RSNO: The Emperor
The Usher Hall
Friday March 13th was the day the likely implications of the coronavirus crisis began to sink in. We knew that large sports gatherings were to be called off, and the likelihood that the same fate awaited concerts was in all our minds. We had one programme change tonight, the withdrawal for unspecified reasons of Fazil Say, the pianist and composer, who was billed to play Beethoven’s Emperor, as well as perform the UK premiere his own Grand Bazaar. He was replaced for the Emperor by Sunwook Kim, the London-based South Korean pianist, who delighted an unfortunately somewhat depleted audience with a wonderful performance.
Before that we had a brief, but very vivid, Beethoven taster in the Coriolan Overture, followed by Stravinsky’s striking Symphony of Psalms, composed in 1930, in Stravinsky’s words ‘to the glory of God and dedicated to the Boston Symphony Orchestra on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary...’ We knew to expect something unusual by the shape of the assembled orchestra, with some instruments more numerous than usual and others not present at all - two pianos and a harp on stage, with enhanced woodwind (5 flutes, 5 oboes, 4 bassoons), brass (4 horns, 5 trumpets), timpani, cellos and double basses, but no violins or violas, or indeed clarinets. And, of course, the RSNO Chorus, which has a central role in this work. Stravinsky wrote ‘It is not a Symphony in which I have included Psalms to be sung. On the contrary, it is the singing of the Psalms that I am symphonising.’ Producing here ‘a choral and instrumental ensemble in which the two elements should be on an equal footing, neither of them outweighing the other.’ The sound of the orchestra, the balance of chorus and instruments combine with the meaning of the Psalms to create a unique musical experience. Here we have three movements, based in turn on Psalm 38 (the prayer of the sinner for divine pity), Psalm 39 (the recognition of grace) and Psalm 150 (the hymn of praise and glory). Pleasingly, for a change we have light enough in the Usher Hall to read the words in the programme. And to fully experience the orchestral praise of Psalm 150 (‘...Praise him with sound of trumpet...Praise him with timbrel and choir: praise him with strings and organs...etc.)
If Stravinsky’s Symphony, for all the skill of orchestra and chorus and the beauty of the music, remains somewhat austerely spiritual, in the Beethoven which followed the interval we have a joyful humanistic masterpiece that speaks straight to the heart. From the famous opening cadenza, which alarmed leading pianists of Beethoven’s day, we are impressed by Sunwook Kim’s precise, expressive, enthusiastic playing. The Emperor was written by Beethoven over a number of difficult, war-torn years, begun before the Battle of Wagram and finished after it. Beethoven did not romanticise the war, writing to his publisher ‘The whole course of events has in my case affected both body and soul......What a destructive, disorderly life I see and hear around me: nothing but drums, cannons, and human misery in every form.’ The concerto was dedicated to Archduke Rudolf, who was a member of the imperial family, but known to Beethoven as a music sponsor and also as his pupil. Rudolf later became Cardinal Archbishop of Olmutz (Olomouc), north of Vienna, now in Czechia. The concerto is neither militaristic, nor tragic, as it might well have been given the circumstances of its writing, but rather a beautifully crafted musical conversation, at times humorous, tender and joyful. This is music to raise the spirits, life affirming music on an otherwise grim day.
