Friday, August 12, 2022
Royal Albert Hall, London
Guest Reviewer, Ateş Orga
“Wide-spread they stand, the Northland’s dusky forests,/Ancient, mysterious, brooding savage
dreams;/Within them dwells [Tapio] the Forest’s mighty God,/And wood-sprites in the gloom weave
magic secrets.” Get it right and the opening of Sibelius’s swansong Tapiola – graced timpani signal,
warmly blended string tone, moulded brass and woodwind, acute dynamics and hairpins – likewise
that farewell glow of B-major closing the work, celebrates a great orchestra. Now into its eleventh
decade, though with origins going back to Grieg in the 1870s, the Oslo Philharmonic – over 100-
strong – under the inspirational Klaus Mäkelä left little doubt of their mega form and credentials. They painted a hypnotic mood-picture: mighty, rustling, threatening, lonely, “the pain of life”, nightfall, unspoken tales. Glorious strings (the stuff of dreams, with antiphonal violins) bathed the Hall in shadows, darkness, filtered light, whispers, cries. Who ever will forget those final eleven bars? http://www.colinscolumn.com/oslo-philharmonic-at-barbican-hall-klaus-makela-conducts-mahler-ten-adagio-sibelius-five-and-lise-davidsen-sings-bergs-seven-early-songs/ and http://www.colinscolumn.com/released-today-march-25-klaus-makela-the-oslo-philharmonic-record-sibeliuss-seven-symphonies-tapiola-for-decca/.
Awed by the venue but not overwhelmed, spending a three-hour rehearsal in part adjusting to its space
and acoustics, Mäkelä judged Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben to a nicety without histrionics. This was an imposingly disciplined reading, ensemble at a super level, one exposed entry after another placed and exact. The ‘Critics’ opined but never snarled. The Battlefield’ was about latter-day precision fire and attack (splendid off-stage trumpets in the alarum). I’ve heard subjectively ‘greater’, grander, more physically impacting, performances, but few as sheened and gold-plated as this, the orchestra in imperial dress, personality yet etiquette at a premium. Nor many with the ‘Hero’s Companion’ (Strauss’s wife, Pauline) quite so magnificently or poetically portrayed – coquettish then enraptured at the start, eternally loving by the end, ‘Retirement from the World and Fulfilment’. Long in a class of her own, Elise Båtnes, Oslo’s concertmaster (since 2006), never faltered, not merely playing the notes but imbuing them with innumerable layers of inflexion and character. In many ways her understanding and mastery of the role, exquisitely projected, shaped and influenced Mäkelä’s strategy, he framing her cameos with increasing eloquence, placing them at the core of the music. By the end, epic towers behind us, swashbuckling swagger, Don Juan and memories receding, Zarathustra rising, we’d found Asgard, hand in hand for an eternity. What encore, if any, do you follow Heldenleben with? Sibelius’s ‘At the Castle Gate’ or Andante festivo wouldn’t have gone amiss. Instead we got Johann Strauss II: the energised ‘Csardas’ from Ritter Pázmán, Mäkelä just a touch wary of Bull’s Blood, the orchestra purring in high gear.
Clubbing with Liszt, playing a near-hysterical full house, Yuja Wang paused, rattled and eccentrified her way through the First Concerto. Much as in several other high-profile performances she’s done this past season (not all), extremes of tempo, exaggerated dynamics (especially at the quieter end of the spectrum), artificially prolonged cadences, shallow projection and limited cantabile made for an oddly misguided, stylistically mannered eighteen minutes. No questioning her dexterity (glistening trills, finger-to-hammer action as one, trademark gymnastics), but much to unsettle musically. You have to wonder how she’s prepared the piece, who she’s heard or learnt from, what her structural values are? Red-attired but scarcely a red performance. Two encores – Carmen Variations (bullish), Dance of the Blessed Spirits (egg-shell). Whatever would their respective arrangers – Horowitz, Sgambati – have made of it all?
Oh dear. I missed this concert after being enthralled with the previous evening’s Sibelius 2.
Babysitting a three year-old while his parents went to the gym.
Very modern but no favours to myself. Thank goodness for catch up. This was obviously something very special as is Makela in his Sibelius set, Tapiola finding him on his best Sibelian form in my opinion.
I was so choked by tears at the start of Ein Heldenleben that I momentarily was transported to another world. Yet I soon snapped back to reality as my admiration for conductor Makela grew beyond belief as that small boyish figure controlled, loved and caressed the great Oslo Philharmonic to the heights of splendour. What gorgeous and great talent that wunderkind has got.
I wish I could say the same of Miss Wang who came on wearing very little and thundered at the piano as if it was her worst enemy. China’s greatest export, one hears. Oh well.
Maybe its lost in translation, maybe millage varies, but I along with what felt like the vast majority of the RAH had a splendid time being transported and wowed (in every sense) by Yuja Wang, without ever once wondering what her structural values were. Liszt is not my go to composer but I can’t see how the flashier sections of the piece were unauthentic, and to my ears there were moment of relative reflection too. Wang is known for her encores and to appear to criticize them for being both bullish and eggshell feels a tad harsh,
None of which should take away from a wonderful Oslo, especially in the Sibelius. Performers, solo or group, who have the skills to take a good tune to another level will always float my boat, whatever the genre, and if I’m not knowledgeable enough to know where they are doing it wrong, then I am very happy about that.
I sometimes wonder if some critics have attended the same concert as me. I’ve heard Liszt’s concerto played by a multitude of great pianists since 1960 (I’m a pianist myself), so I know it pretty well. To call Wang’s performance ‘eccentrified,’ with exaggerated tempi and dynamics is, frankly, total nonsense. Actually her approach was NOT overly flashy. Yes there were pyrotechnics but this was LISZT for God’s sake. It’s got to sound a bit ‘close to the edge’ but there were moments of great tenderness. People have been a bit snooty about her dress sense of course. They assume that someone who wears a mini- skirt can’t possibly be a serious musician! Well, listen to the playing. A non-serious musician would not tackle Beethoven’s ‘Hammerclavier’, Ligeti etudes, Bartok, late Scriabin or Art Tatum etc etc with equal success.
Hesr, hear!
I do wonder whether the reviewer pressed for time and the commentator who supported his view wrote their reviews before the performance that is one of only two possible explanations for such an odd interpretation. The other being that in their view a relatively young stylish body confident young woman can not possibly be a good musician. There is a narrative among a small handful of critics that react negatively to someone not being a wizened over reverential stuffed shirt and actively dislikes seeing a younger more engaged audience than is sometimes seen in concert halls. As it happens there was in fact an extremely sound structure and appropriate pace and nuance in the performance and in the encores. Yes there was flash. That is Liszt after all, but also thoughtful reflection and tenderness. I suggest that people writing reviews like this reviewer try attending the concert being reviewed without making up their mind what they are going to write before even arriving.
Here is a prime example of someone who liked Wang’s performance but doesn’t like to read a critical review and then jumps to ill-founded and predictable suggestions to hide behind. I have been reading Mr Orga for many years in various publications and have found his writings to be experienced and perceptive. I don’t always agree with him, but I do on this occasion regarding Wang who while technically impressive was also glib with the music.
I cant answer for Mr English but I have no problem with critical reviews where the argument is about personal taste as I feel yours is. I am more surprised that Mr Orga is arguing an internationally renewed virtuoso pianist does not understand one of the iconic pieces of the genre. Whatever Wang did with it the effect was certainly deliberate. I loved it, others may not.