RSNO: A Festival of Brahms in Edinburgh
Usher Hall - 31/03/23
Thomas Søndergård, conductor
When I saw the original programme for the RSNO season 2022/23, this was one of my standout concerts, so I was surprised to find a decently filled but not packed out Usher Hall for this programme of Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture and his Symphonies 2 and 3. Maybe the proximity of the Easter holidays, and the cold, dreich evening conspired to keep the numbers down, but it proved to be an excellent concert nonetheless, although rather slow to get going.
It may be that Johannes Brahms is less popular these days, perhaps suffering from a slightly staid reputation, not quite cutting edge, but his music remains the benchmark for Romantic era splendour and provides a major challenge to any orchestra in terms of sonority and cohesion, requiring virtuosic playing from all sections.
His Academic Festival Overture, written in 1881 in response to the conferring of an honorary PhD by the University of Breslau (now Wrocław), is a grand and humorous nod to the less academic side of life at a university, interwoven with popular songs and crowned by a magnificent rendition of the universal students’ song, ‘Gaudeamus igitur, iuvenes dum sumus!’ (Let us rejoice while we are young). Not noticeably a feminist anthem (Long live all virgins, easy and beautiful, long live mature women too, tender and loveable), it has long been a famous drinking song, and indeed was sung at my Alma Mater, St Andrews University, on Gaudie Nights, when older students introduced new freshers to the joys of the pub crawl!
Brahms is often thought of nowadays as a grey-bearded, stern figure, but his youth was far from staid, and his good humour infuses the overture with feelings of juvenile high spirits. He himself conducted the premiere in Breslau in January 1881, and the piece was an instant hit. The Music Director of the RSNO, Thomas Søndergård, returned to the podium for this concert, and his love for Brahms was instantly apparent, as he coaxed lovely sounds out of the orchestra, before releasing the full might of the brass in the final peroration, complete with cymbals, bass drum and triangle!
Two years after the Overture, Brahms produced his Third Symphony, given its first performance in Vienna on 2nd December, conducted by Hans Richter. I have always had a problem with this symphony. Each movement ends quietly, and although contemporaries were full of praise for its lack of dramatic edge or any triumphal conclusion, I still feel a bit short-changed by it. Now this is probably my fault and I am open to accusations of a lack of appreciation for its subtlety, and its apparent raison d’etre as an expression of Brahms’ motto, identified in a rising three note theme at the beginning of the symphony, F-A-F, representing, it is said, the mantra, ‘Frei aber Froh’ (‘free but happy’). Still, somehow, the symphony fails to thrill me and I felt the performance by the RSNO rather compounded that effect. There were uncharacteristic fluffs in the horn section (rare as hen’s teeth these days!) and a general hesitation in the playing. I can’t put my finger on it, and in general, the orchestra was as superb as usual, with exquisite solos in the woodwind and lovely cello playing, with Mr Søndergård as ever a dynamic figure at the podium. Perhaps the recent concerts of Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky masterpieces, the epitome of great Romantic music, had left me unprepared for the subtleties of Brahms.
The good news is that, after the interval, we were treated to a fantastic performance of Brahms’ Second Symphony, one of my favourite symphonies, and my faith in the composer and the orchestra was totally restored. There was a crispness about the playing which allowed us to relax in the warm glow of magnificent music.
Having taken 21 years to write his first symphony, Brahms produced another in the space of a year. The triumphant success of the First, in 1876, allowed the composer to feel that he deserved to be recognised as a major player, and during his summer holiday in the Austrian Alps the following year, he feverishly completed his new symphony, arranging for it to be premiered in December 1877 in Vienna, conducted by Hans Richter. This conductor was an interesting and hugely influential figure in the late 19th century. He had conducted the first ever Ring Cycle by Wagner at Bayreuth in 1876 and had spent some of 1877 touring with Wagner to London, where he conducted several big orchestral concerts of his music. The premiere of Brahms Second Symphony in Vienna was slightly delayed, because Richter and many of the orchestral players were deep in rehearsals for the first Vienna production of the Ring in January 1878. It is scarcely credible to imagine the excitement in the Austrian capital at such a time in musical history, as audience members were able to discuss over Kaffee und Kuchen the various merits of the new music they were hearing! The triumph of both premieres, under the same baton, over a matter of weeks, also seems to have calmed, to some extent, the open warfare previously engaged in by supporters of a more conservative tradition, represented by Brahms and Schumann, and the ‘Modern Wave’, represented by Wagner and Liszt. Richter managed to bridge this gulf very successfully.
There were no such problems for Thomas Søndergård in the Usher Hall on Friday, as the smoke of battle has long since blown away, and he led us on a splendid journey through the delights of Brahms’ D Major Symphony. From the cellos and basses at the beginning, through the confident horn theme, there was never any doubt that we were in for a marvellous performance. The cellos in particular produced a warm glowing sound, especially in their beautiful melody in the slow second movement, and, throughout, there were fine contributions from the woodwind (notably Adrian Wilson’s oboe) and the brass.
Mr Søndergård chose perfect tempi for the four movements and, by the time we got to the finale, I was ready to be swept along by one of the best and most exhilarating ends to any symphony, as the brass dominate (in a good way!) the ensemble, in a great paean of joy, inviting the inevitable release of a great roar from the audience at the end. The RSNO was in top form in this symphony, illustrating once again how lucky we are in Scotland at the moment to have such a world class orchestra in our midst.
