BBCSSO: Barber Violin Concerto
City Halls, Glasgow - 07/03/24
BBCSSO | Gemma New, conductor | Geneva Lewis, violin
The last of a four-week feast of consecutive Thursday night performances by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in the Glasgow City Halls bore the tagline “Escape into Meditative Melodies”, equally descriptive of the headline work, Barber’s delicious Violin Concerto, and the concluding masterpiece, Brahms’ Symphony No.4. The soloist in the Barber was BBC New Generation Artist, Geneva Lewis, while the programme was conducted by her fellow New Zealander, Gemma New. American composer Sarah Gibson’s ‘warp & weft’ opened the programme. As usual, the concert was introduced by Kate Molleson and broadcast live on Radio 3. Unusually, it was also videoed for airing on BBC4 some time in the future. Despite the popular programme (I for one number both the Barber and the Brahms among my favourites), the attendance was disappointing, hovering around the 50% mark. That said, the ‘Glasgow buzz’ in the auditorium from an enthusiastic, if diminished, audience was palpable. Lucy Gould guested again as leader. No doubt in the interests of creative videography, coloured back-projected lighting was used, the players’ music stands were individually lit and the hall lighting was dimmed. My views on the provision of programmes, but the denial of light by which they might be read, are already known. But I’ll symbolically raise that flag afresh in the gloaming.
Sarah Gibson’s ‘warp & weft’ is an ‘auralisation’ (if that word is permissible as an aural equivalent of ‘visualisation’) of the colourful creativity of feminist artists and craftspeople in general, especially weavers and collage artists, inspired by the arts and crafts community in California and especially the iconic work of Miriam Schapiro. Tonal, timbral and harmonic colours abound in the music (Gemma New’s programme note described it as a ‘sonic lava lamp’). The forward-driving pulse of the rhythm and developing melodies represent the weft; the chords and harmonies represent the warp. I found the piece captivating and very satisfying, as an immersive fusion experience. An important visual element, in this piece and throughout the concert, was Gemma New’s conducting. Lithe and balletic, I cannot recall when I have seen a clearer beat. Before any transition, a gesture grabbed attention, resulting in ensemble playing that was fresh and vibrant. A more pointed contrast with the finger-trembling vagueness of Valery Gergiev is hard to imagine. Lots of interesting writing for damped piano, vibraphone (including bowed passages) and some unusual percussion. Jazzy, pastoral and dreamy episodes came and went. The reverberation from tuned percussion died away after the final chord. A super performance of a super piece and a super concert-opener.
The first two movements of the Barber are securely in the tradition of the Romantic violin concerto, even if a few shadows of 20th century angst flicker over the cosy idyll. The soloist starts with the orchestra in a lovely G-major rhapsodic cantabile melody and from the start the rich tone of Geneva’s Guadagnini sang eloquently and expressively. A tripping dance-like melody with a Scotch snap on Yann Ghiro’s clarinet provided the second theme, answered (but not repeated until much later in the movement) by the solo violin. The ingeniously wrought development, written as if in A minor, but of indeterminate tonality, builds to an ecstatic climax on the solo violin, back securely in G-major, launching the glorious fortissimo reprise of the main theme on full orchestra. Gemma drew a thrilling crescendo from the timpani’s triplets at this point, and it was thrilling, but it did unfortunately obscure Geneva’s exultant double-stopping on the lower open strings, the only instance all evening of dynamic imbalance (and not without artistic justification, and very much a matter of personal taste). The recapitulation in B-flat runs into troubled waters and an anguished outburst from the soloist, resolving to the relative G minor and at last, older and wiser, back to G major. Trauma survived. Like the Brahms Violin Concerto, the slow movement begins with a hauntingly beautiful oboe solo romance, Stella McCracken doing the breathtaking E-major honours in Glasgow. The solo instrument entry sounds as if it is going to take us through another idyll, but veers into an anguished E-minor, the heartache emphasised by stabbing triplets on muted trumpet. Unlike the Brahms, the soloist does eventually get to play the oboe theme, passionately sul-G, that Guadagnini singing again. After a final outburst, the movement ends quietly. Another trauma survived. The finale is, in a word, bonkers. A relentless perpetuum mobile of triplets in no particular key but with fleeting pretensions to A minor, solo violin and orchestra (with a piano in the score) dance around each other with irregular metre, displaced accents and syncopation. A virtuosic tour de force for soloist and orchestra, it was absolutely superb. The auditorium erupted into thunderous applause.
Brahms’ Fourth Symphony is a masterpiece of symphonic form, with themes developed in an atmosphere of contrast, tension and heroic struggle. The outer movements’ drama stems from a fatalistic, if noble, obsession with the key of E-minor. Gemma shaped this into a compelling, driven narrative, not ignoring the many opportunities to wallow in the rich harmonies of Brahms’ more tender moments. The omission of the exposition repeat in the first movement was Brahms’, not Gemma’s. Guest Principal horn Chris Gough’s modal solo at the beginning of the slow movement was delicious, as was the ensemble string playing as the theme developed and the cellos’ lovely tune that has not escaped the addition of words in some irreverent quarters (Little boy kneels at the foot of the stairs: Christoper Robin is saying his prayers). The exuberant scherzo, with its “All Things Bright and Beautiful’ second theme, its truncated trio and the glittering part for triangle was a delightful release from the glowering Brahmsian gravitas before the Passacaglia finalereasserted that this is a minor key symphony with trombones that are not ornamental. The playing and the soundscape was the BBCSSO at its best, playing their hearts out for a charismatic conductor.
Another fine BBCSSO concert for the ‘books’. And, of course, BBC Sounds for another four weeks. Also, don’t forget to watch out for it on BBC4. The Glasgow audience got to experience it live. Nobody who was there will forget the experience.