Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla – Conductor; Patricia Kopatchinskaja – Violin; Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4
This was an incredibly powerful and exciting – but also stylish – concert. I am sure it will be one of my highlights of the year, when I look back in December.
It was a concert of course very much with the thought of the conflict in Ukraine in the minds of everyone in the hall. The conductor’s rostrum and the screen behind the orchestra were both covered with the blue and yellow colours of the Ukrainian flag. Stephen Maddocks, the Orchestra’s MD came on beforehand to say that the concert would be dedicated to the recognition of the suffering of Ukraine, that we must also remember the many ordinary Russians suffering as well, in addition to those who have bravely criticised Russia’s aggression, and that the CBSO was firmly against any ‘cancel’ culture for Russian music – music offered the opportunity for people to understand and be moved across cultures. There are indeed aspects of the current support for Ukraine that strike me as dubious – the mass cancellation of activities, events, performers, sports-people simply because they are Russian seems to be a distinctly wrong note and likely to do more harm than good (though fair enough if they have displayed unequivocal support for Putin now or in the past, as with Gergiev or Netrebko – but not many ordinary Russians would be demonstrating that).
Mirga then came on stage to deliver some quite outstanding Tchaikovsky performances. There were common features here:
- Using the acoustic properties of the hall to maximum effect to provide a lively detailed orchestral sound
- Relatively measured speeds, and a disinclination to speed up and slow down to deliver instant excitement (the Leningrad Phil Mravinsky recordings are very similar in this respect). This means that the conductor is letting the music, and the musicians breathe, and giving the orchestra have time to phrase effectively and sensitively. Another outcome of measured speeds is greater rhythmic vitality
- Very careful control of sound dynamics
- Excellent balance of the different elements in the orchestra – no braying brass or overwhelming percussion and timps
- But on the other hand, letting things rip when the roof really needs to be raised!
I hadn’t sat near to Mirga before at a concert – she is fascinating to watch, particularly the use of her hands to sculpt what she wants from the orchestra, and clearly a great orchestral communicator
It must be nearly 57 years since I first heard Romeo and Juliet on record. I remember going to a live concert – one of those Tchaikovsky Victor Hochhauser spectaculars with 1812 guns – in the Albert Hall in about 1966 where it was played. Mirga/CBSO’s performance must be the best I have ever heard – the strings soared, beautiful woodwind playing in the opening, brass and percussion thrilling in the fights.
The Tchaikovsky 4 was, similarly, one of the best I have heard live. There was, again, some beautiful playing (particularly oboe and bassoon), thrilling sounds (timpanist making a most exciting noise), and luscious strings. I have never heard the final downward cascade of strings at the end of the first movement (slowed down, a la Mravinsky) sound so powerful, so charged with emotion. in any other live performance, or the central part of the slow movement so drenched with emotion as the strings welled up. I also enjoyed the rhythmic punch of the third movement
In a very different tradition, I also hugely enjoyed Patricia Kopatchinskaja (the Moldovan-Austrian-Swiss violinist)’s performance of the Stravinsky concerto. It’s not a work I’ve heard much live and I really enjoyed focusing on it – it goes much beyond Stravinsky’s more tedious neo-classical works, and has much of the bite of the earlier rhythmically focused pre WW1 pieces, as well as the grace and poise of Pulcinella and other similar pieces. Ms Kopatchinskaya radiated physical and instrumental energy and focus – her physical presence, barefoot!, helped you to follow the forward momentum of the piece. She gave her imagined cadenza for the work as an encore.
The orchestra as a whole concluded the concert with a moving melancholy piece called, I think, ‘“Melody from the High Pass” by Ukrainian composer Myroslav Skoryk (1938-2020)
John's musical journey 