Sir Mark Elder Conducts Brahms & Shostakovich – CBSO, Symphony Hall, Birmingham, Wednesday 16 October 2024, 5✩✩✩✩✩. Review: David Gray & Paul Gray.
Sir Mark Elder Conducts Brahms & Shostakovich – CBSO, Symphony Hall, Birmingham, Wednesday 16 October 2024,
5✩✩✩✩✩. Review: David Gray & Paul Gray.
“Two knights – Sir Mark Elder and Sir Stephen Hough – unite with the CBSO for a night of exceptional music making.”
Brahms – Piano Concerto No.1 in D minor
Janáček – The Fiddler’s Child
Shostakovich – Symphony No.6 in B minor
It has been 25 years since Sir Mark Elder worked with the CBSO. Based on this evening’s performance one would never have known this: the rapport between conductor and orchestra was mesmerising.
In the first movement of his Piano Concerto No.1, Brahms leaves it to the orchestra to set out his stall. Elder chose tempi a little on the slow side, perhaps with a view to concentrating on detail. This was particularly true in the phrasing of the second subject area of musical material. This attention to detail set the scene for a surprisingly introspective reading of the movement which, while not lacking in drama and grandeur, focused on its more lyrical aspects.
Hough caught this mood beautifully and, when his time came, melodies seemed to flow seamlessly within the overall texture of piano and band; it was a though they were as one.
Hough and Elders’ lyrical approach to the first movement created more of a feeling of continuity between this movement and the second. Here, Hough played with clarity and delicacy. Chromatic passages - where the two hands are also highly syncopated – were played with a translucent, almost ghostly tone. The movement built perfectly to a powerfully yearning climax, with the strings giving us gloriously lush tones.
The final movement was a joy of a sonata-rondo fuzed with an exciting dose of - sometimes Bach-like – counterpoint, including fughetta-cum-fugues and canonic forays a-plenty. This was Hough & Elder at their very best, and one really heard this lovely concerto with wholly new ears.
There is not much to say about the Janacek. Here the composer was in a more romantic mode, so the piece formed a nice bridge between the Brahms and the Shostakovich. Violin solos were provided by lead violinist Eugene Tzikindelean. It is always a treat to hear this most excellent and expressive of players. Four of the violas also got a special role in this piece, apparently evoking the four mud walls of poor peasant huts. Indeed, the strings of the CBSO as a whole are making a fantastic sound these days.
Sometimes with Shostakovich it is best not to worry too much about what exactly he means - what with all of the composer’s quixotic and ironical ambiguity. Instead, it is perhaps best to sit back and just let it happen, particularly when in the hands of a conductor like Elder, who is so totally in command of the musical material, and, of course, when listening to a fine orchestra playing at the top of its game.
Elder maintained a remarkable sense of intention and focus through the mammoth twenty minute first movement. The final two movements are both orchestral showcases, and there was exceptional playing all round, especially from the woodwind. This was a truly exceptional performance.
CBSO – City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Piano – Sir Stephen Hough
Conductor – Sir Mark Elder