Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus, Olivier Messiaen: Reinis Zariņš piano
This was the second of two concerts unexpectedly heard when my Welsh holiday was cancelled. I have a recording of this work (indeed two of them!) and therefore I know it to some extent. However, I have never been to a live performance, and probably another won’t come my way again….Messiaen’s vast cycle (1944) is a meditation on the infancy of Jesus. The first thing that struck me is how long the work is, listened to at one sitting – this performance was well over two hours. The second is, alongside that point, how little this performance felt like that. I was staggered after the concert when I looked at my watch and it said 21:46! That suggests that the performance had been exceptional in its concentration and communication. I very rarely lost focus. I think focus was helped by the decision (by the Hall? the pianist?) to do a surtitle sequence for each of the ‘Regards’, giving the number, name and the relevant Biblical quotation attached to it. The other, to my mind, rather staggering aspect of this performance is that Mr Zariņš was playing the work from memory –certainly (while not necessarily an indicator of musical quality) a considerable technical achievement and surely allowing him more mental space to focus on expression and timing. A previous UK performance a few years ago by Mr Zariņš, who comes from Latvia, had a very good review from The Guardian: his ‘embrace of the music’s monumentality and its intimacy was remarkable. Taking the 20-piece cycle in a single sweep and playing from memory, he riveted the attention: two hours … flew by, transcending time.’ My thoughts, exactly! I really enjoyed re-listening to this work – it must be 3-4 years since I put my CD of it on, and I loved listening to the Turangalila Symphony-like splodgy sounds in some of the grander Regards. Mr Zariņš could both summon up extraordinary power for something like the Tenth Regard, and quiet stillness for some of the other movements. I thought this was an absorbing and impressive performance. The only spoiler was the gentleman in the audience who, after more than 2 hours of rapt silence, could not help himself, in the reverberating seconds of silence after the final chord, delivering an epic and very loud sneeze. I am sure people should be able to stifle their sneezes! There might be an audible grunt annoying a few people around you, if you stifled it, but this was a veritable explosion!
I should also say something about the acoustics of the Wigmore Hall – I was sitting fairly near to the back for both these concerts, but never experienced this as being distant and always felt engaged. The piano sound was resonant but not cloudy – just right for this work. What a great place to hear chamber and solo music, as many have said before……
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