Back at the Barbican for a second night, the Bayerische Staatsorchester and Vladimir Jurowski focussed on core Austro-German repertoire. Currently celebrating their 500th anniversary, this concert in no way saw them resting on their laurels, but clearly relishing the opportunity to demonstrate just how the Romantic giants should be played.
From the opening bars of Wagner’s Prelude to Tristan und Isolde, Jurowski commanded silence in the portentous rests, with knife-edge precision from the strings, leading up to ‘that’ chord; the strings were indeed the stars of the show. Antiphonal violins added drama to the upward surges, swaying from either side of the stage, and the final gentle turn of the screw into tender resolution was expertly judged.
Yefim Bronfman delivered effortlessly clean Schumann, perhaps more Eusebius than Florestan. Virtuosity never in doubt, the pianist barely broke sweat as his seemingly motionless hands negotiated the cannons of octaves and decorative flourishes. But unlike many performances of this concerto where this is the only show on offer, it was his delicacy and tenderness in the ‘Clara’ second subject of the opening movement, and his fairy-like embellishments at the top of the keyboard in the finale that stood out. Orchestral ensemble was tight, with Jurowski on top of the bouncy rhythms, and Frédéric Tardy’s oboe solo for that Clara theme was especially soft. Jurowski injected the finale’s martial theme with humour, ever alert to the dancing piano and dynamic balance.
Bronfman gave a highly moving Chopin Nocturne as his encore, his unfussy, straightforward performance eliciting such expression and lyricism, matching his approach to the Schumann in miniature form.
With pared-down orchestral forces (for Mahler), there's a more contained feel to his Fourth Symphony, suiting the evening’s tone – less overblown showiness, just assured command of the music. Use of portamento was a case in point; it was there, always with poise, but there was no need to make a point of it. The orchestra time and time again made it all look so easy, and leader Marcus Wolf’s second movement scordatura solo (the violin tuned up a tone) was eerily playful.
Jurowski brought out every little detail, but it never felt that he was stressing the point. No, everything in its place meant that Mahler’s flow of episodic and motivic devices just made sense. The third movement had simply gorgeous string playing, with phenomenal precision from the high first violins, controlling the rests at pianissimo with perfect ensemble, then Jurowski injected cartoonish humour as the tempo picked up later. The blazing E major when it came was exhilarating, with hardly a break before the finale.
Here Louise Alder set the mood perfectly, with intense communication of the text. In this childlike vision of heaven, not without its hints of darkness, Alder’s rich tone and intensity of expression lifted this way beyond the straightforward. The falling lines at the end of verses, often running contrary to the text, had touching tenderness, and the final line, “So all things wake to joy”, was indeed serene, made all the more startling by the endless tolling harp that followed.
The encore, Mahler’s arrangement of the Air from Bach’s Third Orchestral Suite, gave the orchestra the opportunity to underline their line back through history, giving a subtle lilt to their warm string sound. Mahler’s take may now be unfashionable, but in the BSO’s safe hands, it made for a suitably sumptuous end to the evening.
