RSNO: The Rite of Spring

Usher Hall - 30/09/22

There is always a sense of excitement at the beginning of a new season and there was a palpable frisson in the large audience at the Usher Hall tonight, as the RSNO lined up on the stage in preparation for an interesting programme of 20th and 21st century music. It is a testament to the present management and the orchestra itself that such a large audience turned up on a cold autumn evening. There were noticeably more people under 60, which was also an encouraging sign.

After the now standard introduction by a member of the orchestra (this time its charismatic leader, Maya Iwabuchi), we plunged into Igor Stravinsky’s ‘Fireworks’. The orchestra’s Music Director, Thomas Søndergård, presided over this sparkling opening piece, written in 1908 as a wedding present for Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s daughter, Nadezhda. Sadly, the father of the bride died before the wedding, and never heard the piece, but it was well-received and offered early notice of a precocious talent. The RSNO played it to the hilt and I especially enjoyed the calmer middle section, where one could imagine cascades of fireworks rather than huge bursts of sparks.

The second item on the programme was Benjamin Britten’s early Violin Concerto, written in 1939, when the composer was in the USA, fearing the onset of war. Given its premiere in New York’s Carnegie Hall, where it was conducted by John Barbirolli, the soloist was Antonio Brosa, whom Britten had met through his teacher Frank Bridge. Brosa and Britten became good friends, and the young composer consulted the 45 year old violinist about technical aspects of the concerto. 

I was surprised that I had never heard the work before and found myself bowled over by its freshness and unconventionality, largely due to the superb playing of the soloist, Stefan Jackiw. Looking as if he had just got in from school and had shrugged off his blazer and tie before picking up his violin, I was astonished to find that he is actually 37 and has already established himself as one of America’s foremost violinists. Playing a 1704 Ruggieri, he gave a heartfelt reading of Britten’s concerto, in which the young composer sought to express in musical terms his worries for Europe in the face of Hitler’s aggression. Coping easily with the immense technical difficulties of the concerto, he drew out sounds of yearning and desolation from the score, particularly towards the end in the third movement, a passacaglia, a form that Britten was to use several times in later pieces. As often with this great composer, it is his quiet, reflective music that touches the heart, and the sad finale, searching somehow for consolation after the noise and fury of the earlier sections, was very moving, especially played so tenderly by Mr Jackiw.

As an encore, he gave us a Largo from a sonata by Bach, although I felt his expressive playing lost track a little of the composer’s sense of line. Impressive playing, nonetheless.

After the interval, we heard a world premiere, of David Fennessy’s angry piece, ‘The Riot Act’, originally written in 2019 to mark the centenary of the “Battle of George Square”. The pandemic meant that we have had to wait until now to hear this piece, which warns of the encroachment of the state on protest and challenge to authority. The reading of the Riot Act proclamation (1714) was the official way for the forces of law and order to wade in among rioters and protesters, and legally use any means necessary to bring about the re-establishment of order. This was, of course, liable to abuse and was a very blunt instrument in the hands of over-zealous agents of the crown.

David Fennessy’s short piece, described by himself as “bonkers”, consists of manic drumming and whistle-blowing (literally blowing of whistles!), interrupted by the screaming high notes of the tenor soloist singing the proclamation, and being eventually overpowered by the noise beyond him. The brave (and perhaps now deaf!) tenor was Marc Le Brocq, who heroically maintained his cool, while all around him went mad! I noticed that the conductor removed his earplugs at the end of the piece. It was all very effective, but I’m not sure I want to hear it again!

Following ‘The Riot Act’, we heard the piece that famously sparked a riot in Paris in 1913, Igor Stravinsky’s ballet music, ‘The Rite of Spring’. It was ironic that the RSNO played this piece on the first seriously autumnal day we have experienced in Edinburgh!

It is easy to become blasé about ‘Le Sacre du Printemps’, but it is really only when you hear it live that its utterly visceral uniqueness hits you between the eyes! From the weird solo bassoon opening (quirkily played by David Hubbard), the realisation of Stravinsky’s extraordinary dream of a prehistoric ritual sacrifice unfolds before us. The composer made major revisions to the final sacrificial dance in 1943, leading to the 1947 version, and this is what we heard tonight.

The orchestra was in blistering form, with marvellous solos throughout, and Søndergård directed proceedings like a choreographer. His fluid conducting style and his elegant stick work are always evident, and one is left in absolutely no doubt as to who is in charge. He guided us through the eerie spooky sections as much as the pulsating rhythmic scenes, and I must single out the fantastic timpani players, Paul Philbert and Tom Hunter, who smashed and battered their way through this amazing score.

The story is savage and primaeval, and leaves little to the imagination, and apparently, Nijinsky’s original choreography was almost feral. In a concert version like this, we can only imagine a staging in our minds, and perhaps that is for the best, since the music is overtly violent and sexual. The fact that it is imagined as a ritual from the prehistoric past allows us to feel that, of course, such uncivilised behaviour couldn’t happen now!

Whatever we may imagine, Stravinsky lets us know pretty clearly what is going on, and the suicidal sacrificial dance of the chosen one at the end is spell-binding in its audacious wildness. 

This was a great performance by the RSNO and the audience went wild at the end (well, Edinburgh wild!), and so the Season 2022/23 has got off to an excellent start. I hope these reviews make you want to come along to the RSNO concerts throughout the winter. I will be previewing some of these concerts on the EMR, and would love you to come along to Edinburgh and Glasgow (and sometimes Dundee and Aberdeen) to see for yourselves a wonderful series of concerts by a world class orchestra.