Prokofiev: Scythian Suite - Szymanovski: Symphony nr. 4 - Shostakovich: Symphony nr. 5

Yesterday I had the opportunity to sit in at the rehearsals and attend a very special concert. The I, Culture Orchestra is a youth orchestra that has been put together as a flagship cultural project for the Polish Presidency of the EU. It assembles young musicians from the 'Eastern Partnership' (Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova and Belorussia) and from Poland. Many of them are having their first experiences at playing in an orchestra. The project is the brainchild of two conductors: Pawel Kotla and Neville Marriner. I happened to meet the Pawel's spouse many years ago at a remote airfield in the Gabonese jungle. Recently she re-established contact and yesterday we had an enjoyable lunch in the company of her husband. Afterwards I was allowed to sit in at the rehearsals and later on I attended the concert. I,Culture brought a long and adventurous programme: the rarely heard Scythian Suite (aka Ala and Lolly), Prokofiev's op. 20, followed by Szymanovski's equally unfamiliar Fourth Symphony, op. 60 (Sinfonia Concertante). Shostakovich's popular Symphony nr. 5 completed the programme. 

This was the orchestra's seventh concert, ever. The ensemble was established last August and spent the month in residence at Gdansk. Then there were a few more weeks through September and October in preparation of their European tour which started in Krakow. Then Stockholm last week. Transit to Berlin, where they played at the Philharmonie. Today Brussels and then onwards to London, Madrid and Warsaw. Unfortunately in Brussels they were offered the Conservatoire and not the Bozar as a venue. It's not a bad hall, but it has seen much better days and it is rather small for a 110-strong symphony orchestra. Pawel worked hard during the rehearsals to recalibrate the sound to the venue.

The rehearsals were promising. Pawel worked his way sequentially through the three pieces, selecting bits and pieces, spending most time on matters of ensemble and dynamics. In my opinion the first violins seemed the Achilles heel of the orchestra. I found them a little lacklustre during rehearsal and would have like them to dig a bit deeper in the strings. But otherwise the orchestra seemed to be doing fine. Brass and winds seemed to be in great form. I was very impressed by the first flute, a young lady that produced an impressively authoritative and silken tone.

Attending the rehearsals did not prepare me, however, for the concert itself. What I heard there was very much in another league. Of course, in one way or another you can tell that this ensemble has not had a lot of time to really gel. That being said, it is astonishing at what level these young musicians were playing. Clearly the whole ensemble, including the strings, gave themselves wholeheartedly to the task. There were a few blemishes with intonation problems in the first violins and one or two hickups with the first horn, but they were few and far between.

The Prokofiev Suite came off very well, suitably agressive and with a richly layered sound. I have always had the Abbado/LSO version in my ears and this performance certainly didn't pale in comparison. Here is a nice audio excerpt.

It was a long time since I have last heard the Szymanovski symphony. It is a very special work that combines a folksy, propulsive kind of energy and an angular neoclassicism with a rich impressionist vein. Debussy and Roussel come to mind more than once, particularly in the slow movement. The symphony-concerto was composed in 1932, roughly contemporaneous with Bartok's Pianoconcerto nr. 2. By that time Szymanovski was already wrestling with financial difficulties. Compounded with health problems they would lead to his untimely death just a few years later, in 1937. The music doesn't reveal anything about the challenging circumstances in which it was composed. It is vigorously animated and combines a collage-like structure with a genuinely symphonic undercurrent. Pawel Kotla quite successfully was able to align these different forces into a convincing whole. The rapport between orchestra and soloist Peter Jablonski seemed excellent to me (apparently that hadn't been the case in earlier performances). This is a work that I would like to relisten too soon.

As I didn't look too keenly forward to the Shostakovich, I assumed that the Szymanovski for me would be the 'pièce the resistance' of the evening. It's just that I'm out of the mood for symphonic Shostakovich for the time being. The early pages of the symphony confirmed this sentiment. Now that I'm so deeply into Debussy, the symphonic music of Shostakovich strikes me as simple, even primitive (I had the same impression when I returned to Shostakovich after an extended period of listening to Bach). But soon the performance started to grip me and I must say that by the end of the first movement I was captivated. The scherzo came off wonderfully, mixing a fairy-tale, Nutcracker kind of atmosphere with violent sarcasm. It was the first time I heard it this way. The Largo was taken slowly but very soberly, without bathos. The clean lines reminded me more of plainchant than Mahler. I think it was a considerable challenge for the orchestra but Kotla didn't compromise. In the finale then the spirit of 'thou shalt rejoice' was very convincingly summoned. All in all it was a very convincing performance that spoke to the heart without drawing undue attention to itself and without sacrificing the overall architecture. I think that is a pretty impressive feat for any orchestra. It's good that in times of financial austerity money continues to be available for these kinds of worthwhile projects. I wish Pawel all the very best with his project.

Debussy: Violin Sonata - Lekeu: Violin Sonata - Ravel: Violin Sonata, Tzigane - Szymanovsky: Mythes

On Wednesday I had the pleasure to accompany an American guest to a concert. Violinist Alina Ibragimova gave a recital, accompanied by Cédric Tiberghien on the piano, at the Brussels Conservatory. I hadn't really heard about Ibragimova but I was attracted by an interesting programme and I was also intrigued by the fine discography that, despite her young age, she has behind her name (including the Hartmann Concerto Funèbre on Hyperion). Furthermore, it has been many years since I have attended a performance at the Conservatory hall. As I have always enjoyed this rather quaint and slightly down at heel venue for its intimate atmosphere and excellent acoustics I was eager revisit it.

Ibragimova is incredibly petite and delicate for her age - she looks 16 rather than 25 - but she coaxes an authoritative, unfussy tone from her instrument that strikes a nice balance between warmth and cleanliness. I was surprised by how nicely the sound seemed to fill the smallest nooks of the concert hall. But what is even more impressive is Ibragimova's musical intelligence. With the elusive Debussy and the fantastic Szymanovsky, this was technically and interpretatively an intimidating programme. But both musicians seemed to rise effortlessly to the challenge. The concert started with the Debussy sonata. This was a very lucky coincidence, as I had just discovered the incredible Cello Sonata. The Violin Sonata was the last work the Debussy completed, in 1917. A balanced and concise three-movement composition, it fits very well in the mould of its sister work. Again, Debussy's supreme command of the medium strikes from the very first, quizzical bars onwards. The work oscillates between melancholy and a clenched-teeth kind of defiance. Underneath one intimates a deep sense of loss. As with the Cello Sonata, there is freedom and density, discipline and complexity. It speaks of deep wisdom and masterly craft. How striking that a 25-year old musician is able to capture and project these multi-dimensional complexities.

The Lekeu sonata is a work I used to listen to fairly often in a very early phase of my musical explorations. But it hasn't reappeared on my playlist for decades. As a composer Verviers-born Lekeu was one of Belgium's greatest promises. He wrote his admirable sonata when he was in early twenties, just a few years before his untimely death at age 24 in 1894 (from typhoid fever). The sonata is grand work, about half an hour long. It's passionately lyrical and more 'narrative', more easy to follow than the compact, mysterious Debussy sonata. I need to make sure to add this to my collection.

The Szymanovsky Mythes, op. 30, I have heard in the past (in the version with Zimerman at the piano), but they were not very familiar. These three tone poems for piano and violin sound extraordinarily sophisticated and fiendishly difficult to play. It's another work I do not have in my collection and that I urgently need to re-investigate.

Finally, the Ravel is another great sonata, urbane and refined, and a fitting conclusion to a quite marvelous recital. The textures are more translucent and less dense compared to the Debussy but there is a certain contrariness due to the two voices in this work sometimes veering off in quite different directions. As an encore we were treated to an astonishing feat of white hot virtuosity with a scorching Tzigane. Ibragimova and her partner certainly showed their mettle. An additional fact that contributed to the listening pleasure was the fact that the audience in the Conservatory hall was extremely silent during the performance. Even between breaks one couldn't hear as much as a sigh. 

Since the recital I have listened a couple of times to the Debussy sonata in a performance by Dutch violinist Liza Ferschtman (part of a 2CD Brilliant collection of various works for violin and piano). Also Ferschtman seems to have an excellent grasp of this complex work. Very striking are the flute-like effects she produces in the slow, introspective middle section of the sonata's first movement.

Of the Ravel sonata I have only a version by Chantal Juillet (a Canadian violinist married to conductor Charles Dutoit) accompanied by Pascal Rogé. I must say that compared to the live performance I heard in Brussels it sounds rather bland and unimaginative (despite it having a won a Gramophone award at the time). Also the Tzigane comes nowhere near what Ibragimova/Tiberghien treated us on. So I need to make sure I get their Hyperion disc with the Ravel and Lekeu sonatas.