CONCERT REVIEW | Weber, Tchaikovsky, & Bruckner | London Philharmonic Orchestra/Baeva & Jurowski | Royal Festival Hall, London | "Jurowski’s shaping of the music betrayed a kind of sobriety and warmth"
United Kingdom: London Philharmonic Orchestra, Alena Baeva (Violin), & Vladimir Jurowski (Conductor). Reviewed at Royal Festival Hall, London on 5 December 2018.
Weber, Overture, Der Freischütz
Tchaikovsky, Violin Concerto
Bruckner, Symphony No. 2 (1877 revised version)
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| Vladimir Jurowski, © Vera Zhuravleva |
Between the various 1877 version scores, Jurowski adopted the Carragan edition. Of the numerous edits, Carragan's score differs significantly from the commonly used Nowak and Haas scores, in that the continuing trumpet triplets few bars before the finish of the first movement is eliminated, and that most optional sections from both the Nowak and Haas scores are cut. Given Carragan's intentions to portray an unamalgamated 1877 version of the score by leaving out most of the remnants of the 1872 score that both Nowak and Haas include in their '1877' versions, Jurowski may have given off the scent of a purist. Yet in keeping the first variation of the 2nd theme of the Adagio, which was excised by Bruckner for his 1877 score but is kept as optional (for musical reasons) in the Carragan score, Jurowski had more things in mind than sole musical dogmatism.
What of the performance itself? A dramatic conception was promised in the general brisk tempo of the opening Moderato, which became almost certain by the emergence of a starkly unlyrical Gesangsperiode. Yet Jurowski’s shaping of the music betrayed a kind of sobriety and warmth, as momentum was kept in a stable pulse, and accents rarely angular to suggest a more rugged landscape. Thus where the Scherzo was thunderous, it was contained as not to enter the realms of being disorderly or menacing, and the first theme climax of the Andante profound without faltering into reverential excess. On this latter point, much like Jurowski's performance of Bruckner's 5th symphony in 2017, Jurowski's penchant to not underscore the obviously religious content, for example by running through the chorale theme in the Finale, kept the narrative clear-eyed.
Still, while there is no need to sanctify Bruckner by over-monumentalising everything, glossing over the obviously religious quotes is, for me, akin to drawing a negative caricature of Bruckner. After all, no composer in the 19th century as Bruckner drew a closer bound between artistic integrity and personal religiosity. As such, poetry and inspiration abound in these religious moments.
Even as I cognitively understood that Jurowski coherently put together this difficult symphony of all its jagged peaks and troughs, I was nevertheless left unmoved. Memorable performances of Bruckner are revered for their humanity, character, organic growth, as well as spirituality, be it through patience build-up or via fierce drama. Jurowski’s Bruckner, while plenty in humanity, ultimately concealed itself from many other possibilities.
If Bruckner represents the later stage of Austro-Germanic Romanticism, preceding Bruckner were two alternative portraits of Romanticism – Weber’s overture to Der Freischütz, and Tchaikovsky’s lush and Slavic Violin Concerto. Of the two, it was in the overture that Jurowski excelled, giving a balanced account with palpable atmosphere. In the Tchaikovsky, the orchestral strings kept a classical restraint, meaning that the woodwinds and Alena Baeva, the soloist, were highlighted. An earnest and interesting performance, the tendency toward introversion found myself asking for more boldness and colour.
[The article is published on the Bruckner Journal]
Young-Jin Hur
@yjhur1885