Respighi : Ancient Airs and Dances - Suite No. 1
Rodrigo : Concierto de Aranjuez (Milos Karadaglic)
Martucci : Notturno
Respighi : Feste Romane
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Gilbert Varga
There was plenty of Mediterranean warmth in tonight's programme, and a very appealing selection of pieces. The draw was clearly intended to be the Rodrigo Concerto, with the much-hyped Montenegran guitarist Milos Karadaglic as soloist, but the choice of surrounding works was both interesting, and judicious. The orchestra had several guest principals in the line-up tonight, notably the oboist Xabier Libo Bilbao, and the cellist Nathaniel Boyd, all of whom had the opportunity to make their presences felt, and for our greater pleasure.
Respighi is, to my mind, the greatest of all the Italian orchestrators, certainly outside the opera house, and arguably inside it too, though his operas have other problems that keep them out of the repertory. His mastery of orchestral colour, however, cannot be gainsaid, and with the two works in tonight's programme, the sheer diversity and versatility of that talent was very evident. The Ancient Airs and Dances Suite also offered the noticeable advantage of being scored very similarly to the Rodrigo Concerto. If the Suite, discreet and elegant, came across with the fine lines of a lithograph, delicately tinted and smilingly nostalgic, it led us easily into the watercolours of the Rodrigo, stronger toned, but still scrupulously orchestrated in order to preserve the delicate balance of a medium-sized orchestra with an instrument as audibly frail as the guitar.
I had wondered if the guitar would be 'assisted'; the only other time I've heard Aranjuez live in concert, it was not, but the hall was considerably smaller. Tonight, effectively, Karadaglic had a mike, and two speakers at his feet to ensure the sound of his instrument would reach all corners of the hall. Probably a good thing too, as he has quite a soft-grained, intimate tone. He lacks the steely-fingered technique of a Yepes or a Bream, there were notes missing from the runs, or slightly squashed here and there. On the other hand, and particularly in the famous Adagio, there was an improvisational quality to his playing that I found distinctive and attractive, as if the melismas surrounding the melody were being inspired on the spur of the moment, which struck me as quite appropriate for this music. Karadaglic has been highly touted over the last couple of years as the hottest new thing in classical music, but the reviews I've seen or heard of his discs have been decidedly mixed, so I was glad to have the opportunity to judge for myself. Do I think he's been over-hyped? Yes - but that doesn't mean he's a bad player.
The relatively low-key flavour of the evening continued with a short piece by Respighi's teacher, Giuseppe Martucci, one of the rare Italian composers prior to the 20th Century to completely eschew the operatic stage. His Notturno was certainly appealing enough - think, perhaps, Puccini re-writing the Siegfried Idyll, to get an idea of its colour - and sympathetically handled, as all the playing had been up to this point. Then the orchestra doubled in size (nine percussionists, not counting the timpanist!), and all restraint flew right out the window for Respighi's Feste Romane. It is generally considered the weakest element of the Roman Trilogy, with its braying, cacophonous start and raucously exuberant finish, and lacking the poetry of Fountains or Pines in-between, but the sensation of an orchestra being stretched to its limits, and enjoying every second of it, is pretty much irresistible. Had Respighi been born fifty years later, he could have given John Williams a run for his money as the most successful film-music composer of all time. As it was, Varga and the RSNO took every opportunity to revel in the lavish, vividly pictorial orchestral display, bringing the evening to an exhilarating close.
[Next : 19th April]
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