Photo, Sisi Burn
Sunday, August 20, 2023
Royal Albert Hall, London
The members of Les Siècles have a variety of instruments in their armoury, to match the era of whatever music is being played. Up-to-date for Ligeti, centuries older for Mozart. The former’s early Concert Românesc is a collection of Romanian musical heirlooms – picturesque, lively, open-air at dawn (horn-calls across the meadows) and the fiery Finale (occasionally an encore, including at the Proms, Bamberg Symphony/Jonathan Nott) – with some indigenous correspondences to Enescu’s two Rhapsodies, with the young Ligeti already pointing the way to his older self, such as the wit and whimsy of the stylistically-nomadic, yet always true to himself, Violin Concerto, 1993, from forty years later, with a very personal orchestration including ocarinas and Swanee whistles, and also involving re-tunings, the violin stealing in (once a ringing mobile had ceased) as if from another planet to launch music that stretches and satisfies the ear through five movements and thirty minutes, sometimes rapid and complexly multi-layered, or tenderly chorale-like, direct, and often with great intensity – always enjoyably unpredictable – here played with relish and aplomb by Isabelle Faust in partnership with Les Siècles and François‐Xavier Roth. Ligeti left a cadenza for the final movement, with an invitation to the soloist to look elsewhere if desired – there’s one by Thomas Adès, and Patricia Kopatchinskaja plays her own – and on this occasion Faust opted for Oscar Strasnoy’s, which she collaborated on and fits nicely before Ligeti dismisses the work with a slap on the wrist. For an encore Faust played ‘Dolorosa’, spare but alluring, by another György, Kurtág, from his Signs, Games and Messages.
A significant change of timbre for the Mozart, beginning with the A-major Piano Concerto (No.23; K488), Alexander Melnikov playing a fortepiano borrowed from Wigmore Hall, the pianist joining in with the opening tutti. It was a gentle performance as befits the nature of the solo instrument, Melnikov not without some wrong notes/awkwardness though and, surprisingly, relatively few ornamental additions. Somewhat bland in the outer movements, the slow one fared best, secretive, with some beguiling woodwind chirrups. As for the ‘Jupiter’ Symphony (No.41; K551) – a first movement of energy and crispness, with vivid trumpets and timpani, if a little unrelenting, and the Andante cantabile would have benefitted from greater repose, followed by a virile, dancing, and tempo-indivisible Minuet & Trio, if with dubious pauses. The great Finale was hallmarked as the first movement, but having observed every repeat thus far Roth then passed over the all-important second-half repetition, which is Illogical and proved ruinous to the whole.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001pmzw
https://www.colinscolumn.com/francois-xavier-roth-records-anton-bruckners-fourth-symphony-romantic-1874-score-for-myrios-classics/
https://www.colinscolumn.com/lso-live-francois-xavier-roth-records-strausss-zarathustra-debussys-jeux/
https://www.colinscolumn.com/les-siecles-francois-xavier-roth-record-les-nuits-de-paris-dance-music-from-folies-bergere-to-opera-for-bru-zane/
https://www.colinscolumn.com/gurzenich-orchester-koln-francois-xavier-roth-records-anton-bruckners-seventh-symphony-for-myrios/
I did not like the Ligeti concerto. It rambled and meandered far to long for it’s 28 minutes. It tries to grasp the attention by using some very strange instruments, hardly heard to good effect here and uses a lot of tub thumping percussion which goes against the grain for a violin concerto. The last time I was so disappointed with a modern violin concerto was the one by Xenakis. Call me a philistine.
I totally agree with Andrew in the Mozart half.
The gifted pianist was enveloped by his fellow players thus denying any proper sense of what was going on in this cavernous hall. It could have been a talented 18 year old playing.
Very disappointing.
I left to hear the Jupiter later on BBC Sounds. Early this morning as my disappointment was so intense I needed some sleep in between.
Here at least was a solid replication of the actual sound so grievously abandoned in the hall. The final calamity of the event was the premature ending of the symphony on BBC Sounds.
What on earth is going on at the Beeb?
You were in the right place, listening at home, Col. The middle of the orchestra, in front of and below the standing winds and horns, is no place for a solo fortepiano in a concerto. If this had been a recording, the effect was as if someone had forgotten to switch on Alexzander Melnikov’s microphone. When his instrument was audible, the result was bland – and alas, often inaccurate beside the bright and bold orchestral sound, which in the Jupiter Symphony threatened to become bludgeoning, with timpani sound that ranged from forte to fortissimo. The Finale should be joyous; here it was hectoring. A disappointment after a superb first half, with Ligeti’s dances full of character and Isabelle Faust absolutely on top of the concerto’s demands.
Ha! We left after the Concerto too, Edward! Heard the Jupiter in the car on the way home, astonishingly missing only the first three minutes as we got into the car six or seven minutes later. This was because as we left, the platform was being reset. Again. Which explains the computerised BBC Sounds early cut-off: with so many furniture removals between pieces, the prom finished considerably later than the scheduled 10.00. Ridiculous shenanigans. So disappointing. Roth and his orchestra are a vital force, and I’m a strong admirer of their recordings, but this prom seemed to me misjudged, misconceived as a programme, messy structurally and, in the Mozart concerto a travesty of balance.
I can only agree Andrew.
I too agree with the comments made about the Mozart half of the concert, for which I stayed to the end. The piano concerto was a mess of unbalanced sound, the fortepiano hardly audible for the most part and the exposed horns acting as bombastic soloists. The outer movements seemed to me to be taken too quickly and, when I could hear it, the piano sounded rushed and messy. The slow movement fared better. The Jupiter symphony was marred by strange pauses and unrelenting tempi, but above all by over-loud timpani, which suffocated so much detail in the first and last movements. Such a disappointment after the Ligeti.
So, there you have it. Reviews from people who couldn’t even be bothered to stay to the end! And then have the temerity to complain about BBC Sounds in the car.
The comments about the positioning of the forte piano and the sound are valid. But let’s applaud an orchestra and soloists avoiding the bland for once.
You’re eliding two opinions, Peter. And surely being a bit harsh! Edward’s issue was with the BBC Sounds repeat, which apparently – and unfortunately to say the least – cut the final minutes of the concert as it went beyond the scheduled time. By contrast, I heard the Jupiter Symphony not on BBC Sounds as I think you imply, but complete in the car as it was going out live. Reason I left after the Mozart concerto was that it was late, my partner and I had to get home, and neither of us cared to risk being battered by fortissimo timps in the Jupiter, which, positioned high up, were projecting pretty mercilessly in the Ligeti tuttis, albeit to exciting effect in this repertoire. And so it turned out in the symphony, both as heard on Radio 3 (‘a little unrelenting’, thought Colin, so I’m not alone) and by several accounts of friends who were in the hall. I completely agree that adventurous and imaginative programming is infinitely preferable to blandness any day. But I hope I can be forgiven in thinking that the risk here didn’t quite come off as a whole. Nevertheless, as I’ve said above, Les Siecles and its charismatic founder have stimulated and thrilled me many times over the past few years. I just didn’t enjoy this concert’s second half! Surely I can be forgiven for that!