Dukas : Sorceror's Apprentice
Knussen : Violin Concerto (Leila Josefowicz)
Rachmaninoff : Symphony No 2
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Stéphane Denève
I had heard Rachmaninoff's 1st and 3rd Symphonies at BBC SSO concerts a couple of years ago, and when I was choosing my RSNO concerts for this season, decided I had to fill the gap and catch up on the 2nd, which I haven't heard live in a long time. It wasn't a wasted effort; the RSNO, having had an Estonian, and then a Russian principal conductor for years, still knows how to give that rich, full-blooded sound that this music needs. Yes, it's a touch Hollywood - more accurately, maybe, it's what Hollywood wanted to emulate, given that it substantially predates all the big, famous Hollywood scores of the 30s, but if one is going to wallow, then this is how to do it in style. On the whole, I prefer the visceral energy of the 3rd, which has more of an edge to it, and I still think the Symphonic Dances are by some way the finest of Rachmaninoff's orchestral creations, but given a reading of this conviction, the 2nd Symphony can be very persuasive.
It worked better than Dukas' "The Sorceror's Apprentice". There was nothing very wrong with it; it's a notoriously difficult orchestral score, and technically there was, to my mind, only one problem, that the trumpets lacked that bright bite of sound in the climaxes (they did better with the warmer, more burnished tone required for the Rachmaninoff). However, if Denève truly intended, as he said in his introductory remarks, to bring out the darker side of the story, he missed the mark a bit. I've heard it done; that moment when the orchestra subsides in relief after the original broom gets chopped up, and then the contra-bassoon slithers in with the reviving fragments of wood can, and should, be truly chilling, and it wasn't. It was well paced, however, and a good opener.
When it comes to living British composers, Knussen, Adès and MacMillan are those for whom I have the most time. I find they write music that is approachable without being facile, thought-provoking, absorbable and more-ish. I do not know the Knussen violin concerto, this was my first hearing, and I might not rush out to buy a copy of the recording, but it will probably find its way onto my shelves sooner rather than later. Josefowicz gave what sounded like a wonderfully confident, committed performance. I would like to know what her encore was, though!
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