Kaija Saariaho’s sense of colour and mystery, gives her music a particularly potent delicate power. Her setting of the words of Maria Sabina, Mirage, which opened this BBC Proms concert, magically depicts different aspects of womanhood, showcases these qualities. Written for the unusual combination of soprano, cello and orchestra, its strangeness is briefly arresting. Silja Aalto sang with soaring intensity, embellished by the intricate solo cello line, effectively played by Anssi Karttunen.
Mozart’s Piano Concerto no. 9 in E flat major, known now as the “Jeunehomme”, was written for a young woman he had encountered in Paris. It is the first of Mozart's great masterpieces in the form and remains one of his most beloved. With his light agile touch and clean expressivity, Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho is very well suited to this repertoire. His approach was classical and elegant, with very little room left for romantic gestures. In the deeply felt Andantino, taken at a slow pace by Sakari Oramo and BBC Symphony Orchestra, Seong-Jin found a poetry in his phrasing which eschewed romanticism again, but found a tasteful level of emotional depth. The extrovert finale was spirited and light of foot, despite the fairly large group of strings, held in check by Oramo. An encore of Ravel’s Minuet from his Sonatine aptly wound up the first half of the evening.
Richard Strauss’ Alpine Symphony, from 1915, is the composer’s final tone poem, the form the young composer had made his name with and which he had turned away from for ten years in favour of opera. During this decade he produced his three greatest essays in the form, Salome, Elektra and Der Rosenkavalier. Returning to the purely orchestral, Strauss attempted his most ambitious exercise in the form, a single span of music lasting nearly an hour, employing an outsized orchestra. Receiving a mixed response at its premiere and then remaining somewhat overlooked, it is only, ironically, since the post-war rise in popularity of Mahler, Strauss’ great conducting rival, that its gargantuan proportions have found favour in the concert hall.
It is a challenge to conduct, both in terms of marshalling both the orchestral forces and the work's unwieldy structure. Oramo’s approach to controlling the form was not to linger and take in the views during the ascent. The overall tempo was fast and Oramo had obviously worked hard with his players to clarify the sometimes thick textures. The expanded BBCSO were at their most pliable and sensitive to the twists and turns of the edifice. All departments shone, in particular the characterful woodwind solos and the fulsomely resplendent brass. The extended passage leading to the summit, with its moments of Rosenkavalier romanticism and Elektra intensity, was given its full due. The sense of portraying the superhuman forces at work, while somehow still holding onto the human experience, was palpable. The storm, the final climactic moment, was as wild and graphic as it should be, followed by a luscious wind down to sunset. A memorable performance of a work that can now fill the Royal Albert Hall.
