A perfect Sunday afternoon with the Philharmonia under Paavo Järvi and Alena Baeva’s stunning debut
Seen and Heard
Brahms – St Anthony Variations, Op.56
Bruch – Violin Concerto No.1, Op.26
Sibelius – Symphony No.5, Op. 82
Some may know the Brahms St Anthony Variations as his Variations on a Theme by Haydn but Haydn’s authorship of the original theme has now been discredited by musicologists. Be that as it may, it is a wonderful piece, and we can sit back and marvel at Brahms’s exceptional orchestration. It is his first significant orchestral work, composed when he was already 40. The opening bars reminded us, as if we needed reminding, of the glorious mellow refinement of the orchestra. Paavo Järvi took the orchestra through its paces with skill, the playful fifth variation taken as fast and sprightly as the strings and woodwind could manage. In the final variation, the full weight of the Philharmonia made a profound impact.
The Bruch violin concerto (he actually wrote three, but only the First has made landfall) gave Alena Baeva the chance for her long overdue debut with the Philharmonia. She struck gold. Baeva was fiery, passionate and dramatic in the outer movements and tender in the central Adagio; her rich tone on the lower strings was captivating and her nimble fingerwork and double-stopping on the upper strings held the audience in awe. Järvi accompanied, when the soloist was not playing, pulling out all the stops to let the orchestra loose. Full marks too for announcing the encore, which would otherwise have had us all guessing: Grażyna Bacewicz’s entertaining Polish Caprice, composed in 1949, one of her most popular solo works for violin.
Sibelius’s rugged Fifth Symphony needs no introduction. Järvi knows this work backwards, no score needed, every phrase considered, the right notes accentuated, the right tempi and dynamics at all times. The majestic first movement evoked the dark Finnish forests, the brass sections glowing warmly. The slow movement is problematic: its form, pacing and tone can seem elusive, and the result feels episodic. Järvi tried his best to make sense of it, kept the music flowing yet lyrical, but his real strengths lie in the grand, architecturally clear and powerful symphonic outer movements. After the flight of the sixteen swans over Lake Tuusula, Järvi brought the symphony to a monumental, awe-inspiring close, working hard to ensure the six massive E-flat major chords hit their mark with accuracy.
The Philharmonia Orchestra played magnificently for Paavo Järvi. The players clearly hold him, rightly, in deep respect; when he eventually relinquishes the Tonhalle in Zurich, might he as a London resident perhaps lead this orchestra as Chief Conductor some day? I live in hope.
I am not convinced everyone likes going to a concert on a Sunday afternoon, but the hall was reasonably full, if not a sell-out by a long chalk. Having said that, this concert was certainly a wonderful way to spend a grey, damp Sunday late autumn afternoon.
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