Smetana, Martinů and Brahms
Smetana: Overture: The Bartered Bride (1866/1870) Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra/Mariss Jansons Barbican Hall, London – 12 December 2009 It was a real treat to see the Overture to The Bartered Bride listed as the opener at this return appearance in London after the Proms, but unfortunately the performance left me less than happy. This overture is bright and breezy, frothy and gossamer light, but not tonight. Jansons chose an insanely fast tempo, in the manner of the Russlan and Ludmilla Overture, which robbed the piece of any poise and character it possesses. Racey yes, but totally lacking in charm and integrity. We’ve heard the Concertgebouw in Brahms many times, but this is, for me, the first time with their new chief conductor; the performance didn’t quite reach the standard of interpretation we expected. For instance, the very first note of the piece was given tenuto, as if the violins weren’t exactly sure how the piece began and needed a slight breathing space for them all to be brought in together. Exactly the same thing happened at the start of the development. There were also, in the first movement, a few places where Jansons stopped the music for a moment, which ruined the continuous flow which Brahms so obviously intended. The slow movement started far too loudly from the horns, as if they wanted us to know that they were there and in control, and it robbed the movement of its poise and stately quality. Jansons got the scherzo exactly right and the finale was, in general, well handled. But overall, the parts didn’t really add up to the whole. And this was the main problem with tonight’s show; none of the pieces hung together as a whole. Jansons seemed not to have a sufficiently clear idea of where the music was going, so he was unable to fully realise the architecture of the compositions. We were given a couple of encores but they couldn’t make up for what was a misjudged performance. Bob Briggs Instead of a photo image, enjoy Janssons conducting a Mahler movement on YouTube [Editor] |