SCO, 15/04/2016

Stravinsky : Concerto in E flat "Dumbarton Oaks"
Shostakovich : Piano Concerto No. 2 (Anika Vavic, piano)
Ravel : Pavane pour une infante défunte
Bizet : Symphony in C

Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Alexandre Bloch

The young French conductor Alexandre Bloch has just been appointed the new Music Director of the Orchestre National de Lille.  For the French musical world, that's the equivalent of what finding the successor to Levine at the Metropolitan Opera is going to be - the Lille orchestra was founded by Jean-Claude Casadesus in 1976, and led by him ever since, quite possibly the longest-running musical partnership ever in France.  So Bloch is stepping into some pretty big shoes, and this is the first chance I've had to judge the cut of his jib.  While this concert wasn't the eye-opener I had hoped for, it was, for the most part, a very respectable showing.

The evening began with the neo-Baroque tang of Stravinsky's Dumbarton Oaks Concerto, crisply delivered, if a little aimless at the start, but the limping rhythm of the central Allegretto teased delightfully, and it was a zesty start that promised well for the rest.  Something of the same zip and dazzle is present in Shostakovich's 2nd Piano Concerto, but while the orchestra delivered, things were rather less effortless on the part of the soloist.

To begin with, I was a bit surprised to see her play with a score in front of her.  The only times I've seen concerto soloists play with the score have either been when there's been a change of soloist and/or concerto, or when it's a new or fairly new work.  This was neither, but the first movement at least certainly sounded like Vavic needed the score; far too many wrong notes, irregular runs, and an uneven quality of tone made for unsettling listening.  The second movement fared rather better, the suave melody singing with wistful elegance, but while the finale sounded more secure than the first movement, that quality of uncertainty returned, as if the soloist was dancing just on the wrong side of the razor's edge.  A bit of a sense of danger can be welcome, but only when you're assured that everything will be fine in the end.  That assurance was not there tonight.

The second half of the programme was all French, beginning with Ravel's poised Pavane for a dead Infanta.  I have to say that I prefer the original piano version, for once finding Ravel's own orchestration tending to romanticise the piece in a way that is absent from the purer, cleaner lines of the piano solo.  However, Bloch kept the tempo at just the right pace, avoiding funereal connotations, and with the right touch of old-world charm about it.

Finally, Bizet's youthful Symphony in C, full of airy grace and bubbling wit, the sparkle present from the very start, and the winds, so essential to Bizet's fundamental sound, very well presented.  The plaintive oboe melody of the second movement was lovely (the little fugue in the middle seems all the more strange alongside that typically belcanto-style display, but then Bizet was still a student, and composition professors did like their students to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the forms), and the last two movements fizzed and danced along brightly, like good champagne.

[Next : 16th April]