Scottish Chamber Orchestra: An Evening with Francois Leleux
Queen’s Hall - 19/01/23
A regular and welcome guest to the SCO, French conductor and oboist, Francois Leleux, offers an evening of European music from the first half of the nineteenth century - very different sounds from the jazz-inspired French and US works written a century later which entertained us last week. As often I’m impressed with the versatility of the orchestra which presents us through the season with such different styles of music. Interestingly a count of the players on stage tonight reveals that nearly half of them were not there last week. This is surely an indication of the very many talented young professional musicians that are around at the moment.
Tonight’s performers certainly give us a full-blooded programme of exciting music. French composer Louise Farrenc (1804-1875) was a new name to me. Born to a rich artistic Parisian family, she had expert tuition in piano and composition from an early age, and became a regular soloist at private soirees, at one of which she met her husband. He also encouraged her talent and she became part of a wider musical circle which included Berlioz and Schumann. After her daughter’s birth she focused on composing and attracted large audiences who were curious to hear what a woman composer could do. Then – and to some extent even now – the surprising element is the muscularity of her writing. Her Symphony No 3 in G minor draws us in immediately with a quiet opening on clarinets, shortly joined by other woodwinds, before bursting into a passionate theme for full orchestra which dominates the first movement, although the textures of the woodwinds and horns continue to have their moments. I notice that the orchestra is playing on the floor of the hall rather than the platform and I wonder if this provides a more resonant acoustic. Certainly in the stalls we both hear and feel the kettle-drums! The second movement, andante cantabile, begins gently but becomes more impassioned later, with timpani and horns. The scherzo features scurrying strings and the drama of the earlier movements returns in the finale. Leleux and the SCO make a strong case for this composer, someone to look out for in the future.
Leleux returns with his oboe for Mendelssohn’s ‘Lieder ohne Worte’ (Songs without words), well-known piano pieces in a 2009 transcription for string orchestra and oboe by Andreas N Tarkmann. Mendelssohn enjoyed writing these miniatures, intended for domestic performance by talented amateurs, and wrote 48 of them between 1829 and 1845. They provide a serene contrast to the rest of tonight’s programme and require the strings to set the different mood for each piece – playing the part written for the left hand in the piano version, while the oboe is the “singing” voice, the music for the right hand. In an understated way, Leleux’ s charm and virtuosity leads us through the contrasting songs, from the rushing chase of an agitato fuoco through the tranquillity of the ‘Venetian Gondola Song’ to an allegretto quick waltz.
After the interval, the European-Scottish connection is celebrated in Mendelssohn’s Overture ‘The Hebrides’. Contrary to the usual practice of the time, the young composer decided to start his Grand Tour in Scotland (David Kettle’s description of his journey to the islands in the programme is well worth reading – all the SCO’s programmes are available online). The present day tourist takes the voyage to Staffa from the west side of Mull, but Mendelssohn went the long way round from Tobermory, and was subject to the full force of the Atlantic causing seasickness before reaching Fingal’s Cave. The constant swaying of the boat supplies the music’s quieter underlying rhythms, while the furore of the wind and the sea are replicated in the orchestra’s stormy outbursts with brass and rattling timpani. Leleux leads the orchestra through a very enjoyable account of this well-known work.
Another youthful composition rounds off the programme, Schubert’s Symphony no 4 In C minor ‘Tragic’, written when he was only 19, too young perhaps, Leleux speculates in his introduction to have experienced real tragedy. Written in 1816, the work is given an authentic period feel tonight by the use of four natural horns. The strings and higher woodwinds dominate in the opening adagio molto whose solemn mood leads to a tempestuous allegro vivace where these horns and the two trumpets come into play, although the later development of the first movement suggest some sunshine behind the clouds. The andante second movement features upper winds playing a descant over the main theme in the strings. The third movement is a vigorous off-beat minuet which might cause collisions on the dance-floor, complemented by a sedate trio section. The final movement is fast and furious and moves inexorably towards a rip-roaring conclusion. Tragic or not, it’s a remarkable piece of dramatic music, given a stirring account by Leleux and the orchestra.
The concert was sponsored by the French Institute and given in memory of Emmanuel Cocher, French Consul General for Scotland from 2015 to 2019, who died suddenly last year at the age of 53. Francois Leleux and the present French Consul General, Nicole Taillefer, both spoke at the beginning of the concert about Cocher’s contribution to cultural links between France and Scotland. After the final applause this evening, Leleux returns with his oboe to play a melody from Gluck’s ‘Orphee’ as his personal tribute.
