Louise Drewett The Daymark (world premiere); Ravel Piano Concerto in G major; Shostakovich Symphony No 11, The Year 1905: London Symphony Orchestra, Gianandrea Noseda conductor, Alice Sara Ott piano
Not a great deal in common between these three pieces, one might have thought in advance. Perhaps in retrospect there are connections between the new Drewett piece and the Ravel, but both had very little in common with Shostakovich at his most raucous and brutal (though maybe that contrast was the programming point!).
This was an exciting and enjoyable concert, with a nearly full hall, including the Balcony in use. The orchestra was joined by a number of young professional musicians from the Music Academy in Santa Barbara, who have been working with the LSO in November.
The Drewett piece – the inspiration for which was a stone beacon on the Devon coast, which, as one walks around it, breaks up, with its octagonal shape, the light in various ways, was easy on the ears – in fact could have been written by Ravel! It was an enjoyable water/light scape, with rippling colours and changing sonorities but maybe a bit ultimately unmemorable. It was well-received by the audience.
I seem to have heard several accounts of the Ravel piano concerto since the end of lockdown – I think this was the third! This was much the best. The playing of Alice Sara Ott was exquisite – delicate, nimble, flashing with colour and subtle touches, and getting just right the playing of the opening of the slow movement, which was more touching than any performance I can remember of this work. The jazzy touches are of course right up the LSO’s street, but what was more notable were some beautiful solos – particularly by the horn, flute and harp. This was, I think, a great performance.
The Shostakovich 11th was the second performance of this work I’ve heard live – the first was at the Proms with LPO / Vladimir Jurowski about 5 years ago. I found this performance exciting, absorbing – perhaps in the end a little unmoving as a dramatic experience, but that may be the work rather than the performance (however I think not)……..The LSO certainly played superbly – particularly the battery of percussionists, the trumpets and trombones blasting forth, the cor anglais’ beautiful playing in the finale, plus the whirling strings coming in section after section in the second movement, digging deeply into their notes, and the Mahlerian woodwind playing out, again in the second movement, and particularly in that wind passage that sounds like an Orthodox chant, before the killing begins. I found the first movement played slightly too fast, but it was still very atmospheric – that sense of ice-cold blue skies in the sparse string writing perhaps does have some relationship with Drewett’s work. The word often used to describe this work is “cinematic’, usually with a slightly derogatory tone. To me, there are maybe elements of that in the first movement, but the other three movements don’t really wholly fit that description – they’re intense, dramatic but in the sense that many symphonies have dramatic movement and the capability to move an audience. The Leningrad Symphony does this, and rises above the programmatic history of the siege of Leningrad to be a meditation on the horror and terror of 20th century life, not just the specifics of revolution or war . Somehow the horror and the terror wasn’t quite present in this performance and it sounded a bit episodic at times– the sharp drum report and the pounding strings halfway through the second movement didn’t quite link with what had happened previously, and the woodwind/percussion/timpani passage which follows was exciting but not terrifying (as it is for instance in the LSO recording with Rostropovich). But this was an excellent performance by any normal standards. The audience gave Noseda and the orchestra a standing ovation at the end.
John's musical journey 