RSNO, 10/04/2011

Kodály: Dances of Galantá
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 (Marc-André Hamelin)
Haydn: Symphony No. 70
Kodály: Háry János Suite

Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Gilbert Varga

A lively programme, with a strong Central European flavour, no doubt to suit the night's Hungarian conductor.  That said, when choosing the ticket in the first place, my interest lay in seeing Marc-André Hamelin, not only because I never had seen him live before, but also to find out what this pianist could and would do with a piece as sober as Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto.  Hamelin is renowned as one of the world's most phenomenally virtuosic pianists, the man who'll play scores others simply won't even attempt; that's certainly mostly what I've heard of him via the radio.  Such a reputation, however, implies a degree of flamboyance that might not sit well with the restraint and profundity needed for the Beethoven.

I'll admit that I did "disconnect" a little during the first movement, my attention wandering, but it returned just before the cadenza, which is when things got really interesting, because neither this, nor the one in the last movement, were the familiar versions.  I can only assume they were Hamelin's own, and may even have been improvised.  Discreet virtuosity, a lot of disconcerting and intriguing modulations, and a generally reflective mood well suited to the overall tone of the concerto.  The 3rd movement cadenza was a little more jarring when it came along, but it was still good to hear such an exploration being made - that was the order of the day, when the work was created, after all, and one might say that we've all grown a bit lazy about cadenzas.  Both Hamelin and the orchestra displayed a welcome lightness of touch throughout the work.

There was a similar lightness in the Haydn symphony, which was its saving grace, because it's not, to my mind, one of the more memorable ones.  There was also the occasional hint of raggedness about the ensemble (e.g. the light repeated notes that are a feature of the last movement) which had been somewhat evident in both the other works up to that point.  The Dances of Galantá should have been a little wilder at the end; the final section was too carefully controlled, but then, had it gone any faster, I think that there would have been more problems with the ensemble playing.  On the other hand, the opening was excellent, richly imbued with nostalgia and an almost Impressionistic sense of evocation. 

Those same qualities reappeared in the Háry János Suite, which was also much more "together" as a whole.  The bass trombone and tuba were having fun with the Defeat of Napoleon, John Harrington, the orchestra's outstanding Principal Viola, gave a heart-stoppingly beautiful reading of the start of the Romance, and the final movement had exactly the right tone and level of joyful cacophony to send the audience away with a big smile.