Royal Festival Hall, London
"Film music without the film," is how Shostakovich's 11th Symphony is sometimes described. And as a musical evocation of a revolution provoked and crushed, it's uncannily vivid. Was it inspired by the failed 1905 Russian revolution or the 1956 Hungarian uprising, and were the Soviets its heroes or villains? Whatever the answer, Shostakovich did not intend it to be a comfortable listening experience.
Fittingly, Vasily Petrenko whipped up a terrifying, no-holds-barred performance in which the climaxes came with tinnitus-inducing cymbals and bass drums that hit you in the solar plexus. Petrenko's control of the changing moods lit up the conflict between oppressor and oppressed: one passage found the cellos and basses playing as if in desperate flight, then instantaneously morphing into the machine-like enemy they were fleeing. But that was only half the story; this is one of Shostakovich's most melodic symphonies, and the revolutionary songs he weaves into the music really did sing.
If you had heard only the symphony, you would have said this was a searing LPO debut for Petrenko; the first half, though, was not quite as convincing. So impressive in front of the RLPO or the National Youth Orchestra, Petrenko seemed less authoritative conducting the LPO, an orchestra less obviously in need of galvanisation or guidance.
Stravinsky's Scherzo Fantastique and Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto seemed harder work. While the fleeting dreamy moments of the Prokofiev were indeed beautiful, pianist Oleg Marshev appeared more concerned with proving his own forceful virtuosity. His encore, a fantastically difficult Liszt Transcendental Etude, raised the on-stage testosterone to ridiculous levels, without convincing us that Marshev was engaging his heart as well as his muscles.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/nov/25/lpo-petrenko-marshev-review
Adrianne Palicki Amanda Righetti Michelle Branch Melissa Howard Samantha Mumba
No comments:
Post a Comment