United Kingdom Norman, Stravinsky, Sibelius: Vilde Frang (violin), BBC Symphony Orchestra / Sakari Oramo (conductor). Barbican Corridor, London, 20.1.2024. (CS)
Andrew Norman – Unstuck
Igor Stravinsky – Violin Concerto in D main
Jean Sibelius – Symphony No.1 in E minor Op.39
One imagines that there are few violinists, or viewers members, who would declare that Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto (1931) tops their favourites record, however on this immensely partaking efficiency with the BBC Symphony Orchestra on the Barbican Corridor, the Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang displayed tenderness for the Concerto’s quirkiness, enjoyment of its wit and respect for its mental arguments. She and Sakari Oramo discovered a lot to attraction, amuse and persuade the big and appreciative viewers.
Frang took a center path, emphasising neither the Concerto’s acerbic, ‘secco’ type nor adopting an excessively Romantic method à la Vengerov. There was each chunk to her bowing and heat in her tone, and a stunning lyricism at occasions as she explored the rating’s many colors with actual care and perception. The soloist hardly ever performs alone, however quite is commonly in dialogue with an orchestral instrument or part, and Frang relished such partnerships, ceaselessly turning to have interaction immediately along with her fellow performers, her passagework a part of broader musical conversations. The end result was extra concertante than concerto.
Although the orchestral forces look giant, on paper and on the platform, they’re used discriminatively by Stravinsky, with emphasis on the woodwind and brass; there’s a lot within the rating that reminds one of many composer’s earlier neoclassical scores such because the Octet or of the Symphonies of Wind Devices. Right here, the insistent ostinatos have been pungent however not overly assertive, and Oramo coaxed myriad particulars from his gamers, managing the dynamics with very good judgement, sculpting crisp, ever-changing textures, and creating an thrilling dramatic canvas.
The 2 central actions, each described as ‘Arie’, have been performed with insightful expression by Frang. Neither are ‘songs’ as such – the primary, specifically, presents a wry array of spiky characters, corresponding to one may discover in commedia dell’arte – however the violinist’s legato bowing and agency, intense tone introduced forth the extra lyrical qualities of the rating. The concluding ‘Capriccio’ was spry and witty, by no means brittle, all the time homosexual. Frang’s vibrant upbows on the heel set the tone in the beginning: this was music to be loved, not wrestled with. The entire efficiency was a wedding of musical minds and instincts.
Stravinsky might deprive the soloist of a cadenza however Frang didn’t deny the viewers an encore, the wealthy rhetoric of the Giga senza basso from Antonio Maria Montanari’s Sonata in D minor proving a fascinating complement to Stravinsky’s neoclassical attraction.
The BBC Symphony Orchestra opened the live performance with Andrew Norman’s Unstuck (2008). The composer has defined that, confronted with a ‘mess of musical fragments that refused to cohere’, the reminiscence of a sentence from Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, Slaughterhouse-5 (‘Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time’) helped him to beat his author’s block. The result’s a piece wherein fragments and motifs ‘crop up within the improper locations’ and ‘get caught in repetitive loops’. Unstuck is an Ives-like compendium of numerous idioms and concepts, which Oramo led with an iron-secure beat and unwavering readability. The punctuation factors have been strongly marked, and the stress and chromaticism amassed, although the last word vacation spot wasn’t evident to me. Certainly, the occasional stuttering and the juxtaposition of, for instance, explosive tuttis and tender laments for 2 solo celli, appeared to empty the power that elsewhere the rating labored so exhausting to accrue. I’m unsure whether or not one is meant to seek out the postmodernist, stop-start eclecticism playful or earnest, however Unstuck was performed purposefully and with panache by the BBCSO.
The orchestra and Oramo have simply returned from a Swiss tour throughout which they carried out all seven of the symphonies of Jean Sibelius. Right here we had the First, which Oramo carried out from reminiscence, impressively speaking each the rating’s particulars and its grand sweep. His belief in his gamers was all the time evident, from the opening clarinet solo over comfortable timpani to the 2, fading pizzicato string chords which have the ultimate say. All of Sibelius is current on this work: one hears these driving pedals, the exploitation of the darkness of the double basses, the scurrying string ostinatos that immediately emerge from the mists into brightness, the pizzicato gestures that appear harmless however which develop into grand statements. And, greater than something, the rhythmic energies and undercurrents that are the life-force of the symphonies. Oramo bought actually inside these rhythmic currents and whipped up the required fervour for the melodic climaxes, whereas making the extra poised moments converse with eloquence.
The delineation of timbres and textures within the Andante (ma non troppo lento) was lovely, the woodwind conversations invigorating and vibrant. There was vigour and pleasure within the Scherzo, and a stunning forcefulness in the beginning of the Finale. All through, as earlier within the Stravinsky Concerto, there was a way that musical intuition and perception have been working as one.
Claire Seymour
