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Concert Reviews |
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 Index of Reviews |
Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Yuri Simonov (cond.), Tim Hugh (cello), Saturday 12 November 2005, Symphony Hall, Birmingham Russian orchestras are always a big draw for audiences, and the Moscow Philharmonic under Yuri Simonov performed to a packed Symphony Hall. The audience clearly enjoyed the programme, which included Elgar’s Cello Concerto and the Fifth Symphony of Tchaikovsky, though they may, like me, have been slightly bemused by Berlioz’s King Lear Overture which opened the programme: it is a particularly strange work, evocative if not descriptive of Lear’s madness, and the orchestra were suitably responsive to the music’s volatility of mood. Tim Hugh gave a solid performance of Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor. One of Elgar’s last great compositions, it survived a disastrous premiere in 1919 and has proved to be one of the most popular musical works of the twentieth century. There was some orchestral playing of terrific clarity here, bringing to life many subtleties of Elgar’s masterful orchestration; it is easy to forget what a good live performance can add to our experience of a work in an era when our access to classical music is facilitated almost entirely through recordings. Hugh’s playing was both passionate and sensitive, though one felt that the orchestra were struggling at times to meet the soloist’s flexibility of tempo. It would be a cliché to say that the orchestra found themselves more at home in the Tchaikovsky symphony, but it was here that both conductor and players demonstrated most clearly their strengths: tight ensemble, clarity of sound and a feel for the grand sweep of the composer’s expression. The first two movements of the Fifth Symphony are the most engaging. The opening movement, an exercise in long-deferred climax (easy to read in sexual terms, if one felt the inclination on a rainy afternoon), was suitably dark and brooding at first, and the climaxes, when finally obtained, were characterised by colourful brilliance. The second movement, which can be saccharine if handled sentimentally, was subtle and restrained. A suitably unassuming Valse was followed by the finale, performed with the good humour it requires. I must now end with a gripe. It is now perfunctory at Symphony Hall to recall the conductor to the stage at least three times at the end of a concert, but on this occasion I lost count. Not only this, but the orchestra were obliged to play not one, but five, encores which, towards the end, were treated in the worst drunken-Last-Night-of-the-Proms manner. I cannot have been the only audience member to consider this somewhat excessive. An excellent concert indeed, but one somewhat diminished by the farce into which it descended. Tim Foxon |
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