Another online streaming of another orchestral concert observing social distancing and without live audience. It's a compromise which many have been making, but still doesn't compare with the feel and atmosphere of a live concert.
Here, the strings and percussion of London Symphony Orchestra, in their second home, St Luke's Church, performed two substantial works both conducted by guest Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla.
The first piece was Weinberg's Symphony No 2 for String Orchestra. A composer I am aware of but am not familiar with his ouevre, and so this was a most interesting listen for me. Weinberg, a Polish Jew saw most of his family and friends die at the hands of the Germans in WW2, whilst he, thanks to the persuasion of his friend Dmitri Schostakovich was able to escape to Moscow. In Grazinyte-Tyla's introduction to the piece she speaks of how the two composers influenced each others' work; Schostakovich taking the Polish, Jewish and Impressionist flavours from Weinberg, and Weinberg taking the serious, pompous, nationalistic flavours from Schostakovich. His second symphony is quite lightly orchestrated - using only the string section - and is an early work, and so has not yet gained the bombastic and apocalyptic qualities of his later symphonies.
The first movement (allegro moderato) flirts with the fashionable salon waltz whilst keeping the music earthed and dramatic, but never too heavy. There is a long, quiet and slow diminuendo to close. The second movement (adagio) picks up this mood with a strident single violin theme which becomes thicker and thicker and less tuneful, almost nightmarish, before falling away to almost nothing leaving the melody to a single cello, making another long, peaceful, slow and quiet denouement to the movement. The third and final movement (allegretto) starts off with a very Russian sounding opening melody, a dance with jolly pizzicato rhythms. This though, like the second movement becomes more strident and discordant, but never loses the impetus, even when the volume drops almost below audibility, before the pizzicato strings are heard once more, and just as you think the dance is going to conclude the symphony, there is another diminuendo to ppp, more prosaic, slower, a solo violin leads us to the final few pianissimo chords.
After this we needed a lighter piece, and this was provided for by Rodion Shchedrin, a Russian composer who, after being commissioned by the Bolshoi Ballet to write a piece based on the Carmen story, decided instead to reinvent the music already composed by Bizet. It must be stated here though that despite the music still having Bizet's name first: Bizet arr Shchedrin, this, his Carmen Suite, is actually a lot more than simple arrangement. using only strings and a large percussion section, Shchedrin's treatment of the Bizet is unique, surprising and original. Taking almost the whole story of the opera, and condensing it into a 40 minute ballet suite, this is dance music, it's a different interpretation, but is joyous and wonderful. All the melodies we know and love are there without us having to pretend we love opera! But these are original creative works, much more of a 'variations on a theme' instead of 'arranging'. In his piece, Shchedrin uses original material which is interwoven in amongst the known melodies; some of which are played in an interrupted or metamorphosed version. It's clever, and we never truly lose sight of the originals.
I couldn't help wondering though, how this suite would have sounded if composed for a full orchestra.
The London Symphony Orchestra once agian impressed, and despite their lack of proximity and perspex screens, they sounded absolutely wonderful. Grazinyte-Tyla is a passionate and intellectual condutor; knowledgable and sensitive, but very animate on the podium with arms waving relentlessly as if they were tentacles reaching out to 'feel' the music.
I can't wait to be back in a concert hall again! Bravo LSO!
Reviewer - Alastair Zyggu
Reviewer - Alastair Zyggu
on - 6/12/20
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