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Alix Goolden Performance Hall
June 23, 2007
"Having played my symphony twice in Petersburg and once in Prague, I have come to the conclusion that it is a failure. There is something repellent in it, some exaggerated colour, some insincerity of fabrication which the public instinctively recognises."
Although Tchaikovsky was not history's most self-confident composer, and while latter-day audiences certainly don't seem to recognise anything "repellent" in his Fifth Symphony, it is a problematic work compared to its two companions among the composer's mature symphonies, possessing neither the bravura of the Fourth nor the majestic despair of the "Pathetique". (The second movement's principal theme was also used for a popular song in the 20th century, but that is hardly Tchaikovsky's fault.)
Faced with the music, then, any conductor must make a basic decision on how to play it and I suspect that one reason the work has become relatively less popular (judged by the number of performances) than its siblings is that few conductors today are prepared to adopt the unashamedly full-bore, hell-for-leather approach that the symphony requires.
Norman Nelson, I am delighted to say, is so prepared, and on Saturday night he and his orchestra delivered an exciting, at time frenzied account of the Fifth. With its wildly-fluctuating tempos and huge climaxes, it was a distinctly old-fashioned performance, more Mengelberg than Toscanini - and I mean that as a compliment .
One of the most remarkable aspects of the performance was the sheer quality of the playing: string tone with depth as well as lustre, full-bodied yet not harsh brass, and wind-playing which not only had character but was also in tune - I gather Nelson has paid special attention to the woodwinds recently and it has paid off.
Moreover the orchestra was clearly paying attention, as they stayed with Nelson's sometimes huge tempo modifications with almost faultless accuracy, the few occasions when this was not the case being hardly worth the mention.
The finale was probably the movement where Nelson's approach paid the highest dividends; for once the portentous major-key opening did not threaten to topple over the edge into banality and the subsequent allegro vivace, whipped up into something approaching a frenzy, brought the work - and the evening - to a most exciting close.
Particular mention must be made of principal horn David Watson, who played that famous second movement theme superbly.
On hearing Dvorák's Cello Concerto, Brahms famously wondered why he had not realised that such a concerto could be written. Certainly Dvorák, in writing the first great concerto for the instrument since Haydn's, had successfully reconciled the larger romantic orchestra with the relatively quieter voice of the cello. It is one of his greatest orchestral works, combining his immense talent for melody with a formal strength not always found in his music.
After the lengthy opening orchestra tutti, the soloist's entry is a crucial moment and Tanya Prochazka firmly seized the music and never once let go until the final bars. Combining a lyrical, singing tone with a fine dramatic intensity - and some spectacular double-stops - Prochazka was a superlative soloist.
Nor was the accompaniment unworthy of her, with excellent playing from all sections and close attention from Nelson to his soloist's rubato.
I must confess that I often find this concerto something of a disappointment in performance, but this was the exception, not only was it clearly a masterpiece, it felt like one.
If one wished for evidence of just how far the Sooke Philharmonic have come in a decade, the evening's opening - the Scherzo from Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream - would have provided it, from the bubbling opening to its gentle close. A carefully-shaped performance, taken at a steady tempo but with plenty of bounce to the playing.
In sum, this was a memorable and thoroughly satisfying evening, for which all concerned deserve hearty congratulations.
Here's to the next decade.
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