United Kingdom Schubert and Zimmermann: Olivier Stankiewicz (oboe), Lucy Crowe (soprano), Adèle Charvet (mezzo-soprano), Cyrille Dubois (tenor), William Thomas (bass), London Symphony Chorus (refrain grasp: Gregory Batsleer), London Symphony Orchestra / François-Xavier Roth (conductor). Barbican Hall, London, 19.2.2023. (MB)
Schubert – Rosamunde, Overture and Entr’actes to Acts I and III; Mass No.5 in A-flat main, D 678
Zimmermann – Oboe Concerto
Trenchant opening chords giving option to a pleasant oboe solo (Juliana Koch): the start of the so-called Rosamunde Overture, actually the overture to Der Zauberharfe, provided a model in miniature of the primary half of this London Symphony Orchestra live performance, arguably even of the live performance as a complete. The introduction was undeniably on a grand, Romantic scale, although a fizzing Allegro molto moderato proved extra suggestive of Rossini than of Mendelssohn. François-Xavier Roth took it very quick, however crucially it labored, proving each nimble and filled with incident, and if the shortage of string vibrato shocked my ears, they (roughly) tailored. Ultimately, it put a smile on my face and proved a wonderful curtain-raiser. For the darker first entr’acte likewise proved suggestive of the theatre, of stage motion about to begin. Its successor’s episodes provided delectable woodwind solos: not solely oboe, however clarinet (Sérgio Pires) and flute (Gareth Davies) too. More veiled than candy, the outer sections provided a distinct form of intimacy given Roth’s non-vibrato method. Signing off with string quartet reasonably than full strings proved a stunning concept.
Olivier Stankiewicz joined the orchestra for Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s 1952 Oboe Concerto. Its first motion, Hommage à Stravinsky, pulled the older composer’s neoclassicism in a number of instructions: homage, sure, but in addition embroidering and deconstructing. It was all despatched, as all through, with the cleanest of strains, good humour, and an indication or two of one thing darker, carried ahead into the central Rhapsodie, filled with post-Bartókian evening music. Magical solo (and different) evocations helped assemble – for there was no final doubt of the composer’s constructivism – a post-war pastoral, hinting at the very least at a lot of what that traditionally may indicate. Stankiewicz performed this because the repertoire piece it needs to be, ably partnered by the LSO and Roth, the finale offered as a superb conflict and reconciliation between serial and neoclassical tendencies: not solely the sooner Stravinsky however Hindemith too. Passages of dissolution urged males and machines, mannequins too, threatening to interrupt down but surviving — maybe a metaphor for the work as a complete and, certainly, a lot of Zimmermann’s œuvre.
What a pleasure, within the second half, it was to listen to Schubert’s Mass in A-flat main. Why we don’t hear Schubert’s plenty on a regular basis, I actually have no idea. It is an incredible loss, and lots of will certainly have been encountering this work for the primary time. I doubt they may have been disenchanted, particularly in so delicate and exultant a efficiency as this, a wonderful workforce of soloists and the wonderful London Symphony Chorus now partnering Roth and the LSO. The opening exhortation for mercy sounded with humility, making ready the best way for every of the soloists to introduce themselves with distinction in response: ‘Christe eleison’. This Kyrie as a complete had a splendid developmental high quality, calmly worn, but nonetheless telling: not the least instance of Roth’s discerning musical judgement. Schubert sounded as a toddler of Mozart, but with plain affinity to Beethoven, even to his Missa solemnis, as attribute textures, in the end to be decreased to no case of ‘influence’, had been revealed earlier than our ears.
A whirlwind of reward was unleashed within the first part of the Gloria, incessant fiddling providing a flickering, transferring halo to the choral firm of heaven. Those cries of ‘Gloria’ may hardly fail to recall Beethoven, however to not the detriment of a extra common impression of abiding, Austrian (maybe reasonably than Viennese) loveliness. Lucy Crowe’s soprano duet with clarinet, paving the best way as soon as extra for the entry of different soloists, within the second part, ‘Gratias agimus tibi…’ was not the least instance of that; likewise Adèle Charvet’s wealthy mezzo solo a bit afterward, once more entwined with clarinet, in addition to bassoon. Once once more, the LSO’s wind excelled themselves. Roth’s ear for orchestral color urged, in that well-worn cliché, a delicate restoration of an previous grasp portray, as an example within the Credo’s unusually vibrant occupation of religion. All involved understood the duty, various in issue, of reconciling theological and musical imperatives, the ‘Crucifixus’ part’s pivotal ambiguity erupting within the wonderful launch of resurrection. Roth directed and formed, with out ever giving the impression of undue moulding. The censer swung in suggestion once more of a characteristically Austrian otherworldliness within the Sanctus, each private and past the private. The Benedictus’s heavenly solo trio, soprano, mezzo, and tenor (an ardent Cyrille Dubois) should absolutely have had a number of hearts skip a beat or two. Then the return of William Thomas’s dark-hued bass for the Agnus Dei rightly imparted a way of completion: unhappiness and hope, even earlier than the decision to grant us peace.
Mark Berry