The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s second evening at Carnegie Hall was as steeped in tradition as the previous one. Part of Janine Jansen’s “Perspectives at Carnegie Hall” series, the performance featured her as soloist in Bruch’s Violin Concerto no. 1 in G minor, one of the staples of the Romantic repertoire. It is the only non-contemporary orchestral piece that she will play in the entire series (she is scheduled indeed to appear, later in the season, in a new concerto that Michel van der Aa has composed for her). Jansen is an artist of such great musicianship that she was able to instill new life into a well-trodden, pleasant, but in no way exceptional score.
She delved into Bruch’s music fully focused, avoiding any grand gestures, any unnecessary theatricality. Long melodic tunes were played with character, warmth and pure sound, casting aside any call for rubato. The Allegro moderato had a tender, withdrawn, improvisatory quality. As the extraordinary chamber musician Jansen certainly is, she fluidly adapted her playing to balance out her dialogues with the cellos or the woodwinds. The pyrotechnics in the Allegro energico were handled with ease, half-jokingly, the violin blending perfectly with the orchestral tutti. On the rare occasion when you could see maestro Gatti conducting from a score, the accompaniment provided by Jansen’s hometown orchestra was flawless and fully supportive of the soloist’s initiatives.
The RCO’s tradition in interpreting the music of Mahler is unsurpassed. The composer himself conducted his symphonies in Amsterdam, editing some details to take advantage of the Concertgebouw’s phenomenal acoustics. Willem Mengelberg, the orchestra’s chief for half a century, was one of the very few conductors that Mahler trusted with his works. All the ensemble’s Chief Conductors, including recent ones – Haitink, Chailly, Jansons – have been considered distinguished Mahlerians.
Daniele Gatti is a great follower in their footsteps. From the very first bars of this rendition of the First Symphony – the eerie seven-octave spread A played by the strings – one could sense how, on one side, Mahler’s spirit is truly ingrained in this orchestra’s playing and, on the other side, how Gatti is trying to bring a new perspective to the work. He strived to underline the uniqueness of this most originally conceived First, emphasizing the novelty of a combination between a less constraining, narrative, Lieder-quoting symphonic poem and an architecturally cohesive, rules abiding earlier type of symphony. With his penchant for caressing details, Gatti beautifully brought together, in the introduction to the first movement, several strains: the woodwind’s descending two notes motif, later transformed into a cuckoo’s call, the fanfare like sequence and a slow horns’ melody.
Likewise, the eventual integration of the three disparate themes in the slow movement – Frère Jacques, the klezmer music and the evocation of the fourth song from the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen – was wonderfully handled, with a good balance between clarity and abandon. It is true though that grotesque and irony of this Feierlich und gemessen was a tad too tamed, too prettified. One could not fathom today, after decades of increased familiarity with Mahler’s music – not to mention his 20th-century followers – how shocking the Finale’s “cry of a wounded heart”, following the muted end of the third movement, must have been for the first listeners. Gatti avoided the pitfall of increasing the tempo, understanding well that such a choice will only diminish the music’s impact. The transition to the full of lyricism second theme was heartfelt.
Technically it was not an immaculate performance, oddly for an ensemble with such pedigree. The horns had a bad night, with repeated shaky entrances. Overall though, the sound balance was incredible. Always gesturing economically, Gatti had moments when he left his experienced instrumentalists to care for the rhythm, indicating only those nuances he wanted emphasized.
Among major orchestras, the RCO has had amazingly stable relationships with its Chief Conductors; Gatti is only its seventh since 1888. Considering that he has been selected only two years ago, the Italian’s maestro collaboration with the ensemble is still in its infancy. He has a lot to prove but will certainly be given the time to do so.
