSNO, 04/11/2023

Wennäkoski : Of footprints and light

Sibelius : Violin Concerto (Ray Chen, violin)

Dvorák : Symphony No. 6

Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Thomas Søndergård

Lotta Wennäkoski is a contemporary Finnish composer, whose work is new to me.  This particular piece is apparently based on the work of another Finnish female composer, Ida Moberg, a student of Sibelius.  That said, the inspiration is from an unfinished opera which has never been performed, so it's hard to know just how that inspiration worked.  There is a passage about halfway through where the strings play a particularly romantic melody which sounds somewhat alien to the previously established textures, and I suspect that might be at least a partial quotation of the Moberg work.  Otherwise, Of footprints and light is a glacial piece, especially at the start, with glockenspiel, xylophone and harp bringing their peculiarly glaucous sonorities to the chilly soundscape.

It was, I think, the late, great Ida Haendel who said of the Sibelius Violin Concerto that there was nowhere to hide if you played all the notes, and that every note was worth playing.  Ray Chen certainly sounded as if he was playing all the notes, and did not need anywhere to hide.  It also seemed particularly fitting that he plays the "Dolphin" Stradivarius, which once belonged to Jascha Heifetz, an ardent proponent of this concerto in his day.  Chen's tone is clear and sure, so the violin surfs the orchestral texture with ease, never getting swallowed by it, and he brought great focus to his part.  There were a couple of points, notably in the first movement, where I would have liked slightly leaner playing from the orchestral strings - I felt they were a little cloying, once or twice - but overall support from Søndergård and the RSNO was very good, particularly in the brass.

It's an unusual, but undeniable fact that Dvorák's last three symphonies overshadow the earlier six so thoroughly that it's easy to forget they exist.  Even complete cycles of his symphonies are relatively rare, certainly compared to similar cycles of Beethoven, or Sibelius.  The 6th (which was, for many years, known as the 1st, thanks to Dvorák's publisher), however, has some claim to fame as being the first large-scale orchestral work that really drew international attention to Dvoták's compositions.  It's certainly immediately recognisable as Dvorák in the sonorities of the wind instruments, and the contours of the principal themes.  Of the four movements, the third is the best known, a vibrant Furiant dance, delivered with plenty of energy tonight, but the second was a little bland.  However, the rich playing of the brass was a notable pleasure throughout the symphony.

[Next : 16th November]