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Royal Theatre
January 23, 2016
"Art is not an end in itself, but a means of addressing humanity."
If this is indeed the case, then Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition must, if only by sheer dint of the number of different arrangements it has undergone, be accounted a considerable success.
The history of the work is somewhat convoluted: Mussorgsky was shocked, as was most of Russian cultural society, by the sudden death, at the tender age of thirty-nine, of artist Viktor Hartmann. Art critic (who says critics serve no purpose?) Vladimir Stasov organised an exhibition of over 400 of Hartmann's works which was held in the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg in early 1874. Mussorgsky lent paintings from his own personal collection and visited the exhibition himself.
Fired by the experience, he began composing music that had the working title of Hartmann. He wrote to Stasov: "My dear généralissime, Hartmann is seething as Boris seethed, - sounds and ideas hang in the air, I am gulping and overeating, and can barely manage to scribble them on paper...I want to work more quickly and reliably. My physiognomy can be seen in the interludes. So far I think it's well turned."
Although composed at a rapid pace - between June 2 and 22 1874 - the piece itself was not published until 1886, some five years after Mussorgsky's death, and then in a version edited and revised by Rimsky-Korsakov which included several errors and misreadings of the manuscript.
As no scholarly edition was published until 1931, Maurice Ravel's orchestration, first performed in 1923, was based on this corrupt version of the original.
Ravel's was not the first orchestration nor the last - Serge Koussevitsky, who commissioned Ravel, had exclusive performing rights for several years, and the arrangement's immediate popularity inspired other, less constrained, versions. There are now at least two dozen known arrangements for orchestra and over thirty for other forces ranging from solo guitar to salon orchestra to rock band.
But, by whatever measure you choose to employ, Ravel's must surely be accounted not only the most successful, but one of the most successful transcriptions of any musical work ever. It made a fitting climax to Saturday's concert conductor by the young British conductor Alexander Prior.
The combined forces of the Victoria Symphony and Greater Victoria Youth Orchestra meant that something approaching 120 musicians packed - and I mean packed - the stage of the Royal Theatre for a performance which had thrills - but no spills - aplenty.
Matters got off to an excellent start with the first Promenade (probably the best-known music ever to be composed in 11/4, or, strictly-speaking, alternating bars of 5/4 and 6/4) featuring powerful yet mellow brass and sumptuous strings. Prior immediately put his stamp on the music with some individual interpretive touches, making this somewhat more than mere painting-by-numbers.
Gnomus was suitably sinister and featured the subterranean creaking of the contrabassoon and a wonderfully precise final flourish. The Old Castle's famous saxophone solo was beautifully handled by Giuseppe Pietraroia, and overall dynamics were nicely observed.
A detailed discussion, picture by picture, would not be particularly interesting, but every one of them had at least some feature of interest and all were exceptionally well played.
The final two movements were, of course, LOUD and rightly so. There is a sheer, visceral thrill in the sound of such a large orchestra which cannot be simulated. The final peroration of The Great Gate of Kiev (a design only, it was never built) was, as it should be, all but overwhelming.
The hall erupted at the close, as well it might. This performance featured some of the most exciting and refined orchestral playing I have heard in this town. I am delighted to report that when GVYO Music Director Yariv Aloni stepped onto the stage and got his youthful players to stand there was a roar from the audience such as I have rarely heard in Victoria. And it was thoroughly deserved.
A magnificent close to the evening; kudos to every single musician on the stage.
It is said that the great pianist Alfred Cortot would doff his hat to the statue of Chopin in Paris's Parc Monceau every time he passed it, in remembrance of Schumann's "Hat's off, gentlemen! a genius!" comment in the 7 December 1831 edition of the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung.
Perhaps surprisingly, Schumann was reviewing not one of the great Pole's works for solo piano, but his Variations on Mozart's "Là ci darem la mano" for piano and orchestra.
I have never made any secret of the fact that I do not care for Chopin's two piano concertos. I had been hoping, for I have a great deal of respect for pianist Lorraine Min, that this performance might be the one to change my mind.
And for a time I though perhaps it had. Prior's shaping of the lengthy orchestral introduction was exquisite and Min's first entry was big and bold. Throughout the concerto Prior was especially attentive to his soloist, following her, occasionally quite dramatic, rubato with great care.
Min's playing was marvellous, dexterous and wonderfully colourful. But - and you just knew there was a "but" coming - neither her playing nor the accompaniment (what there is of it) could, for me, paper over the cracks in the structure. Chopin was not one for lengthy and complex works; this is not a criticism but an observation, but he does tend to ramble and a succession of beautiful instants is not sufficient to hold the attention - well, not this listener's.
The most successful movement was the second, the Romanze, which put me in mind of one of Chopin's nocturnes. The orchestra in this has so little to do that Mily Balakirev arranged the movement for piano solo so successfully that one would never guess anything was missing. Here Min's playing was glorious and very nearly conquered my feelings about the music.
A very fine performance, but I would dearly love to hear her playing something with a bit more substance.
The concert opened with Brittle Fracture by Canadian composer Harry Stafylakis.
The piece revealed its author as a composer with a keen sense of musical texture, using an extensive percussion section (complete with piano) to considerable effect. I did feel that the piece tended to meander slightly and could profitably have been a little shorter, but Prior certainly played it to the hilt and the composer, who was present, seemed very happy with the performance.
It was somewhat sobering to realise that Prior was actually born some six months after I began writing reviews here in Victoria. He is also, by virtue of his age (or lack of same) eligible to be a member of the GVYO and, as far as I am aware, is the first such person ever to conduct the orchestra. He is in the running for the Music Director's position with the Victoria Symphony and I'm sure that every one of the near-capacity crowd in the Royal on Saturday - myself included - would be happy to see him in that position.
A memorable evening on several levels.
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