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University Centre Auditorium
April 5, 2014
"Miss Smithson was married last week, in Paris, to Derlioz [sic], the musical composer. We trust this marriage will insure the happiness of an amiable young woman, as well as secure us against her reappearance on the English boards."
The Court Journal printed this report in 1833 (Berlioz and Harriet Smithson were married at the British Embassy that year) and, while the second of the writer's two wishes - that Smithson never again appear on the stage in England - was fulfilled, the marriage can hardly be said to have ensured the happiness of either party; they separated in 1840, although Berlioz continued to support Harriet until her death in 1854.
All of this, of course, would be of little other than academic interest were it not for one fact: Berlioz's infatuation - "love at first sight" if you prefer, for they had yet to meet - resulted in the creation of one of the most remarkable symphonic debuts in musical history, the Symphonie Fantastique, which premiered in 1830. To put this in some perspective, Beethoven had died just three years earlier, Schubert two. It is sobering to realise that the Symphonie Fantastique was written less than a decade after the "Choral" Symphony and the "Great C major".
The first half of Saturday's concert consisted of a performance of the Symphonie Fantastique which was extremely well played, for the most part, yet ultimately almost equally frustrating.
The opening wind passages were well-tuned and well-balanced, string tone was outstanding and dynamics very good. And yet...yes this is essentially highly volatile music, but Ajtony Csaba's extreme and exaggerated tempo changes felt imposed on the music rather than emanating from it.
The second movement, Un Bal, opened with delicious harp arpeggios, although there seemed some uncertainty about the tempo in general. As a whole the movement was too analytical and it did not dance, which is surely the whole point. Also, to be perfectly frank, it was too slow - until the final bars when Csaba whipped up the tempo - full marks to his players, who kept up with him - in a vain attempt to provide excitement.
The slow movement is the longest movement - and felt like it. The English horn and offstage oboe at the opening provided an aptly atmospheric setting and the whole movement, apart from some slightly dubious intonation in places, sounded lovely, yet failed to cohere. The final passage, English horn and threatening timpani (two sets, four players - Berlioz really can be said to have invented orchestral percussion), was superb.
The March to the Scaffold offered more sluggish tempos and - thankfully, on this occasion - no repeat. And the big climaxes offered further examples of Csaba refusing to allow the music to open up as it really should - the brass, for example, needed to be considerably weightier.
Although the finale opened at a reasonable tempo and there were some excellent shrieking winds, it did not last - the otherwise splendidly sinister tuba "Dies Irae" dragged. And, while I cannot currently lay my hands on my copy of the score, I am nonetheless confident that it calls for "bells or piano", not both, yet both is what we were offered and mighty strange it sounded. The performance ended, as one might have expected given what had come before, with a monumental accelerando in the final pages. It did not add excitement, rather the opposite.
Ultimately a perplexing performance, despite some truly excellent playing.
"Bruckner, I only know two Masses: this one and Beethoven's Solemnis!"
Thus spake Johann Herbeck after the final rehearsal for the first performance of Bruckner's Mass No.3 in F minor, in 1872.
Within the space of four years (1864-68) Bruckner composed all three of his mature masses and then, despite living for almost another three decades, never set the text again. The F minor is also unusual in that it sets the complete text: the earlier masses had omitted "Gloria in excelsis Deo" and "Credo in unum Deum" as these would have been intoned by the priest. This work was, presumably therefore, intended for concert performances.
Saturday's concert closed with what was in many ways an impressive performance of the Mass. Balances between orchestra, choir and soloists were in general very good (as is not always the case in this venue, which is not kind to the choir)
The opening "Kyrie eleison" featured excellent strings and a good choral sound, although the choir was slightly overwhelmed at the opening of the "Gloria". The "Credo" certainly made "a joyful noise", with delightful violin and viola obbligatos during the tenor's "et incarnatus est" and fine trombones at "passus et sepultus est". The sustained buildup to "et resurrexit" pointed towards the later, mature Bruckner, but the final "et exspecto" really needed a larger choir.
The "Sanctus" was short and sweet; the cellos at the opening of the "Benedictus" were lovely and the solo quartet excellent (as they were throughout the evening, although they were rarely all singing together). Finally the "Agnus Dei" needed to be more supplicatory, but "Dona nobis pacem" closed in style what was by far the more rewarding performance of the evening.
In short: a mixed bag.
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