Nijinsky as Petrushka
Tuesday, September 3, 2024
Royal Albert Hall, London
The flute solo that opens the Debussy was as if improvised, immediately inviting, and continued to bewitch throughout this flexible, warmly played, sensual performance. Klaus Mäkelä’s conducting of Petrushka (1947 score rather than 1911) was on the glacial, dissected side, precision being the objective, seemingly, making the occasional ensemble untidiness the more noticeable, a concerto-for-orchestra approach that rather blunted characterisation and narrative despite the vividness and personable solos, not least from the pianist placed right in front of the conductor. Berlioz’s forward-looking Symphonie – ‘Épisode de la vie d’un artiste … en cinq parties‘ – was altogether more involving, a different sort of vividness, pictures painted and personalities drawn, poetic expression, passions presented, a stylish waltz (‘Un bal’, played attacca from the first movement), a simmering/tender/eruptive ‘country scene’ (cor anglais and oboe in meaningful dialogue and perspective, wonderful clarinet solo, timpani as ominous thunder). The remaining two movements hit the gory highpoints – of scaffolds and witches – the first swaggered (repeat observed), the second strutted to a particularly metallic bell (Berlioz wanted something darker) and a rasping ‘Dies irae’, building to a cackling conclusion. No encore, a shame.
Debussy: Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
Stravinsky: Petrushka (1947 version)
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0022ct6
I only got to hear the Berlioz, ever one of my favourites. I bought Beecham’s 1961 recording (again with a French orchestra) with my first wage packet. Makela’s performance at the Proms was ‘fantastique’. I particularly enjoyed the rich sonorities of the double basses, the wind playing in the third movement and the eerie intonations of the witches’ sabbath. The pointed phrasing and rhythmic attack throughout was most exciting….worthy of the ecstatic ovation at the end.