At the centre of the BBC Philharmonic and Chief Conductor John Storgårds’ fascinating last Proms contribution this summer sat a sequence of orchestral songs by the Croatian Dora Pejačević and Austrian Alma Mahler, sung by Dame Sarah Connolly, all followed by Rachmaninov’s troubled yet long underrated First Symphony.
But they opened with Weber, and from the opening three notes, assuredly delivered by principal horn Ben Hulme, the BBC Philharmonic infused the gentle introduction with expectant energy. The hall’s acoustic blurred the the tutti chord that set up the race that followed, but Storgårds drove the gallop with great energy, with some particularly fleet-of-foot work from the violins. Only a duff trombone note marred the exultant conclusion.
From a noble Croatian background, but craving an independent life as a musician and composer, Dora Pejačević was a fascinating character. Despite dying shortly after childbirth, aged just 37, a significant body of her work remains, four of which are receiving performances at the Proms in this centenary year of her death. In the orchestral songs, Connolly says that Pejačević’s emphasis is perhaps more on orchestration than vocal line, and certainly the acoustic here favoured the orchestra. The Zwei Schmetterlingslieder are lightly seductive, with rich, sultry harmonies and percussion adding a light topping in the second (Schwebe, du Schmetterling). Connolly’s warm tone was matched well with an agile touch from the orchestra. Verwandlung is darker and full of longing, with a brief moment of hope for the butterfly in the final verse, before darkness returns to remind us it is all about sacrifices and tears. The final song, Liebeslied, was the most passionate, with seductive musical imagery. Connolly was particularly sumptuous here, the central orchestral interlude richly textured. On the basis of these performances, I'll definitely be tuning in for Pejačević's Symphony next week.
In contrast, the Alma Mahler songs focus more on vocal line and, perhaps because of this (and Colin and David Matthews’ lighter orchestration), balance was less of an issue. In the mysterious Die stille Stadt, Connolly shaped the melodic line with strong dramatic interest, and delivered the strangely angular Licht in der Nacht with ominous darkness, exploiting her depth of range on the very low “Nacht”. Bei dir ist es traut was more settled harmonically, Connolly giving delicate inflection to the text.
Despite its well-documented poor reception and the resulting devastating impact on Rachmaninov, there is much to be admired in his Symphony No. 1 in D minor. If structurally the symphony occasionally buckles under the weight of the ideas generated, nevertheless the breadth of expression he derives from the minimal motivic material set out in the symphony’s opening eight bars is astonishing. This comprises the Dies Irae chant that surfaced in many of his works, and a simple three note ornament.
Storgårds certainly brought out the detail, and the BBC Philharmonic players delivered strong solos from many sections. However, the opening three-note ornament was a little rushed, and it suffered the same fate elsewhere. Given that any sense of structure here relies on the integration of this motivic material, this was a shame. Nevertheless, Storgårds managed the first movement’s frequent tempo transitions coherently, with oceanic waves of string arpeggios and a deft accelerando to finish.
The Scherzo was warm and gently paced, and Larghetto’s melodic line was clearly shaped. It is in these two central movements that Rachmaninov loses momentum slightly with wandering ideas, but Storgårds kept everything moving along nicely. The fanfare to open the finale set up a completely different mood, and Storgårds drove on with the offbeat rhythms, building to a blistering pace for the conclusion, with tam-tam and timpani adding the final element of drama.
