Bavarian Radio photo from rehearsals for yesterday’s and this evening’s concerts
Friday, March 6, 2026
Herkulessaal, Munich
Pacific 231, like much of Honegger’s output, doesn’t get out much these days, which is at odds with the quality of most of his catalogue, including five splendid Symphonies. It was good that his locomotive piece was given a runout from the sidings although it took a little while for this particular wheel arrangement to be fully lubricated, soon becoming a journey of destination although Alain Altinoglu might have applied the brakes a little sooner and showed more concern for not hitting the buffers.
Although not written for him, once the premiere had taken place it was Wolfgang Schneiderhan who recorded Swiss composer Frank Martin’s Violin Concerto (1950-51) with Ansermet conducting the Suisse Romande Orchestra for Decca. It’s a lovely lyrical work, quite pastoral, the violin first among equals with the orchestra, the invention at once beguiling yet enigmatic, the pace increasing to reveal emotions so far hidden, followed by a lengthy cadenza and a dreamy envoi. The central slow movement strives for release, the work rounded by a rhythmically agile Finale that gathers intensity for a lively coda, Martin not indulging a big finish. With sympathetic support, Frank Peter Zimmermann was typically immaculate. He offered two encores: Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst’s transcription of Schubert’s song, Der Erlkönig (D328), a stunning transfer from voice-and-piano to violin alone of the Goethe setting without diminishing the music’s instantly recognisable rhythmic patterns and its heightened expression. Zimmermann was astonishing. And then I think a Bach Sonata movement, equally masterly.
Further solo violin in Rimsky-Korsakov’s brilliantly orchestrated showpiece, in which stories are told to stem the fate that is death, Anton Barakhovsky, a BRSO concertmaster since 2009 (standing, right, in the above photo), spinning seductive lines (so too other principals) as part of a performance that occasionally lacked the last degree of fantasy, Altinoglu just a little stolid and heavy-handed at times. Yet ‘The Young Prince and Princess’ was touchingly romantic (with magical clarinet arabesques) and the final festival/shipwreck movement was thrilling, Barakhovsky having the last word, another story to be told, once upon a some-other time.
Konzert des Symphonieorchesters des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Leitung: Alain Altinoglu
Solist: Frank Peter Zimmermann, Violine
Arthur Honegger: “Pacific 231”; Frank Martin: Violinkonzert; Nikolaj Rimskij-Korsakow: “Scheherazade”