Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No 1

Usher Hall - 23/11/23

Maxim Emelyanychev, conductor | Benjamin Grosvenor, piano

Vivid contrasts and stormy romanticism provided the raw-but-refined materials for this warmly received concert from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra at the Usher Hall – the first of three consecutive performances of diverse works by three standout nineteenth century composers in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.

Johannes Brahms’ Tragic Overture, Op 1 (1880), a counterpoint to his light Academic Festival Overture, began the evening with its stylised and doomy opening chords. Neither programmatic nor narrative in form, Brahms set out to show in this piece (as in the two successful early symphonies it followed) that abstract musical language can convey emotion on its own terms, without resorting to personal affectation. The divergence between the darker opening and closing statement and the delicacy of the intervening melodies and quieter march theme was well emphasised by the SCO, albeit with a suffusion of romantic colour binding the whole together, rendering it coherent in a perhaps slightly deceptive way.

The highlight of the first half, as intended, was acclaimed pianist Benjamin Grosvenor’s assertive account of Felix Mendelssohn’s intriguing Piano Concerto No. 1 (1830-31). Composed during his Italian sojourn, and during a stop-over in Germany, it is dedicated to the young pianist Delphine von Schauroth in Munich. Mendelssohn once described the resulting piece as “quite wild”. It is certainly rather rushed in places, and on occasions seems to substitute show for substance. What it demands of the central performer, however, is controlled and channelled passion, sparkling colour, good humour, and the ability to harness technical mastery to rich – but not out-of-control – emotion. Grosvenor certainly delivered, not least in the exuberant finale.

Despite the unintended intrusion of a mobile phone right at the beginning of the quiet second movement, the soloist paced the Andante beautifully. Timing and touch is everything for this work, and Grosvenor (who is also playing the Busoni piano concerto and Prokofiev’s third during the 2023-24 season) has clearly taken the Mendelssohn into his heart and mind in such a way that it can flow from his hands as fresh, lively and somewhat seductive.  

The orchestra did a good job of blending with a pianist in full flow. The brass handled unison flourishes especially well. Conductor and pianist were clearly as one. The harmonic interest in this piece is principally in the development section of the concerto. But for me it was the slower, thoughtful second movement that held most attention. Benjamin Grosvenor was given fulsome applause at the end, and he rewarded the audience with a tender encore of a seasonal Op. 124 Schumann piano etude from the Albumblätter (Album Leaves) series.

This, as he remarked, provided an ideal prelude to the sole work offered for the second half of the evening, Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 4 in D Minor, Op. 20, written in 1941, and then revised in 1851. In its original form it dispensed with the conventional four movement symphonic style by blending various themes and developments within a compositionally innovative unity. The work (which might actually have been the composer’s second or third symphony, rather than his eventual fourth) was originally known as the ‘Clara Symphony’ after his beloved wife. It was not as rapturously received at its premiere as Schumann was obviously hoping, and was subsequently reworked a decade later, when he became director of music in Düsseldorf. That recast it towards the standard form.  

In this solid performance, SCO principal conductor Maxim Emelyanychev, who is also a respected chamber musician, came into his own. Animated and dancing, eschewing both podium and a baton, Emelyanychev weaved his body around the score and deep into the workings of the orchestra. The strings, natural brass and timpani were brought together particularly well as the symphony headed towards its joyful climax. Indeed, throughout the evening the orchestra articulated effectively, without losing flow. That is important in a venue like the Usher Hall, where detail can be lost further back and higher up.

These are perhaps not the strongest or highest profile works of three mainstay (if comparatively conservative) Romantic composers. But they came together well over the evening, with the perhaps the biggest question mark remaining against the Brahms.