Schumann, Piano Concerto in A minor; Smetana, Má vlast. Víkingur Ólafsson, piano; Berliner Philharmoniker, Kirill Petrenko, conductor
I have never heard Víkingur Ólafsson play anything other than Bach and Mozart live, so I was looking forward to hearing what he did with the Schumann concerto. And I have never heard the whole of Ma Vlast before, let alone been to a live performance – in fact I only know the first two movements – Vysehrad and Vltava – well, and have, to my certain knowledge, only ever heard Vltava live. I may once have heard ‘From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields’ on Radio 3. ‘Sarka’, ‘Tabor’ and ‘Blanik’ are completely new to me. All this – plus the Berlin Phil and Petrenko – looked to be a very considerable treat as a concert.
Vltava I heard first when I was about 11 when my friend Ian in Hackney shared with me a vinyl EP he had of the work. I remember loving the fast dance bit in the middle of the work. The Schumann piano concerto by the early 80’s seemed to crop up at almost every London concert I went to. I had got very tired of it, and indeed, 40 years or more on, I can’t remember when thereafter I ever went to a live performance.
This was a glorious performance, for a number of reasons:
1, Vikingur Olafsson has the power to make you feel every note he plays is being freshly thought about. There were wonderful examples of this – the opening statement of the main theme on the piano, the dialogue of the piano with woodwind in the development section of the first movement, and the way the piano responded and played with the lower strings in the second theme of the slow movement. His playing also has a special intensity – you have to listen
2. This pianist has a lovely limpidity of tone – very elegant and thoughtful, not emoting and banging away – and the ability to make fine distinctions of volume in phrasing, as well as (of course) superb clarity technically. This was particularly evident in the finale
3. The superb playing of the Berlin Phil woodwind and horns – these were a constant delight, particularly oboe and clarinet in the development section of the first movement
4. The sense of sharp rhythmic impetus Petrenko and the orchestra gave to the music – skipping, biting string sounds particularly in the finale, and the end of the exposition of the first movement. Petrenko seemed a very supportive accompanist, often turning round to check speeds and timing with Olafsson
Olafsson seemed very keen on being at the Proms when he first appeared in 2021, and he spoke tonight of the extraordinary feeling of that concert, so soon after Covid, and the emphasis on community he feels the Proms has. As an encore he played Bach, one of life’s loners – a piece he recorded in his wonderful Bach transcription album, an adagio from an organ sonata BWV 528. The audience went wild
It is of course Smetana’s 200th anniversary this year. It seems in a sense a slightly odd piece of programming to have the Czech Philharmonic in London a few days earlier and not have them play Ma Vlast, and then have the Berlin Philharmonic a few days later with it on their programme – wouldn’t it have been better to give the Asrael Symphony to Petrenko and co (a much more general central-European sound, not specifically Czech)? Anyway………I guess maybe the point is to show Smetana’s universality…….
However, universality is not what it’s about – Ma Vlast is a foundational piece of Czech nationalism and national identity, and very specifically grounded in the landscape and history of Czechia. I found it difficult to relate to at first, as I listened to the whole of Ma Vlast for the first time, and wondered really what its narrative meant for me, a non-Czech listening 150 years after it was written. What I came to feel over the 75 minutes of the performance is that it was better to listen to it just as a piece of pure music, without any tone poem associations, and just enjoy the sheer melodic sweetness and inspiration and rhythmic bounce of much of the music. I was particularly taken by some of the pieces I know less well – Sarkar and From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields, the former having an exciting story about a Boudicca figure in Czech history who declares war on men – with fast moving music that was brilliantly played – and the latter, having more of a pictorial focus, with again exciting and memorable music. Vltava was faster than usual but with a terrific account from the Berlin Phil strings of the eddying flows of the river, and burbling from the woodwind. Tabor is rather heavy-going and tedious, with a repeated 4 note theme depicting Hussites getting very cross which gets on one’s nerves after a time but Blanik revives the good humour and provides an effective ending. There are Wagnerian tinges at times, but a lot of the music is surprisingly unrelated to say Brahms and Schubert. I guess the occasionally heard voice that is present in Ma Vlast is Liszt, without most of his bombast and note-spinning
The playing of the Berlin Phil was quite extraordinary and utterly impeccable – wonderful horn playing from Stefan Dohr, beautiful oboe playing from Jonathan Kelly, but above all it was the brilliance and tightness of the ensemble that impressed – the tripping dance music, the intensity, the tremendous climaxes, and the absolute precision (all of these present for instance in the final few minutes of From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields, and the grandeur and excitement of the last 5 minutes of Blanik). Throughout, Petrenko emphasised the dance element in the music, doing a waltz with himself on stage. But Petrenko is very far from being a podium show-off – his absolute and total commitment to the music, his complete belief in it, was palpable, and his unconditional focus on what the orchestra is doing was evident all through the concert.
John's musical journey 