|
Back
Masterly detail, cohesion and virtuosity Ottawa
Southam Hall, National Arts Centre
06/10/2015 - & June 11, 2015
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: String Quintet No. 4 in G minor, K. 516
Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 9
Jessica Linnebach (violin), Jethro Marks, David Marks (viola), Amanda Forsyth (cello)
National Arts Centre Orchestra (NACO), Pinchas Zukerman (violin & conductor)
It was an evening of wonder and virtuosity. With judicious contributions from Messers Mozart and Bruckner, plus members of the National Arts Centre Orchestra (NACO), it was Pinchas Zukerman’s evening all the way, and one of those rare events that leaves even the most jaded reviewers grasping for superlatives and hardly needing to bother with analysis.
NACO was founded as a chamber orchestra and these origins continue to be fundamental almost half a century later. How often do we attend an orchestral subscription concert which presents chamber music during the first half, in this case Mozart’s exquisite String Quintet in G major, with Zukerman on violin and four of his principal and associate principal players as colleagues?
Offhand, I can’t recall ever hearing a chamber ensemble with only four or five players in Southam Hall and it’s good to report the acoustics work beautifully for such a group. The music reached my press seats (orchestra, about half way back, left side) with clarity and warmth. The opening Allegro was smooth and transparent, but never dry, leaving the five players’ work beautifully projected and exposed. The Menuetto, with its elaborate question and answer themes was a jewel-like performance, a highlight on its own though, as the concert progressed, one of many. The elegant quietude continued with the third movement, Adagio ma non troppo, while the finale, Adagio - Allegro was a low-key, non-ostentatious concerto featuring Zukerman as soloist at his best throughout. In triple time, there were further highlights, most notably an extended sequence with pizzicato cello supporting the other players. Amanda Forsyth brought tremendous range of touch and dynamics to her deceptively simply obbligato.
Following intermission NACO’s full forces united to perform Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9. In three movements, the work is unfinished and there are numerous alternate versions, including some which patch together a final movement from the limited score available after Bruckner died.
For many reasons this Symphony is a huge challenge for both orchestra and conductor. Bruckner’s compositions tend to be sectional in seemingly compartmentalized chunks. In lesser hands, they can sound dogmatic and dour in a plodding, academic way. Many conductors are content to focus on the melodic, harmonic and textural twists as they come and go, without attempting to find convincing cohesion. As a symphonist, Bruckner arguably lacks the effortless interweaving of melody, counterpoint and development we take for granted from Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven. Yet Bruckner’s work remains fascinating and enables a unique perspective because his life, more than any other major composer of his era, spanned almost the entire nineteenth century. When Bruckner was born in 1824, Beethoven still was alive and Mendelssohn, Liszt and Chopin were in their early teens. When Bruckner died in 1896, he had outlived Tchaikovsky by three years, and had earned the respect of younger colleagues, notably Brahms and Mahler.
Yes, Bruckner’s work remains difficult for many performers and listeners. However in the right hands, as Zukerman has demonstrated this week, this music can be immensely rewarding. The Symphony No. 9 opens with tonalities which constantly shift and climb, soon reaching a hefty, early climax. The sonority here clearly reflects Bruckner’s lifelong work as an organist (like Liszt, he was a staunch Catholic). The second subject features lilting strings evoking the lakes and mountains of Austria (very parallel to similar writing by Mahler in his symphonies), again reaching a further rich, vibrant climax. And so, the first movement continues with Bruckner in ‘chunk’ mode. Zukerman and his players, however, were genuinely inspired, almost heaping detail, and constantly contrasting sonorities and lavish lyricism which brought the music to life superbly, creating a rich structure and leaving listeners wondering what might happen next.
The Symphony’s second movement, Scherzo, may well be the highlight of the work, not to mention an extraordinary contrast to what comes before and after. The opening bars with their tantalizing winds and pizzicato strings are more like Tchaikovsky – delicate, fleet and enormously atmospheric (everyone will conjure their own imagery when hearing such a fine performance). Soon we reach a pounding ostinato worthy of Stravinsky, then, an exquisite middle section with further very light strings and piccolo filigree which again might be right out of Tchaikovsky’s score for The Nutcracker (which in fact was being composed while Bruckner continued working on the Symphony No. 9).
The third movement, Adagio, was not intended as a finale, yet works well as one. Once more, it opens with a sad, dissonant theme leading to another sonorous climax. As the movement progresses, it is the lighter string textures which are the most riveting, and conductor and orchestra delivered a performance of masterly detail and cohesion.
The program is Zukerman’s penultimate for his final season as NACO’s music director, and is a magnificent tribute him as a major interpretive artist and to his years with the orchestra.
Charles Pope Jr.
|
