Maxwell Davis: Fanfare: Her Majesty’s Welcome
Brahms: Violin Concerto
Walton: Symphony No. 1
London Symphony Orchestra
Janine Jansen, violin
Antonio Pappano, conductor
Antonio Pappano is only an occasional collaborator
with the London Symphony, but he works well with the orchestra. He delivers
plenty of fire and passion, and is often extreme with his tempos and rubato.
The orchestra, by contrast, maintains an even style, following closely his
often abrupt changes of tempo and mood, and without ever compromising their high
technical standards of intonation, tone quality and ensemble. At its best, and
that’s usually in the faster music, the result is a seamless unity between the
dynamism from the podium and the more measured expertise of the players. Occasionally,
the quieter music can seem laboured, but even then possible tensions come
across more as constructive dialectic.
The concert opened with a fanfare from Peter Maxwell
Davis, Her Majesty’s Welcome. Unlike
his previous royalty-themed work, the sanity of the monarch was not addressed
in any detail here. Instead, the work fulfilled a commission from the LSO for a
collaborative project with the LSO On Track Young Musicians. This outreach
project started life as part of London’s Olympic bid and involves East London
school children in performances with the LSO players. Max provided the ideal
work for the occasion, or rather the previous occasion, in 2012, when the Queen
was present. The young wind players were arranged behind the orchestra and
there were also two antiphonal brass choirs on the balcony. The brass and
percussion sections of the LSO got things going with some martial snare drum
followed by some regal, if densely voiced, chords from the trumpets and
trombones. These dense harmonies were presumably designed to hide any wayward
tuning from the young players, but, in fact, the harmonic side of the music was
a source of continual interest, despite its density of sound. And the
performance was a good one, the young woodwind players able to hold their own
against the batteries of brass, and the ensemble well balanced throughout. An occasional
piece, and a highly functional one too, but without any hint of condescension
to the young players.
Janine Jansen is an ideal soloist for the Brahms
Violin Concerto. Despite her slight frame, she has impressive power and
projection behind her tone, and when the music calls for it she can make a real
impact with heavy downbow accents. The motif that opens the first subject theme
in the first movement theme has rarely sounded as incisive and as dramatic as
it did this evening. But Brahms also calls for some intense lyricism,
especially in the second subject, which she also delivers convincingly.
Surprisingly, there were a few intonation problems early on in the first movement,
a result perhaps of some very daring portamento. Jansen well deftly slide up to
a note, teasing the audience as to when, or even if, it will arrive. Once or
twice the results came out flat. But in general this was a technically proficient
and impressively dramatic reading. Jansen often employs a hard, wiry tone in
louder passages, but it is clearly a conscious decision rather than an
affliction, as the rounder, mellower sounds she produces elsewhere demonstrate.
The orchestral strings were on fine form. Jansen’s gritty first subject motif
is soon repeated in the orchestra, and the violins were easily able to match
her punchy rendition. The woodwinds were a little wayward at the start of the
second movement, a result perhaps of Pappano’s very slow tempo and mannered
phrasing, but all was redeemed from the soloist’s first entry. And the finale
was a tour de force, snappy and dynamic, but also well controlled by soloist,
conductor and orchestra alike.
The London Symphony and Walton 1 go back a long way.
This was the orchestra that gave the famous incomplete performances of the work
in the long interregnum while the composer worked out what to do about the
finale. The piece is quite a workout for the players, and it’s an excellent
showpiece to demonstrate the LSO’s fine form. Pappano’s approach is controversial
in a couple of respects, particularly with regard to the quiet interludes in the
first movement. He tends to slow these right down, and to phrase very pedantically
with overt rubato. He also makes a very big thing out of the long build-ups, especially
the one that leads into the recapitulation of the first movement. The intention
is laudable, but most of this symphony doesn’t need that level of intervention:
Walton himself has put all the crescendo in that the build-ups need through
increasing harmonic density and orchestral voicing. The slow movement also felt
over-shaped, with Pappano clearly intent on emphasising the progression towards the more intense passages
near the end. On the other hand, the scherzo and finale were just fantastic. The
intensity and drive that Pappano brought to these movements was ideal, and was
matched by the clean, precise, and always energetic playing of the orchestra.
There were so many great things in the orchestral
playing here, it’s difficult to know where to begin. The horns and violas at
the beginning, clear and focussed, but with delicacy too. Nigel Thomas seemed
to have little difficulty with what must be one of the most demanding timpani
parts in the repertoire. Philip Cobb’s trumpet solo at the end, floating across
the orchestra with just a hint of brass band vibrato, was finer than on any
recording I’ve heard. In fact, the coda to the last movement was spot on in
every respect, and those gunshot staccatos that end were devastating in their
power and their unquestionable finality. Despite some of Pappano’s indulgences
earlier on, this was a fine and memorable performance of the greatest symphony
the UK has yet produced.
This concert
was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and can be accessed online until 6 February
2014 at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03s67gk
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