Richard Strauss: Macbeth, Der Rosenkavalier suite, Ein Heldenleben: Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Andris Nelsons conductor
The concert was supposed to be the first of four this week, with not only the Leipzig but also the Boston Symphony, Nelsons’ two orchestras, and featuring with the BSO at the Festival Hall the Alpine Symphony, the Sinfonia Domestica, Lisa Davidsen singing the 4 Last Songs and extracts from Salome – a completely mind-blowing week in prospect! Sadly the Boston bit fell through but at least the Leipzig part has gone ahead and this, the first of two, was a very fine concert indeed. It’s 3 years almost since I heard one of the great European orchestras live (oddly enough amongst other things also playing the Rosenkavalier Suite – the Bavarian RSO with Yannick Nezet-Seguin at the Proms in July 2019). I last heard – I think – the Leipzig Orchestra in 2017 at the Barbican – playing Bruckner 7 with Herbert Blomstedt
The Leipzig Orchestra – coming up for its 280th birthday – is truly excellent and clearly enjoys working with Nelsons, their chief conductor. Their sound is ideal for Strauss – the firmness and fruitiness of the combination of cellos and horns at the opening of Ein Heldenleben, the glorious interweaving of the principal horn and other principal woodwind in lyrical passages, the voluptuousness of the upper strings, the assertiveness of the timpani – all seem part of an organic whole. Ein Heldenleben had the most distinctive and enjoyable reading of the three pieces in the concert, and indeed I don’t think I’ve ever heard it live since a memorable performance at the RFH with the Berlin PO and Karajan in 1972, so it was doubly exciting to hear it in concert after nearly 50 years! Oddly, as seems to be the way with concert programming, some works come along a bit like London buses – nothing for ages but then actually there are three performances of Ein Heldenleben I am going to this year (others being the Oslo Phil and Klaus Makela at the Proms and Mark Elder and the Halle in Manchester). This was certainly a more characterful and sensitive performance than the old Chicago S 0 /Reiner RCA recording I got to know the work from (I can remember very little of the Karajan performance). Among its many excellent aspects were:
- Some very varied and really characterful violin solo playing – much better than the Reiner recording
- Nelsons’ judging of the degrees of climax in the music which were very carefully handled, particularly in the battle scene
- Some beautiful phrasing, the sheer lushness of the Leipzig strings at full stretch, and ultra quiet playing in the love scene and the closing sequence
- The malevolence of the woodwind critics – somehow spot-lit and made much more characterful, sometimes more amusing, sometimes more malevolent than I remember, by the orchestra and Nelsons
- The power and noise of the orchestra at full throttle when unleashed by Nelsons, and the splendour of the return of the main theme after the battle
There are aspects of Ein Heldenleben which can make you slightly queasy, but this was as good a case as you could make for the piece, I think, and the final bars were really very moving.
The Rosenkavalier Suite featured beautiful woodwind playing, particularly in the orchestral simulation of the glorious final trio, whooping horns superbly done, and the whole thing was superbly played, huge fun, and a great reminder of what a wonderful piece this is. The Macbeth tone poem is an early work and frankly not that interesting.
Though it was not sold out, there was a good very appreciative crowd – indeed this is the first really world-class major orchestra I think to have come to London from outside the UK since the pandemic
John's musical journey 