THE final Usher Hall concerts in the Edinburgh International Festival were given by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO), conducted by their chief conductor and artistic director, Kirill Petrenko.
They are a committed team. He is a conductor who analyses the form and structure of a piece of music. It is an orchestra whose musicians are empathetic to their colleagues throughout the orchestra. Together, they pass musical phrases from player to player and from section to section with an elegant ease.
Petrenko is able to free up inner themes that other conductors might not choose to open out. His greatest skill is annotating the score (with coloured tabs) to prompt him to cue the orchestra for those special and illuminating moments. He is also a wizard at sculpting the music with dynamic changes, sometimes only for a note, phrase, or bar. These shared qualities and skills allow for fresh insights even in core repertoire.
I looked forward to these concerts hugely. I was not disappointed. The first concert began with a performance of Elgar’s Enigma Variations. I know many people who question if a foreign conductor/orchestra will be able to do justice to a great and revered English composition. The fact is that the Enigma Variations were premièred by Hans Richter, a German, who had become established in England’s musical life. I emphasise this fact because many listeners have a fixed perception of how this work should sound and unfold.
Petrenko’s account was, overall, spry and delicate, but with the accustomed gravitas when required. His interpretation of “Nimrod” in particular, may have surprised many listeners. He did not present it as a suet pudding with swagger, but as a piece of music with a sophisticated frame and structure. In so doing, he acknowledged Elgar as the great European that he was, with strong affinities to Richard Strauss and Wagner. There are folk who view Parsifal and The Dream of Gerontius as musical companions!
Back to this performance, where the orchestral players showed their great skills as soloists, duetists, and accompanists. This was most evident in Variations VII and XIV, in which the phrases ricocheted around the orchestra, as if in a pinball machine, with eruptions of volume in the mix.
After the interval, we were offered Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony. As it opened, I was aware of similarities of some of the textures. It was an inspired pairing. On the surface, to the casual listener, this is a bright and energetic piece. It was, however, created at a time in Tchaikovsky’s life which was governed by pain and anxiety. Petrenko drew those emotions out in a powerful but measured performance, in which the pizzicato elements and then the powerful folk tune in the final movement made their case.
THE final concert opened with a performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto: a performance of a rarified distinction. Augustin Hadelich on the violin and Petrenko were absolute soulmates in their interpretation of this noble work. Hadelich has a mercurial technique and a great range of colour, tone, and phrasing.
This was a heavenly trinity of artists, each on top of their game and symbiotic in achieving harmony especially in and around the cadenzas. Only rarely does one hear a perfectly balanced performance of this calibre.
Scriabin’s Symphony No. 3 (“Le divin poème”) brought this concert to a weighty conclusion. Having two harps on the platform is usually a good sign that some heavenly wonder will ensue. The piece was first performed by Arthur Nikisch in Paris, although he was, in fact, chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic at that time.
This piece has great meaning for Petrenko and was performed last season in Berlin. It is a dense piece in three movements, Struggles, Delights, and Divine Play, played without any break. Like the two works I reviewed recently, there is reference to struggles and redemption.
The orchestral playing was secure and well balanced, the harps spreading their rays of golden light, and the brass reinforcing that sense of opulent well-being in Divine Play.
I feel sure that given as much exposure to this work as, say, to Mahler symphonies, I could gain a greater understanding and appreciation of it. Petrenko and the BPO gave of their best. I have work to do!
Each of the pieces shone with opulence. The instrumental solos were not spotlit features, but more like jewels presented in sumptuous orchestral settings: a plush sound-world. The BPO is an affirmation of ensemble teamwork and solo endeavour, and Pentrenko is a masterful interpreter of orchestral anatomy — “Insight with purpose”.