Kahchun Wong conductor, Mariam Batsashvili piano: Ifukube Japanese Suite for Orchestra; Liszt Piano Concerto No.1; Brahms Symphony No.1
This was another very exciting and impressive concert from Kachun Wong and the Halle. The first three concerts I have heard him conducting this season were Mahler/Bruckner-based and I wondered how he would get on with more traditional classical fare like Brahms . Very well indeed is the answer – see below. The logic of putting these works together in the same programme was a bit hard to follow – the Halle announced it as a programme of 1sts. But , anyway, it is clear from some of Mr Wong’s programming this season that he is keen to promote East Asian composers, which is fair enough and very welcome. The Japanese composer Ifukube was featured this evening – apparently he’s written over 300 film scores. I had assumed something vaguely modernist but in fact this was very straightforward – broad dance-like music with strong drumming rhythms, and it fascinatingly both clearly derived from Japanese folk music yet did not in any way feel self-consciously orientalist. There was some extremely good flute playing and some wonderfully raspy brass.
Miriam Batsashvilli came on in jacket and trousers looking startlingly like a black-haired female version of Liszt (she has a similar profile). I have grumbled in the past in this blog about the meretricious Liszt concerto but this time I found myself just sitting back and enjoying it, going with the flow. Ms. Batsashvilli sounded a very impressive pianist, though she didn’t remove memories of Yuja Wang at the Proms 3 years ago performing this piece. She did a nice encore in the style of Offenbach, which was good fun.
The performance of the Brahms 1 was very impressive. I have not heard a better live one in a long time. It was serious, solid and sensitive, and it didn’t rely on flashy dynamism but seemed to grow organically. The disposition of the orchestra was interesting – split violins, 8 double basses at the back, 5 horns, and timpani to the side at a lower level. This created a rich deep sound – chords emerged from a deep bass. The first movement was taken relatively slowly so that the dotted note rhythms and angular punchy phrases made their full impact. The build up to the recapitulation in the first movement was tremendous in its power. The second movement was relatively fast and light but still very touching – the woodwind excelling themselves here and in the 3rd movement. The last movement was excellent – wonderful horn playing in their big tune, and a hugely impressive slow rendition of the big chorale tune at the end. There were many memorable moments in this movement – I particularly recall the moment towards the end when the horns play their big tune for the last time, where the music dies down slowly and movingly, which was very beautifully and lingeringly played, and the moment about 2 minutes further on when the orchestra slowly but inexorably picks up speed at the start of the coda, which was very exciting indeed. Throughout the Halle sounded wonderful. I really do think the Halle has made an excellent choice in Mr Wong – I hope he stays………….
John's musical journey 