The RSNO
Usher Hall
The RSNO concert tonight was very much a Tchaikovsky night with his violin concerto and Fourth Symphony, but to begin with something completely different - a new work, Semblance, by Allan X Chen. Chen is the winner of the RSNO Composer's Hub scheme, which gives the opportunity to young composers to work with the orchestra and to write a new composition for them to perform. Semblance was inspired by a short experimental film by the composer's brother Bill Chen, 'semblance' he says means that the outward appearance of something can be different from the reality. Allan X Chen says the music is meant to be unsettling and never quite what you think. It certainly unsettles, beginning with some very loud music, in particular some very vigorous percussion, and quickly diminishing before it ends very quietly. In between, yes it was unsettling. Though not very melodic, it was at times interesting and maybe deserves a second hearing.
Star of the evening was Rachel Barton Pine, the US violinist, who made a distinctive entry to the stage on her electric wheelchair. She suffered an horrific accident 25 years ago when she lost a leg in a train accident. Clearly this hasn't stopped her performing as her schedule takes her all over the world. It has also not stopped her being a great violinist. Though she plays sitting down, she still manages to put her whole body into playing Tchaikovsky's great concerto. Tchaikovsky wrote this in 1878 and it was first played in Vienna by Russian violinist Adolf Brodsky to whom the work was dedicated. Interestingly, critical reactions at the time were not all positive, one critic oddly describing it as "music we can hear stink"! Now of course, it is one of the most popular works on the concert platform and Rachel Barton Pine shows us why this is in her colourful account. The RSNO is in great form under US conductor Teddy Abrahams, who has been recording with the violinist and the orchestra recently, and this clearly helped them in their understanding. The work got a great response and Rachel rewarded us with a very Scottish encore, a fiddle pibroch called Macintosh's Lament. The audience loved it, and Rachel departed with some very nifty driving on her electric mobility scooter.
The concert concluded after the interval with Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony first performed in Moscow in 1871. The symphony is dedicated to a wealthy widow Nadezhda von Meck who loved Tchaikovsky's music and sponsored him for 13 years. A condition of this was that they never met, but they corresponded frequently. He tells her in letters what the symphony is about, for example the opening brass fanfare represents "that force that prevents the impulse toward's happiness from achieving its aim", the second movement expresses sadness, "it's the melancholy feeling you get on an evening when tired after work you pick up a book but it slips from your hand" (thanks to Anthony Bateman's programme notes). Tchaikovsky had a troubled life, particularly over his sexuality; yet despite this, or maybe because of it, he produced great music. Tonight the RSNO clearly enjoyed playing his music, with the brass and the percussion making a big impact and the strings both in melody and pizzicato in great form. Teddy Abrahams also showed his quality here in his conducting which was colourful and dynamic. Together they gave a great performance of a great symphony. The big Usher Hall audience responded warmly, and we all enjoyed another fine RSNO concert.
