Opening their UK tour
at the Bridgewater Hall, the Vienna Tonkünstler under Yutaka Sado gave a worthy
account of well-worn repertoire, yet without giving much impression of
inspiration sparking between conductor and players (at least until the
end).
The real delight of
the night was Emma Johnson’s playing of the solo in Mozart’s clarinet concerto,
which was individual and inimitable.
The Tonkünstler may
not be the Vienna Philharmonic or indeed the Vienna Symphony, but they play in
the central European tradition. Last night they fielded 51 strings, the extra
one being a seventh double bass, and this, together with the placing of the violas
front-of-stage, gave their string sound an enviable fullness and solidity in
their Schubert (‘Unfinished’ Symphony) and Brahms (Symphony no. 1).
But fullness and
solidity is not everything, and more questionable was the placing of the
trombones high up and central at the back, which made their role unsubtle and not
really appropriate for music of their tradition (the St Petersburg Philharmonic,
heard here recently, tucked them away at the side and level with those in front
of them, and that was with even more string players).
Sado’s reading of the
Schubert brought dramatic possibilities from the available dynamic contrasts in
this conformation, with a whispered, mysterious beginning (and introduction to
the mid-movement) and portentous effects from the brass whenever they played.
The second movement displayed the solo playing of the higher wind principals –
particularly the clarinet – and the last page was weighed out as if Schubert
always meant it to end there, giving a suitably ponderous conclusion.
Cut down to 31 for the
concerto, the strings sounded far better, with lively articulation and a warm
cushion of sound in the Adagio.
Emma Johnson knows
this piece as well as anyone on earth, probably, and she had every phrase
thought out and built to make a narrative (at times a drama – and even a
comedy).
Her tone was gentle,
but never obscure, self-effacing but unmistakably graceful, and the finale
became like an evening of chamber music as she nodded her thoughts towards the
concert master and the orchestra responded.
The Brahms sound was
from full-strength strings again, with the contra bassoon and double basses
giving a firm underpinning, and by the time they reached the second movement
there was something more intriguing, too – lyricism and a degree of passion
from the violins. The third movement, for a ‘grazioso’, was quite intense and
heavy-footed, but the finale took off, with its sense of growing anticipation,
brazen tone from the horns at last coming into its own, and vigorous
acceleration as they swung into the big tune.
So all ended well, and
the crowd loved it.
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