When a living legend plays at a festival with a youth orchestra, there are plenty of potential pitfalls. The young musicians might be starstruck. The celebrated soloist night be under par. There will be little time for rehearsal together, so there will presumably be little rapport between soloist and orchestra. What could possibly go right?
Well, everything, actually. Martha Argerich had only arrived in Évian the day before last night’s concert, but so attentive was she to the players of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, so carefully did she listen to them, when playing or not, that there was no shortage of chemistry. She seemed simply thrilled to be in their company, the intense concentration on her face frequently lightened by a hint of a smile, a flash of the eyes or an impish grin as she decided on some direction in which to take the music. The orchestra seemed equally happy to be in her company; they must surely have been aware of the waves of stardust that Argerich gives off, but this never spilled into being starstruck.
In Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no. 1 in C major, Argerich displayed the full delight of her artistry. It’s the articulation that astonishes; every individual note rings clearly, whether she is playing fast or slow, soft or loud, whether the passage is dense or sparse. La Grange au Lac, the venue for Rencontres Musicales d’Évian, is the perfect place to hear this, a large all-wooden hall, whose architecture is reminiscent of ski chalets in the surrounding mountains and whose acoustic is full or warmth without ever blurring the notes. Argerich delights in the speed at which she can shift gears, moving from a heavily accented phrase to a delicious subito piano and then turning in some unexpected direction, always so seamlessly that you don’t immediately realise what a roller-coaster ride she’s taking you on.
In this concerto, the orchestra has plenty of chance to show its qualities before the soloist’s first entry. Immediately, the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester impressed with their togetherness; the string players moved as one like a shoal of fish. A crisp trumpet sound was the first of many pleasant interventions from wind players, with flautist Marta Chlebicka the most prominent. The orchestra’s dynamic control was impressive, able to move between whisper-quiet pianissimi and properly thrilling roof-raising tutti. So confident was conductor Daniel Harding in his players that, more than once, he was happy to stop conducting altogether and let them get on with it, resuming activity when he had some particular point of balance to sort out. The second movement of the concerto was wonderfully calming, with the orchestra making one phrase grow organically out of another and Argerich giving shape to everything. The third movement was joyous, with Argerich grinning broadly as she chose some new piece of humour to find in one of the repeats.
Still, this isn’t a perfect orchestra, and the ensuing Beethoven Symphony no. 7 in A major demonstrated some of the weaknesses as well as the strengths. If Wagner had seen this performance of the Seventh, in particular the third movement, he would not have deemed it “the apotheosis of the dance”, because there was little lift or lilt. The second movement had a good sense of swell and excellent balance between instruments, but there was no real sense of heartache or of the spiritual uplifting that this movement can bring.
The fourth movement had plenty of power and nicely executed conversations between different halves of the orchestra. Towards the end, one sensed that the players felt they like the reins had been loosened and galloped to a joyful finish.
