United Kingdom Respighi, Mozart, Saint-Saëns: Paul Lewis (piano), Belgian National Orchestra / Robert González-Monjas (conductor). St David’s Hall, Cardiff, 9.11.2022. (PCG)
Respighi – Prelude, corale e fuga, P.30
Mozart – Piano Concerto No.25 in C, K503
Saint-Saëns – Symphony No.3 in C minor Op.78 ‘Organ Symphony’
Since its sudden look within the pop charts in 1977, and in a while the soundtrack of the movie Babe, Saint-Saëns’s Organ Symphony has comprehensively outstripped in fame all his different items, besides the perennially in style Danse macabre and Carnival of the Animals. (It had beforehand been usually thought to be a monstrously overblown work solely to be carried out on particular events.) This obvious reputation apart, any efficiency stays one thing of a particular occasion, because the featured roles for organ and piano duet imply that it doesn’t slot simply into a normal live performance format. And its popularity as an orchestral showpiece conceals a really fastidiously thought of and fairly revolutionary development. Saint-Saëns took as a basic formal foundation the Lisztian concept of symphonic metamorphosis; the symphony is certainly devoted to the reminiscence of Liszt. The complete of the big construction is derived from a single cell of a theme which progressively transforms itself into an entire collection of large variations. That consists of not solely the tune which has established the work in in style tradition but additionally, within the sluggish motion the place the organ is first quietly launched, one of the crucial stunning of the melodies that even Saint-Saëns ever wrote.
What was exceptional about this efficiency of the symphony by the Belgian National Orchestra beneath their principal visitor conductor Robert González-Monjas was not a lot the sheer spectacle of the finale; that must be taken with no consideration in any however essentially the most depressing of the performances. It was the way by which the construction of the entire was so splendidly realised. The entry of the organ originally of the finale didn’t come a lot as a shock however because the end result of a graduated realisation of the fabric, the place climaxes have been gathered slightly than merely delivered. The efficiency additionally drew parallels with later unacknowledged imitators: the way by which the principle theme of the finale progressively emerged from the tip of the scherzo – Sibelius in his Second Symphony written lower than a decade later – or the very distinctive supply of that theme by massed violins in octaves over a background of rippling piano arpeggios which anticipates the sluggish central part within the first of Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances. The latter instance additionally demonstrated the excellent stability achieved by the energetic González-Monjas. The melody was not obscured by the underpinning chords from the organ whereas it concurrently allowed the piano textures to proceed to be heard. The floating woodwind phrases have been securely delivered and heard above the seething developmental textures, and the deeply sonorous strings within the sluggish motion additionally had a full weight of plangent heat.
The live performance had opened with a equally spectacular instance of orchestral writing, this time the way more obscure Prelude, Chorale and Fugue, an early piece by Respighi. Despite its Bachian title and its origin as a commencement train, this was very removed from being a severely formal demonstration of the composer’s technical experience. The chorale theme itself, with its wistful echo of the duet from the final act of Puccini’s La bohème, was sufficiently distinctive to behave as a agency foundation each to the impressionistically atmospheric prelude and the very chaotic fugue which adopted and overwhelmed it. I describe the fugue as chaotic, due to its very fast descent, after a couple of conventional opening entries, right into a freely evolving net of counterpoint. It often appeared to remember that it was speculated to be a fugue in any case, solely to relapse into its naughty methods after a quick semblance of rectitude. This was all nice enjoyable, not certainly with no sense of humour. The orchestral scoring demonstrated Respighi’s excellent craftsmanship at that stage of his profession (though even then he had already been finding out with that different orchestral grasp, Rimsky-Korsakov). As an virtually unknown work starting a live performance, its look on the programme may need been thought to be a danger; nevertheless it was one which paid off, evoking cheers from an viewers contemporary from the skin darkness on a humid and moist night time.
Between these two orchestral showpieces, Mozart’s piano concerto may need appeared virtually a light-weight trifle, however that may have been to reckon with out the thought of efficiency of Paul Lewis. He prevented any impression that the glowing piano figurations may very well be thought to be trivial, lending weight even to the opening quavers of the rondo theme within the finale. This was certainly an unfashionably romantic view of the music, however the rating is in any case a product of Mozart’s later years when emotional issues have been colouring his harmonic palette. Mozart himself furnished no cadenza for the work, however that supplied right here by the soloist was suitably considerate, together with some fairly sudden sideslips into extra distant keys. Again the woodwinds distinguished themselves, Mozart’s single flute neatly dovetailed with the pair of oboes.
For the encore after the symphony, González-Monjas marched onto the rostrum, raised his baton and delivered the second of Brahms’s Hungarian Dances. An odd selection because it was not a piece that had any apparent affiliation both with the orchestra (one may need welcomed some Belgian music) or the rest of the programme.
The viewers cheered the Saint-Saëns symphony to the rafters, as certainly they need to have carried out. It was additionally pleasing to notice, after the measly attendance eventually week’s live performance, that the variety of seats crammed was significantly improved. Miserable climate, it appears, has much less of an adversarial impact on Cardiff audiences than industrial motion on public transport. This was the penultimate live performance is the orchestra’s eight-night UK tour; the identical programme had beforehand been heard in London, Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham. Gregor Tassie has already revealed a overview (click on right here) of the Edinburgh occasion. I’d endorse his complimentary feedback on the standard of the person enjoying on this fabulous orchestra.
Paul Corfield Godfrey