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Alix Goolden Performance Hall
November 2, 2008
"The Symphony would be all the better - it lasts a whole hour - if Beethoven could reconcile himself to making some cuts in it and to bringing to the score more light, clarity and unity."
From the above one can only conclude that Allgemeine Musikalisches Zeitung's critic, reviewing the first public performance of the Eroica, was either exaggerating for effect, or had a faulty watch.
Two centuries later the symphony is so obviously a supreme masterwork that its stature needs no defending. Besides, when Beethoven was asked by the poet Christoph Kuffner which of his (at the time, eight) symphonies was his own favourite, he unhesitatingly replied "the Eroica".
On Sunday afternoon Norman Nelson and the Sooke Philharmonic closed their concert with a magnificent performance of the symphony, a performance of almost Furtwänglerian flexibility and power.
The opening movement - complete with exposition repeat - was thoroughly gripping and built to a huge climax (at which point Nelson's baton left his hand and had to be retrieved by one of the first desk string players). The funeral march, taken at a flowing tempo, featured weighty strings and plaintive winds - hats off to principal oboist Maureen Byrne - and a dreadful inevitability in the great double fugue.
The scherzo had plenty of life, its tricky entries were handled extremely well and I cannot but mention the horns in the trio - David Watson, Tia Leschke and Joshua Rauw - who coped superbly with one of the orchestral repertoire's more notoriously tricky moments.
Nelson kept his hand raised at the end of the scherzo and plunged, almost attacca, into the finale.
Again, as with the earlier movements, there was plenty of individual detail to appreciate, but it was the cumulative power of the music which left one almost breathless by the close.
Those who know me will know that I have a special relationship with the Eroica (I possess well over 100 recordings) and, while I might have heard the symphony better played, I don't believe I have ever heard a better performance in the concert hall.
Norman Nelson - conducting without a score - clearly knows the music inside-out and he and his musicians gave of their all. This was the Eroica performed in a way one imagines Beethoven himself might have directed it. A truly memorable experience.
According to Charles Rosen, Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto "is the most successful synthesis of the Classical concerto tradition with the Romantic virtuoso form."
Sunday's soloist in the Mendelssohn, Timothy Chooi, seems to me to have a style which is - to paraphrase Rosen - a most successful synthesis of spectacular technique with a true Romantic sensitivity.
We are used to hearing young performers dazzling us with their dexterity, but Chooi clearly also feels the music intensely; his beautiful tone and excellent phrasing always seemed at the service of the music.
Highlights of the performance included Chooi's marvellously-controlled first movement cadenza, played with total concentration; the fluid intensity of the slow movement and the sparkling finale, in which Chooi's technique was given full rein.
The orchestra and Nelson accompanied with élan; I was particularly charmed by the interplay between winds and soloist in the finale. Communications between soloist and conductor were also first-class: Chooi indulged in some fairly broad rubato but the accompaniment never lost touch with him.
It might be imagined that it would be easy to become jaded by the spectacle of yet another violinistic wunderkind; Victoria does seem to produce them at a quite extraordinary rate. But nobody with functioning ears could ever become jaded with playing of this quality and freshness.
One day, I am sure, members of the orchestra will be proudly telling their friends and relatives that they accompanied Chooi in his first ever Mendelssohn Concerto.
"A Celebration of Young Artists" was the title of the programme and it opened with the stage filled almost to overflowing, as a dozen or so members of the School District 61 Festival Orchestra joined the Sooke Philharmonic for a performance of Bizet's Jeux d'Enfants.
It was the perfect overture to a programme that would progressively become more serious. From the nice clean pizzicato opening to the vivacious and exuberant finale the music and playing were a joy. As was watching the young players' enjoyment of the experience.
It is one thing, as the Sooke Philharmonic do, to contribute financial assistance to school music programmes. It is entirely another to provide the young musicians with the opportunity of playing with a thoroughly dedicated group of musicians and their world-class conductor.
And the efficacy of the entire enterprise is confirmed by the fact that some of the newer members of the orchestra have come up via this particular route.
Delightful children's games, a spectacular account of one of the great violin concertos and a great performance of one of the greatest symphonies ever composed. I cannot imagine a more rewarding way for the Sooke Philharmonic to begin their second decade.
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