Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Beethoven’s Fifth

Usher Hall - 27/04/23

Mark Wigglesworth, conductor | Laura van der Heijden, cello

Conductor Mark Wigglesworth, in his introduction to tonight’s composers in the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s concert, notes that all three had troubled relationships with society for different reasons.  Many of Britten’s problems were in the future when, aged 20, he wrote his ‘Simple Symphony’ which ties together compositions from his musically precocious childhood.  By the time Shostakovich wrote his second cello concerto, much of the political interference with his work was behind him.  Nevertheless this piece reflects his troubled nature and seems to pose many questions which are left unanswered. Beethoven too asks questions in his fifth symphony, but answers them with an overwhelming “Yes” in the final movement.  “And” Wigglesworth says, “we never tire of hearing ‘Yes’.”

There’s a light touch in his conducting of the ‘Simple Symphony’.  Written for string orchestra, the four short movements have been given playful alliterative titles by Britten –  ‘Boisterous Bouree,’ ‘Playful Pizzicato,’ ‘Sentimental Sarabande’ and ‘Frolicsome Finale.’ The best known is probably the second movement, played entirely on plucked strings.  Its opening theme seems to shimmer across the orchestra as the strings are played by one section after another with great delicacy.  In contrast there’s heavy-duty strumming in the jaunty second melody which sounds a bit like ‘Barwick Green,’ the theme tune of ‘The Archers.’

Britten’s cheerful work gives way to some distinctly gloomy tones in his friend, Shostakovich’s ‘Cello Concerto No 2.’  By the 1960’s his work was more accepted by the Communist regime, but his health had deteriorated – he suffered two heart attacks around the period when h wrote the concerto.  So despite the celebrations for Shostakovich’s 60th birthday on which Rostropovich gave the concerto’s premiere performance, there’s a sense of restraint and caution as the work begins.

The soloist is the 26-year-old British cellist, Laura van der Heijden, who won the BBC Young Musician competition when she was 15, and has had extensive experience a s a soloist and chamber musician since. This is a complex work, and she has a score on a tablet in front of her. The first movement starts with a long passage for the cello which receives tentative and undeveloped accompaniment by the other strings.  Eventually a quicker, folk-inspired theme emerges, with xylophone and woodwind accompanying the cello.  Her long cadenza is initially challenged by recurring single drumbeats.  Wigglesworth is a sympathetic conductor, letting van der Heijden set the pace, and pose the score’s oddities.  At the same time he points up the  interventions, often equally strange, from other sections of the orchestra.  

The second movement allegretto starts on an upbeat note, with strident horns and woodwind adding to the jazzy flavour.  Timpani join in as well as the xylophone, rattles and tambourines.  There’s terrific performances from the three percussionists, Iain Sandilands, Kate Openshaw and Tom Hunter, as well as Louise Lewis Goodwin on timpani.  A horn fanfare accompanied by snare drums announces the start of the third movement which follows without a break.  The cello part here is serene and lyrical, and accompanied by harps and flutes, though Chris Gough and Andy Saunders on horns continue to make brassy interjections, sometimes vigorous and sometimes dissonant.  The full orchestra briefly plays together, but this soon disintegrates and the work ends with the solo cello accompanied by xylophone and tapping drums.

Though lacking the shock value of some of Shostakovich’s symphonies, this cello concerto gives us an insight into his own life and, by implication, his society’s troubles.  Van der Heijden has shown a mature appreciation of the score in a convincing and appropriately non-flamboyant performance, and there’s much applause for her fine performance.

After the interval, the orchestra has added trumpets and trombones and relocated the timpani from the upper level to a position behind the cellos.  The horn players have replaced their modern instruments with natural horns.  They and the period trumpets are what gives this performance of Beethoven’s ‘Symphony no 5 in C Minor’ its distinctive sound.  Pretty much everyone in the hall knows this music well, yet Wigglesworth and the SCO make it both gripping and fresh from the moment that these horns make their early first appearance.  It’s all there in the score, of course, and  the first movement demonstrates the brilliance which the allegro con brio marking demands, while the second movement moves forward with charming ease, exactly as andante con moto suggests.  It’s not always a quiet second movement – there’s lots for the timpani to do, but there’s space for the quieter instruments to dominate, and I hear passages for flute and clarinet that I’ve not noticed before.

The Scherzo is taken at a noticeably quick pace, and as the rapid notes are passed between the string sections, SCO regulars may wonder if this performance may clock in at a faster time than last week’s Symphony no 8, allegedly Beethoven’s shortest.  This virtuosity  builds up to the striking end of this movement and its transition without a break to the finale. Wigglesworth draws the orchestral sound down to a whisper, with muffled drum-beats, and the trombonists pick up their instruments for the first time.  The crescendo builds and the magnificent rising C major scale blasts forth.  Beethoven’s “yes” couldn’t be done better than this.  We hear the passage again several times as the momentum is maintained right up to the playful, extended conclusion, with Marta Gomez on piccolo rising above the final chords.  A stirring account of the masterpiece which is greeted with loud cheers! 

In the last week it’s been announced that Principal Conductor, Maxim Emelyanychev has renewed his contract for a further five years.  As we celebrate that welcome news, SCO audiences should also be grateful for the visiting conductors who help to make every  season so special.  Mark Wigglesworth this week and Chloe van Soeterstede last week have provided ample proof of that.