Whooping horns, a single yellow rose and a velvety cushion of strings set the scene for a sumptuous tranche of highlights from Der Rosenkavalier in the London Symphony Orchestra’s latest concert commemorating Richard Strauss in his 150th anniversary year.
As in Sunday’s concert, Sir Mark Elder paired Strauss with Mozart, the Symphony no. 38 in D major, known as the “Prague” due to the city of its première in 1787. With its opening movement something of a pre-echo of the overture to Don Giovanni, another work for Prague, it has a similarly brooding atmosphere. The symphony was performed in what came across as a most collegiate atmosphere. Batonless, Elder opened his palm to invite his players in, politely cueing each section in turn. Tempi were never breakneck, but the second movement Andante had a purposeful, flowing pace.
Elder has excellent ‘historically informed’ credentials, regularly collaborating with The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, but there were few concessions to ‘period practice’ here, other than the use of hard timpani mallets and a few vibrato-less string lines. In an era where mainstream orchestras play less Mozart and Haydn than ever, it was reassuring to hear a ‘big band’ performance of 18th century Classical repertoire done with such panache. With violins divided antiphonally (ten each of first and seconds), Elder teased out the lines in the Adagio opening, although the strings were slightly tentative until tempo was established. Wind playing was highly responsive, especially some charming oboe contributions, and the trumpets (not on risers) punctuated the outer movements without overwhelming the texture.
In the many performances of Rosenkavalier scheduled for the world’s stages this year, I doubt any opera company will field a finer trio of ladies in the leading roles than we had here. Although without an official ‘semi-staging’ tag, all three singers – highly experienced in their roles – acted with utter conviction. Indeed, shorn of any directorial interference or concept, the sincerity of their responses was all the more powerful.
Elder negotiated Straussian rubatos expertly, bringing a wonderful Viennese lilt to proceedings. Orchestral highlights included a fabulous clarinet solo from Andrew Marriner at the close of the first scene, as the Marschallin and Octavian coo pet names to each other, and an exuberant waltz to usher in the opera’s final scene which had members of the percussion department beaming in glee. Few orchestras can boast such a resplendent horn sound as the current LSO team, rejoicing through the opening bedroom scene ecstatically.