EIF: Oslo Philharmonic: Sibelius and Mahler
Usher Hall - 21/08/23
Klaus Mäkelä, conductor | Johanna Wallroth, soprano
For a 24-day-long festival, the final strait seems to have arrived all too soon. In the critics’ row, an area of the Usher Hall rarely avowed for its unanimity, consensual conversation flowed; this year has been a particularly good'un. Fresh from their lauded Proms offering, the Oslo Philharmonic – under the baton of their Chief Conductor, Klaus Mäkelä – began their two-night streak with a musical meditation on themes of nature and spirituality.
The Epilogue from Rolf Gupta’s ‘Earth Song’ defined the concert’s climate and ecology in a sweeping gesture. Gupta’s orchestral invention follows an arcing dynamic and harmonic structure, led from a double bass pedal point and the piano, struck internally by a soft mallet. Mäkelä clearly has a proclivity for pianissimo and obtained an ethereal softness from the strings’ opening murmurs. Principal Cellist Louisa Tuck – an endearing presence throughout the concert – performed an elongated solo passage with great affection and style, blending her undulating melody seamlessly within the great body of harmony. The grand crescendo has unfolded to greater effect in Mäkelä’s prior performances of this work. He clawed at the lower brass and percussion, who dutifully responded – but these overstated, grumbling interventions cut into the foreground and smothered the strings prematurely. Nevertheless, this atmospheric introduction presented the orchestra’s broad sonic palette and capacity for drama in an unorthodox soundscape. Double basses squeaked, trombones warbled and bellowed, and the percussion’s myriad instruments conjured various elemental sounds. Sitting just along from the critics’ crucible of consensus, Rolf Gupta seemed pleased, certainly.
Following the Epilogue’s dense sostenuto, the audience would be forgiven for partaking in some melodic musings – contemplations which Sibelius’s Seventh Symphony quickly satisfied. Inspired by nature and Finnish folk traditions, Sibelius credits the single-movement symphony’s theme as evoking swans in flight. The Usher Hall provides plenty of airspace, and the players were going to use all of it, revelling in their natural musical habitat. Mäkelä retreated here, leaving the orchestra space to breathe and decide, preferring, on occasion, not to conduct at all. The syrupy string blend was most impressive and idiomatic – perhaps due to the orchestra’s huddled formation or, more likely, their fervour for this music’s flow and style. The orchestral balance came to rest more comfortably within this symphony: the melodies moving between sections passed cleanly to and fro as a rounded melodic line. The Seventh Symphony concludes abruptly – as if written specifically to leave the listener alone on the cliff-edge, with the swans nowhere to be seen. Mäkelä’s rendition unapologetically embraces this and concluded a fascinating first half to great acclaim.
Mahler’s Fourth Symphony filled the second half and continued the theme of nature, folklore and mystery: this hour-long symphony is always a colourful pilgrimage. Composed in 1899, Mahler drew upon poems from which many of his compositions drew inspiration on topics around life and death, and success and sorrow: ‘Des Knaben Wunderhorn’. It appears Mäkelä favours those ‘colourful’ aspects over any prolonged sense of ‘pilgrimage’. From the outset, incisive and flashy outbursts shone brightly from the winds, and rocketing bows spattered sforzandi across the stage. This was an exciting and dynamic performance with a unified sense of purpose and presence. There were some particularly fine horn (Inger Besserudhagen) and clarinet solos (Leif Arne Tangen Pedersen), and Soprano Johanna Wallroth’s wistful, melancholic contribution secured yet another subtle conclusion to an otherwise mighty masterpiece.
The Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra continues to prove itself as an orchestra willing to make bold musical statements and push known repertoire to realms outwith the comfortable norm. This combined with their Chief Conductor’s propensity for new music and provocative programming yields a modernised orchestra forging ahead atop its deep, rich past. An excellent concert, from an orchestra which continues to excel.
Cover photo: Marco Borggreve
