Valentine’s Day: cheap commercialism or an opportunity to express true love? The truth is, of course, it is what you make it, whatever you want it to be, and Vassily Sinaisky, soprano Natalya Romaniw and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra had evidently decided not simply to nail their emotional colours to the mast but to flag them up with the most enormous signposts imaginable.
Indeed, it soon became apparent that there was a distinct attitude shift away from the orchestra’s usual focused precision. Instead, we were subjected to an evening of music-making that was surprisingly casual, in terms of both performance and interpretation. Regarding the former, Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture was riddled with untidy coordination and a serious lack of instrumental balance, with every section sounding separate from the others. They were at their best when letting rip, tight and exciting (marred, as usual these days, by the timpanist playing everything above mezzo-forte as fortissimo), and the love music was reasonably pretty. As for interpretation, the piece is so overplayed and familiar that Sinaisky clearly felt there was little for him to do but offer the most perfunctory, textbook oversight. Tchaikovsky may not be the most subtle composer ever, but here his music was reduced to a stark binary: sex or violence.
The two works featuring Romaniw were problematic in different ways. In the Letter Scene from Eugene Onegin, it wasn't immediately obvious that her voice is still suited to the part of Tatyana. Rich and fruity, she conveyed the passion with intensity of feeling, but there was no significant nuance to her delivery, and certainly nothing approaching tenderness. While the CBSO conjured up the tone of an excited heartbeat, Romaniw couldn’t match their lithe suppleness, and she came to sound rather relentless. As in the overture, it became a music of crude extremes, bombastic and vulgar.
Things fared better in Beethoven’s concert aria Ah! perfido, particularly the opening recitative, when Romaniw’s very real power could not have been more perfect for this fiery introduction. Yet as the tone turned from incensed outrage to a more mixed emotional state, the same problem returned. Romaniw just about managed some intimacy, but there was little differentiation in her tone, and in the conclusion she certainly sounded wild, but not controlled. It was a complete contrast to the orchestra, who manoeuvred around her with Mozartian delicacy and refinement.
The evening was at its best in Beethoven’s Second Symphony, though only in the first and last movements. In between, Sinaisky was back on autopilot, the orchestra in casual mode once again. The Larghetto was too tight, not as free-flowing as one would like, and was ruined by yet more glaringly fluffed notes from the CBSO’s persistently unreliable horn section. The Scherzo pulled its punches, though the connecting passages were beautifully mellifluous. Somehow, in the outer movements everything was just right. The opening Allegro had nicely judged dramatic shape, perfect balance and ensemble, really driving momentum (enhanced by the lack of an exposition repeat). It may not have been an individual interpretation, but it was at least exciting and effective. The same was true of the finale: elegant, energised and spritely, with plenty of necessary heft, and the woodwinds in particular sounding absolutely lovely.
It was nice to end on a positive, but as first dates go, one was left with no desire at all for a second.
