Friday, January 31, 2025

Berliner Philharmonie, Herbert-von-Karajan-Straße, Berlin

With the absence of an unwell Kirill Petrenko, Dima Slobodeniouk took over the advertised programme, introducing Elgar’s Violin Concerto idiomatically and with keen anticipation of Frank Peter Zimmermann’s immaculate rendition of the solo part, impassioned but not heart-on-sleeve, tender but not sentimental, culminating with an athletic and – in the cadenza – reflective Finale. Curiously, for all the artistic excellence and selfless musicianship on offer, this performance probably won’t linger too long in the memory, maybe because it tended to be rather contained, and also included a slow movement that had its Andante marking taken rather too literally, creating something of an intermezzo. A dedicated reading on behalf of the music nonetheless.

What will be remembered is Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst’s transcription of Schubert’s song, Der Erlkönig (D328), a masterly transfer from voice-and-piano to violin of the Goethe-inspired setting without diminishing the music’s instantly recognisable rhythmic momentum and its heightened expression. Zimmermann was astonishing.

Sibelius’s Lemminkäinen Legends (including the often standalone ‘Swan of Tuonela’), four tales from the Kalevala, is music of atmosphere and imagery, sometimes raw and elemental, the orchestra a canvas for graphic musical painting, and brought off with bravura by the Berliners and Slobodeniouk (Russian-born and now a Finnish citizen), whether intensifying the development of motifs, smoothly gliding the ‘Swan’ (poetic cor anglais solo) or ending with a thrilling ‘Lemminkäinen’s Return‘, racing homebound following his adventures, horse not spared.