Tchaikovsky, Violin Concerto in D major op. 35; Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5 in D minor op. 47. Lisa Batiashvili Violin; Oslo Philharmonic; Klaus Mäkelä Conductor
…..So, the last concert of my 10 day trip to Bayreuth and Salzburg……….And here was Klaus with his ‘old’ orchestra, from the time when he only had one to deal with as chief conductor, as opposed to his future, where he is to be leading the Concertgebouw and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, ?as well as L’Orchestre de Paris. I heard him with this Oslo band two years ago at the Proms, when they were playing ‘Ein Heldenleben’ – that was an excellent performance. I wonder if this one in Salzburg was also originally meant to have Yuja Wang as the soloist – anyway they found someone almost equally starry in Lisa Batiashvili. I raised more than a quizzical eyebrow, in fact winced, at the price of this concert ticket for – what? 85 minutes plus a couple of encores, so I was expecting something special. I know Makela is being marketed as something special but I have seen him twice over the last two years…………………..
I remember that I must have acquired a recording of the Tchaikovsky concerto from when I was 11, but I have a particular memory of going to bed about 8pm one evening not long after that, and then being woken up by my parents about 9pm and asked if I wanted to listen to this concerto on TV – I think this was the performance by somebody called Mikhail Waiman with the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky at the Proms. This would have been in August 1966, just before I turned 14. I think I might have seen live the same conductor and soloist perform the concerto in 1971 with what was then the Leningrad Philharmonic. Beyond that I can’t remember having been to many live performances of the work – though I must have been to some……..
Bizarrely, though the orchestra pit was covered over and thus the stage extended towards the audience, for this performance the management had left the flying saucers over the orchestra from the previous night’s performance – they glowed red throughout the show. I was on the extreme left of the Felsenreitschule stage in Row 1 so sometimes sounds from the other end of the orchestra sounded softer than they might to someone sitting in the middle. I enjoyed the Tchaikovsky performance very much – it had dancing rhythms, and a real lilt to the melodies. When the climaxes came they were exciting and pointed, but often the orchestra was kept down to allow the soloist to shine through – she came across very clearly even from where I was sitting.. The soloist sounded technically superb and produced some totally secure melting high notes. Makela (a cellist) and Lisa Batiashvili did a little pizzicato duo as an encore.
I have heard many fine Shostakovich 5’s over the years, and this was another very, very good one. The two that have most lodged in my memory were both performances by Russian orchestras – Yuri Tenirkanov and the Leningrad Phil at the Proms in 1971, and another Russian orchestra (I think it might have been the Moscow Philharmonic) in 2001 in Sheffield, which almost blew the roof off the City Hall, so raucous and excitable was it. This Oslo performance was extremely well played – woodwind particularly – and climaxes were again very finely judged. The slow movement had rare intensity and the strings were thrilling when they throb with loud emotion towards the end of that movement. The end of the finale was done the Russian way – building up to an enormous climax very slowly like a fleet of Soviet tanks rumbling along. This is the first time the Oslo orchestra has been in Salzburg since 2000, when they came with their ex-boss Mariss Jansons, and they got a standing ovation from the Salzburg audience, which was thoroughly deserved
John's musical journey 