Gergiev, World Orchestra for Peace, Royal Albert Hall | reviews, news & interviews
Gergiev, World Orchestra for Peace, Royal Albert Hall
Gergiev, World Orchestra for Peace, Royal Albert Hall
A lousy Mahler Four and an invigorating Mahler Five
Friday, 06 August 2010
It seemed odd on paper. Two Mahler symphonies? In one night? I don't think I'd ever seen that. Last night's Prom showed why not. While Valery Gergiev's second half Mahler Five saw the stage transfigured into a writhing sea of bodies and the air filled with an epic sound, his first half starter, Mahler Four, fell flat on its face. One was a performance; the other was a rehearsal to a performance.
It's no wonder really. The World Orchestra for Peace, the king of scratch bands, made up of concert masters and principals from the leading orchestras of the world, last met in September 2009. Besides, anyone who's experienced any part of Gergiev's Mahler cycle with the London Symphony Orchestra over the past two years will know that Gergiev is no master Mahlerian. His Mahler can entertain, intermittently excite, interest, perhaps intrigue, rarely surprise, and never move. And Mahler without emotion is not worth getting out of bed for.
So, at first, one put the lack of spark in the Mahler Four down to this: to Gergiev's track record and orchestral cobwebs. The lack of poise or éclat was just as it had been with his Mahler Four with the LSO. Each and every portamento and ritenuto - magical, curvy slides in tempo or tone - were delivered with as much grace as a 12-year-old's plotting of a parabola. Ensemble was hesitant, as if this assortment of master instrumentalists were still getting the measure of each other, none of them really willing to give it any welly unless explicit or easy - cue plenty of unnecessary Devon-creamy vibbing.
Individual contributions - the fantastic bite from the leader of the orchestra Rainer Kühl (of the Vienna Phil), limpid doodlings from LPO flautist Jaime Martin and some fine singing from Camilla Tilling - were better. But all ensemble energy was being expended on shifting the orchestra jerkily up and down this Austrian roller coaster, through the clouds (where Gergiev felt more comfortable) and the sun, not on creating any kind of cogent narrative. Consequently, the climax in the third movement came as an unwelcome, sickly surprise: an undeserving payoff.
Then came an interval and an orchestra transformed. We couldn't have got a more accurate response to Mahler's instructions - "Plotzlich schneller. Leidenshcaftlich. Wild" ("Faster suddenly. Passionate. Wild") - to unleash the proverbial dogs in the First Movement. Or a more realistic evocation of the way that this funeral march gets sucked into its own heavy, anxious tread, like that of a struggling man in quicksand. And what a demonic final sforzando pizzicato from the strings, a little unnecessary but very dramatic.
The strings dug deep in the stormy second movement. The trumpets, pitching the orchestra into glorious, warm, sun-drenched ocean swells, took on an extraordinary Russian colouring with Mariinsky principal, Timur Martynov, at the helm - even more notable in the final movement, where the brass became the sound and body of a mighty orthodox male choir. There was a soulfulness to a lot of the section playing. The cellos were fearsome, frightening, wild. The bassoons, another staple of the Russian musical diet, lurked in the shadows with great menace. The horns were sweet but a little overshadowed in the Scherzo, always appearing to be lead, like a herd, and not to be leading.
The Adagietto was soppy and sloppy and wonderful, with lashings of portamento. And the seat-of-the-pants gallop to the end laid to rest any early concerns about the unity of this band. In the Allegro giocoso they were as thick as thieves, as tight an ensemble as an Olympic syncopated swimming team, and offering us fresh visions of great colour and energy to the tumbling finish. This wasn't a Mahler performance about the eternal but about the moment. And in Gergiev's hands every moment was vital.
Add comment
The future of Arts Journalism
You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!
We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d
And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
more Classical music
Levit, Sternath, Wigmore Hall review - pushing the boundaries in Prokofiev and Shostakovich
Master pianist shines the spotlight on star protégé in another unique programme
Classical CDs: Big bands, beasts and birdcalls
Italian songs, Viennese chamber music and an enterprising guitar quartet
Connolly, BBC Philharmonic, Paterson, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - a journey through French splendours
Magic in lesser-known works of Duruflé and Chausson
Biss, National Symphony Orchestra, Kuokman, NCH Dublin review - full house goes wild for vivid epics
Passionate and precise playing of Brahms and Berlioz under a dancing master
Verdi Requiem, Philharmonia, Muti, RFH review - new sparks from an old flame
Discoveries on a veteran maestro's epic journey
Batsashvili, Hallé, Wong, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - a star in the piano universe
The Georgian pianist brings precision and freedom to Liszt’s warhorses
Naumov, SCO, Egarr, Queen's Hall, Edinburgh review - orchestral magic rescues some punishing music
Hard-driven Beethoven, monotonous Eötvös, some light from Kernis
Classical CDs: Shipping lines, sabre dances and sea lice
Neglected piano concertos, Italian art songs and new music for trombones
Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Whelan, St George’s Hanover Square review - Handel’s journey of a soul
Pleasure gets the best deal despite Beauty’s struggle to higher things
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Marsalis, LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - sounds above substance
Phenomenal playing and conducting just about hold focus through an overlong symphony
Uproar, Rafferty, Royal Welsh College, Cardiff review - colourful new inventions inspired by Ligeti
Unfussy professionalism from Wales-based new music ensemble
Attacca Quartet, Kings Place review - bridging the centuries in sound
Grammy-winning quartet bring more American punch than Gallic je-ne-sais-quoi to Ravel
Comments
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...