Stream: RSNO - Cello Jewels
This concert, part of the RSNO Digital Season, was an interesting performance by the leader of the cello section, Aleksei Kiseliov, with the Scottish pianist, Alasdair Beatson. Mr Kiseliov, from Belarus and a member of the orchestra since 2011, appeared earlier in the season playing a haunting piece dedicated to his country’s recent history, and so we knew that he was a particularly fine cellist. His partner in this concert, Alasdair Beatson was born in Perth, and is making quite a name for himself as both a solo pianist and a player of chamber music.
They started their recital with a delightful set of variations by Beethoven of the song sung by Papageno in Mozart’s Magic Flute, ‘Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen’. During the series of trials set for Tamino and Papageno in Act 2, in which the bird catcher is an unwilling participant, food and drink are brought to him, and he confesses that the only other thing he needs for his satisfaction is a pretty companion, preferably of the feminine variety. It is a strophic song, in three verses, the second section of each verse being accompanied with some gusto by the magic bells he has been given, played in the opera by the celeste.
Mozart’s music had become popular since his death in 1791, the same year that he wrote ‘The Magic Flute’, and so, when Beethoven composed his ‘12 Variations for Cello and Piano’, in 1798, he was writing the equivalent of a cover version or a sample tape of a tune that everyone would know. His witty and charming composition was played with great panache by Messrs Kiseliov and Beatson, both players engaging charmingly in the toing and froing of the work. It was lovely to see, particularly, Mr Beatson turning to his companion from the keyboard to catch every nuance of the playing, and it was clear that they were both enjoying themselves immensely. I would love the camera angle to have allowed us to see more of Mr Beatson’s hands on the piano, but that is a minor caveat, in an otherwise excellent opener. Beethoven, apparently, was unusual in putting the penultimate and ante-penultimate variations in a minor key at a slow speed, but this only served to make the final variation in ¾ time even more charming as a finale. Mozart didn’t write any solo music for cello, and Mr Kiseliov pointed out that this piece allowed him to play Mozart and Beethoven at the same time, an extreme luxury! I was also intrigued to see Mr Beatson reading from a score on a tablet, which appeared to turn the pages automatically, without the need for a page turner. I hadn’t seen this innovation before, and it seemed a brilliant idea, albeit that the tablet’s small size made good eyesight a must!
The second item in the programme was Beethoven’s Cello Sonata No 5, his last, composed in 1815, the year of the Battle of Waterloo. As war raged throughout Europe, Beethoven was trying to come to terms with his increasing deafness and was consequently refining his compositional skills. This is a work of profound genius, puzzling to its contemporaries, and played with consummate skill by our two soloists. Its three movements unfold beautifully, and the obvious rapport between the two instrumentalists became ever clearer. I was mesmerised by the way Mr Beatson would turn to his colleague, without looking at either music or keyboard, to better complement his playing, and the result was stunning. Particularly in the lengthy, slow middle movement, both musicians seemed to make time itself stop, as they wove patterns of beauty and intensity from Beethoven’s notes. I have so far eschewed writing about Beethoven in my series, A Singer’s Guide to the Great Composers, as I need time to think about what I want to say about this towering genius of music. Every time I listen to his work, I am overwhelmed by his incredible powers of composition, and his ability to take us to places no other person can. After the heart-stopping profundity of the slow movement, the last movement erupts into a mammoth fugue, testing the technical and interpretive powers of the two musicians to the limit. Brilliant playing and warm empathy proved triumphant and guided us home after an astonishing display of virtuosity and deep concentration from Messrs Kiseliov and Beatson.
By a clever choice of programming, we moved on to Richard Strauss’ youthful Cello Sonata, written in 1883, at the age of 19. After the profundity of late Beethoven, we were offered the youthful exuberance of Strauss. He dedicated the sonata to its first performer Hans Wihan, a Czech cellist who played beside Strauss’ father (a fine horn player) in the Munich Court Orchestra, and in later performances, Strauss himself played the piano. Through his friendship with Wihan, he became well-acquainted with the instrument, which allowed him, even at such a young age, to write fluently and idiomatically for this king of strings. Aleksei Kiseliov admitted in his introduction to the performance, that he had never played the sonata before, and had had to learn it specially, an experience which had given him great pleasure and delight. He spoke of the almost operatic nature of the cello part, with great singing melodies throughout, and that became very clear from the start of this performance. Strauss, as I have written in my series, A Singer’s Guide to the Great Composers (available to read on this very website), was one of the finest composers of opera, with a marvellous sense of lyrical beauty and theatrical inventiveness, which endured right until his last works, written just before his death in 1949, the opera “Capriccio” and his delectable “Four Last Songs” for soprano.
This ability to write long and memorable melodies was a feature of Strauss’ compositions throughout his life and the heady romanticism of this early sonata shone through in the playing in this concert. Reading Mr Kiseliov’s biographical details, he has been playing and performing himself from an early age and has travelled extensively in the course of his career. We are very lucky to have him amongst us in Scotland, playing with the RSNO, teaching at the Conservatoire and appearing in recitals like this one. It has been one of the delightful facets of this digital series that we have been able to watch and listen to his work at close quarters, online, and his playing in this concert was marvellous. Now, readers of the EMR will know that I am a professional singer, and while I have had a reasonable career on stage and in concert, I do not play an instrument, and therefore I do not presume to be an expert in reviewing a concert such as this one from a technical point of view. However, from a musician’s point of view, it was a privilege to watch these two youngish instrumentalists making music for our entertainment, and obviously enjoying the process. Mr Beatson, in particular, came over as a most attentive accompanist, as well as something of a virtuoso player. I note in his biographical details, that he is at home both as a soloist and as an accompanist, and his watching and listening skills were very evident in this concert. He seems to work rarely with singers, but I would encourage him to do so, as his ability to match every nuance of Mr Kiseliov’s playing convinces me that he would be an excellent accompanist to a singer, with all the emotional additions of words and thought that a singer possesses. I certainly enjoyed the exuberant performance of the Strauss sonata in this concert.
The duo ended their recital with a short piece by Antonin Dvorak, ‘Silent Woods’ (Waldesruhe), originally a four handed piano piece which the composer adapted first for cello and piano and then for cello and orchestra. We heard the chamber version, and it made a lovely final work. It was written for the very same Czech cellist for whom Strauss had written his cello sonata, Hanuš Wihan (Hans in German), and who played the premiere in 1892, just before Dvorak left for America. It proved to be a delightfully romantic piece, evoking those Bohemian woods made famous in music by Smetana and Dvorak in their compositions. I have travelled myself through Bohemia and can attest that those woods and forests are still there, and still beautiful!
Thus ended a very enjoyable concert, beautifully played by two fine musicians, one from Scotland and one who has made Scotland his home, a microcosm of what many of us would like to see generally, a country where people can feel at home, whether they were born here or choose to live here. We are all the better for it!
I have one tiny caveat about the streaming: a concert of two players, both committed to each other, and where both were equally important in a musical context, was introduced solely by Mr Kiseliov. Of Mr Beatson’s thoughts and insights, we heard nothing, and I found that a shame.
Available to stream via the RSNO website.
