Rachmaninov Two
Usher Hall, 17/5/2024
Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Patrick Hahn (Conductor), Vadym Kholodenko (Piano)
On a beautiful early summer’s evening, we were treated to a concert of wonderful music-making by the RSNO, conducted by their newly appointed Principal Guest Conductor, the young Austrian maestro, Patrick Hahn. We started with a piece new to me, the Capriccio Opus 2, by the Austrian composer, Gottfried von Einem (1919-1996). Von Einem’s early days were spent working as a repetiteur at the Berlin State Opera and as a musical assistant at the Bayreuth Wagner Festival, in the dying days of the Nazi Third Reich. No Nazi himself, he kept his head down during the war, often sheltering Jewish families and colleagues from the Gestapo.
His short orchestral showpiece, ‘Capriccio’, was premiered in Berlin in 1943, as the war was entering its later stages, and throws a little light on those dark days. His work was later dismissed as degenerate by the regime, inspired by foreign jazz influences, but ‘Capriccio’ is a light and airy work, which acted as the perfect starter for this concert. There were some rather abrasive harmonies to start with, but, in general, it bubbled along nicely, superbly played by the RSNO and their youthful conductor, ending with a flourish.
Soon the Usher Hall Steinway was wheeled onto the stage, and the scene was set for a performance of Franz Liszt’s First Piano Concerto, written over a long period from 1830-1853, and first played in Weimar in 1855, with Liszt as soloist and Hector Berlioz as conductor. In our own era of superstars, we often forget how famous many of the great figures of the past were, revered and fêted everywhere they went. As the modern concept of Germany was still in embryonic form, great occasions took place in quite small venues, like Weimar and Bayreuth. Weimar had been home for many years to two of the greatest literary figures of all time, Goethe and Schiller, who lived five minutes from each other, and its little theatre saw many premieres of world famous music.
We were privileged to have as our soloist, the Ukrainian virtuoso, Vadym Kholodenko, a slightly diffident figure on the stage but a titan of energy at the keyboard. Patrick Hahn maintained a strong grip on proceedings, as Liszt’s unconventional concerto unfolded, and, with telling contributions from Timothy Orpen (clarinet) and Katherine Bryan (flute), the RSNO and Mr Kholodenko delivered a sumptuous performance of this marvellous work. Liszt’s brilliant use of the triangle in the third movement introduced an element of whimsy to the concerto, and the large audience showed their appreciation of a fine performance at the end. Mr Kholodenko was in complete control of his instrument, and played Liszt’s fiendish solo part with apparent ease, moving from virtuosic pyrotechnics to sublime tranquillity with great poise. At the end, he played a gentle and calm encore to send us out to the interval in good spirits.
After the interval, we were treated to a magnificent rendition of Rachmaninov’s mighty Second Symphony, premiered in St Petersburg in 1908. It followed on from the disastrous reception of his First Symphony in 1897, and finally established the composer as a force to be reckoned with, and as the unashamed doyen of high Romanticism. Only Richard Strauss could really be compared with Rachmaninov for glorious melodies and soaring harmonies, and even Strauss at this time was going through an experimental period with ‘Salome’ and ‘Elektra’.
Patrick Hahn displayed superb vision in leading the orchestra through the hour long symphony, releasing glorious waves of sound crashing over the delighted audience in the Usher Hall. From the, on the face of it, unremarkable sequence of seven notes on the cellos and double basses at the very beginning of the first movement, Rachmaninov develops a symphonic structure which would hold us enraptured for the entire work, from the rhythmic allegro of the second movement, through the utterly beautiful slow theme of the third movement and into the dynamic excitement of the fast finale. The slow movement in particular, whose melody you feel could go on for ever, taking the listener to glorious heights of ecstasy, is one of the most beautiful of any Romantic symphony, and yet again Timothy Orpen’s clarinet playing was superb. All of the RSNO’s principals are fabulous, and demonstrate, week in, week out, the high status of the orchestra. I remember as a young man in the 1970s, listening to the then SNO conducted by Alexander Gibson, and thoroughly enjoying the concerts, but waiting with bated breath for the Edinburgh Festival appearances of visiting orchestras, like the LSO, the Concertgebouw or the Vienna Philharmonic, which would be playing on a different level. Not now! The RSNO can easily be viewed as on a par with the great orchestras of the world, and listening to the glorious string playing in this concert, magnificently led by the guest leader, Ania Safonova, Associate Concertmaster of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (with whom I have sung in a previous life!), I was able to bask in the knowledge that we in Scotland are now lucky enough to possess orchestras of world renown!
We are also fortunate to have identified Patrick Hahn as a great conductor, and one can see and feel the obvious rapport between the RSNO and the young Austrian. As Principal Guest Conductor, we will be seeing much more of him, and that is a good thing!
