Amazing evening at the Barbican - Janine Jansen, Gianandrea Noseda and the LSO delivering some highly charged entertainment.

Royal Festival Hall
12 March 2020

Robin Ticciati - conductor

Anne-Sophie Mutter - violin
Khatia Buniatishvili - piano
Pablo Ferrández - cello

London Phliharmonic Orchestra

Beethoven - Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano
Mahler - Symphony 1

Naturally I was wondering how well this near sell-out concert would be attended. I saw three people wearing face masks inside the hall and I reckoned there were around 100 empty seats which meant there was still a very good sized crowd anticipating two of the greatest talents on the classical stage today. And how we were rewarded.

The Beethoven Triple is a great favourite of mine and knowing the work very well made me anticipate even more intensely the highest level of performance. The players didn’t let me down but my choice of seat in the Choir surely did. The ladies, two of my greatest musical heroines, took to the stage looking entirely dazzling in striking floor length gowns. You know it makes me wonder whether people need to 'self-impose' some kind of minimum standard of dress for such events. When your performers all ensure they are nothing less than immaculate is it not appropriate to make just a little effort? Far too many cagouled punters looking like they have just come in from a walk in the woods with the dog … Anyway, I will leave that one for now and get back to the music.

The Triple was everything you hoped it would be. Khatia B was utterly selfless in her playing and support for not just her fellow soloists but the orchestra as well; it’s very interesting following how she is sure to watch and engage emotionally with everyone in her field of vision. Her delivery is as delicate as Meissen at times, yet of course she is more than able to match Ms Mutter in terms of outright power when required.  Two such imposing musical personalities yet one could sense the warmth of the relationship in their exquisitely crafted exchanges ... ASM was in imperiously divine form, utterly asserting herself on this material with a commitment that never wavered for a quaver … Yet it’s still her playing in the higher registers that never fails to enrapture me the most. So sweet and delicate but never saccharine, as her unflappable technique, taut focus and determination always shine through. And so to Mr Ferrandez who by no fault of his own gave me the only musical headache of the evening. In the first two movements I was able to fully savour his generous, warm and lyrical tone but in the climaxes of the final movement I could just see a fragmented silhouette of his frantic bowing yet hear little of his output which was equally strange and frustrating! He was placed right at the front of the podium with his cello projecting outwards of course, the conductor behind him, whilst I was sat at the back of the choir which naturally favoured the piano and violin acoustics which always cut through. So to my ears it was as though he was being swallowed whole by ASM’s overly eager violin whereas I’m sure for those in the stalls this was not the case! A shame, but it did not spoil my enjoyment or enthusiasm for the performances, the extended ovation being richly deserved.

I adore Mahler 1. To my ears it’s one of the ultimate in slow burns. If we look at the score directions it pretty much sums up the first two movements as played -

Langsam, schleppend (Slowly, dragging) Immer sehr gemächlich (very restrained throughout)
Kräftig bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell (Moving strongly, but not too quickly), Recht gemächlich (restrained)

The music was performed exactly as you might expect, reverently but without much room for idiosyncrasies. However, the emotional tension was maintained throughout and it’s almost as if we were being lulled into a false sense of musical security. When the funeral march based on children’s song “Frère Jacques” began, the atmosphere in the music and hall changed markedly, you could almost sense the audience’s rapt attention intensify. This was a hypnotic exercise in sparse and subtle meandering melancholia, in which emotions and moods turn on a sixpence and were so deftly handled by Mr Ticciati. From here he steadily turned the ratchet through the final movement, Stürmisch bewegt – Energisch (Stormily agitated) in which we were treated to some near face melting dynamic peaks that would have satisfied even MartinT . Utter and complete, fierce commitment from the LPO which entirely warranted a keenly observed standing ovation. This was also a great tribute to Robin Ticciati of course, who I followed closely at times during this Mahler - he has matured and grown so much as as a conductor and must have been in his early 20’s when I first came across his engaging talents. And how generous of him to ask the orchestra to turn and acknowledge our ovation from the choir, a very classy touch which sums up a wonderful evening of music making during a difficult time for the world at large.

I can't say I really warmed to Gabriela Montero's streamed performance this evening.

The Chopin was fierce and felt a bit detached to me. Her own 'Improvisations' (of which there were surely too many) fared somewhat better but overall I struggled with a tone and approach that I felt overly strident and overbearing. No great sense of nuances, delicacy, light and shade ...

It would have worked better as a radio performance as she is most static at the keyboard and rarely physically involved in the music, which adds to that sense of detachment. Maybe she felt uncomfortable with this event and lack of live audience in some way. She didn't look overly thrilled at the end when briefly speaking to camera.

If anyone else listened or is planning to, I would be interested in your thoughts.

Yes production values completely missing.
That doesn't mean you need to spend lots of money you don't have. That curtain was awful - with a little imagination it could have looked a lot better with some decent lighting as well.

It has the RAH name - where was the sense of event? That aside, it wasn't much of a performance for me either. Mariam Batsashvili playing at home looked and sounded better, and seemed genuinely happy to be there for us.

Lucky sod! Seeing NB perform is just plain rubbing it in

I must listen to her Tzigane, don't think I ever have. Is there a recommended recording?

It is very nearly the anniversary of the last concert I went to!

Can't believe a year has gone. I want to at least book for something to look forward to.

Can't see anything at the Barbican but the Southbank has a number of concerts.

Right now Denis Matsuev with the Liszt B Minor is looking very appealing ...

"The percussionist “plays” an aerosol can at one point," was all I needed to read.