At the Philharmonie de Paris, bewitching Lisa Batiashvili in Beethoven's "Violin Concerto"

Le Monde, 

Marie-Aude Roux, 

February 22, 2023 

At the Philharmonie de Paris, bewitching Lisa Batiashvili in Beethoven's "Violin Concerto"

Accompanied by the Royal Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, the German-Georgian violinist transcended the Beethoven monument. Lisa Batiashvili plays a Guarneri del Gesu violin from 1739 "generously lent by a private collector", specifies the hall program of the Philharmonie de Paris which illustrates the concert of February 21 given by the German violinist of Georgian origin with the Royal Orchestra of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, under the direction of Paavo Järvi. On the program, the most emblematic of the violin concertos, that of Beethoven.

The Estonian chef's sober baton launched the mighty Dutch machine. No need for a warm-up tower. Four imperious timpani strikes. Apart from a slightly inaccurate wind entry, the orchestral introduction sculpts the musical material in broad strokes, clearly outlining each of the composer's intentions. The violin made its way in three strokes of the bow on an arpeggiated triple octave followed by a note held in the treble. Immediately striking, the sovereign playing of the 44-year-old young woman, square cut, bare shoulders in a long flowing dress with patinated gilding, radiates - accuracy of intonation, fluctuating bow, expressiveness on edge. Lots of elegance and finesse, but also power and ardor in this luminous violin, whose high notes are adorned with incredible voluptuousness.

Like many classical scores that have passed through the sieve of historically informed readings in recent decades, the interpretation of Beethoven's concerto naturally adopts more sustained tempos, a more meticulous articulation compared to the original score, a new dramaturgy between soloist and orchestra. This is why the choice of cadenzas, those moments of “freedom” where the violinist plays completely alone, has taken on a crucial turn.

Generations have reproduced without flinching the essential contributions of violinists like Joseph Joachim, Fritz Kreisler, or even Wolfgang Schneiderhan (who transcribed for violin the cadenzas left by Beethoven in his transcription of the work for piano). But Lisa Batiashvili, like her colleagues Gidon Kremer (who commissioned it), Patricia Kopatchinskaia or Vadim Gluzman, opted for more uncomfortable music, that which Alfred Schnittke had written in 1977.

Real cadenzas of a composer (and not of virtuosos) which immediately summon modernity within the Beethoven monument. So does that of the first movement, hailing the descendants of the genre, Brahms, Bartok, Berg, even Shostakovich, while the unexpected intervention of the timpani dramatizes the discourse. The same is true in the playful and rebellious finale, in addition to the thematic reminder of the allegro ma non troppo, this strange vibrating dissonant drone, inoculated by a trill for ten violins in the row, which will lead to the triumph of the coda. As an encore, the famous aria from Bach's Orchestral Suite No. in D major BWV 1068, which the luminous Lisa Batiashvili will dedicate to the victims of the war in Ukraine as well as those of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.

The second part of the concert will impose the Fifth Symphony in B flat major opus 100 by Prokofiev. An epic work, of imposing dimensions, whose premiere on January 13, 1945 in Moscow under the direction of the composer, crowned with undeniable success, marked the victory of the Red Army over the Germans. "I wanted to sing about the free and happy man, his strength, his generosity and the purity of his soul", notes the author of this "war page", who will be awarded the Stalin prize.

Paavo Järvi is familiar with the work, which he engraved for Telarc and recently conducted in loco in 2021 at the head of the Orchester de Paris, of which he was musical director from 2010 to 2016. The sumptuous Amsterdam machine could encourage many orchestral excesses. But it is a Dutch phalanx in perfect working order that will give battle from the initial andante: five themes deployed in a certain versatility of atmospheres, culminating in explosions of piano and percussion.

If the hectic scherzo refers to the sarcastic and grimacing face of Prokofiev, with its lively tempo and its instrumental snubs, the third movement, adagio, is a summit of almost Puccinian lyricism, whose final paroxysm exudes a strange and tragic harshness. The wild dance of the allegro giocoso, between euphoria, humor, lyricism and dissonance, will suddenly deflate in an immense decrescendo, reducing the plethoric instrumental mass to a simple quintet: the Symphony of the greatness of man ends in the insolence of counting, ultimate provocation of an incorrigible rascal Prokofiev.