Berio : Quattro versioni originali della "Ritirata notturna di Madrid" di Luigi Boccherini
Mozart : Piano Concerto No. 21, K.467 (Alexander Gavrylyuk, piano)
Mendelssohn : A Midsummer Night's Dream (complete incidental music)
Katherine Broderick, soprano
Clara Mouriz, mezzo-soprano
Actors from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Les Sirènes
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Markus Stenz
No, I'm not re-typing the proper name of the first piece. As unwieldy titles go, it has to rival that of Hindemith's spoof of the "Flying Dutchman" overture! Fortunately, the piece is as enjoyable as its source, Boccherini's delightful nocturnal procession. Berio is possibly the most accessible of the post-war Italian school, and this work is a good example of why. The original composition comes through quite audibly, but Berio has taken the four different versions of it Boccherini made (due to its popularity) and superimposed them. The effect is a little like that of the nested carved balls of ivory or bone one sees in Oriental art, extraordinary detail being glimpsed in layers as the balls shift around independently inside their primary casing. Berio's scoring is translucent, echoing the source material, in a compact set of variations that also follow the structure of the original march, as it approaches, reaches a climax, and fades into the distance again.
The Mozart piano concerto, his third in the key of C major, was written not much later than Boccherini's Madrid Night Music, at what was pretty much the high point of Mozart's brief career. Like most of his piano concertos, it was written for himself, and is one of his more serene, sunnier scores, especially considering that it was written barely a month after the darkly dramatic D minor concerto, K. 466. Alexander Gavrylyuk plays with precision and some grace, but despite a very neat performance all round, I found neither he nor the orchestra touched anything deeper in their reading; it was a competent, well-managed interpretation but without any real profundity. I suspect I'll need to experience Gavrylyuk's talent with a different composer before I can really form an opinion about this young Ukrainian pianist.
The second half of the evening was devoted to a performance of the complete incidental music by Mendelssohn to A Midsummer Night's Dream, with an adaptation of the Shakespeare text devised by the composer and scholar Gerard McBurney. That part was semi-staged, with five young actors from the RCS filling in the numerous roles. It worked reasonably well, for the most part, although I'd be curious to hear the full play with the music. Where McBurney set the text as melodrama - that is, directly spoken over the music - I found the pacing ponderous, and wondered if a) I was hearing the text that was actually meant to be spoken at that point, with that music, and b) if it would sound different in German, which would have been the way Mendelssohn heard it (even if he did set the songs in English). However, the last section, corresponding to Act V, was very lively, and the ending suitably magical.
The female voice chorus "Les Sirènes" (comprising current and past RCS students) sang beautifully clearly, and the two soloists were almost luxury casting - they don't have a lot to do, but what was done was very well done. Stenz and the orchestra played well, though I found the results a little uneven; the Overture was fine, the Intermezzo even better, but the Nocturne was a bit stodgy for my taste. Still, the overall result was charming and original, and a most interesting close to the orchestra's season.
[Next : I may have a word or two to say about the streamed broadcast of "King Roger" on Saturday, otherwise, 23rd May]
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