Brahms : Piano Concerto No. 1 (Denis Kozhukhin, piano)
Beethoven : Symphony No. 7
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Thomas Dausgaard
I don't know about other people's reasons for not liking Brahms, but I've come to the conclusion that my particular problem with him is that much of the time, you get the impression that every bar has been written and re-written, expanded, contracted, varied and generally mulled over until Brahms was satisfied he had extracted every atom of significance from it. In short, any iota of spontaneity has been well and truly eliminated, and instead you get something that's beautifully crafted but somehow lifeless. Of course, I'm generalising grossly - that's not actually true of the songs, at all, and not often true of the piano miniatures. The rest, however....? Then, though, you'll get a performance that just sets the piece - whatever it may be - completely alight, and you wonder why you ever had any objections at all! And so, you - or at least, I - keep going to hear Brahms, in the hope that each time will be such a performance, and the law of averages works out so that just enough of them are, that you never get completely discouraged.
I had high hopes for tonight's one; Denis Kozhukhin is a powerful and expressive pianist with a solid technique, more than adequate to meet the demands of Brahms's 1st Concerto, and he's worked with both this orchestra and this conductor several times before. Yet the alchemy did not quite operate, though not for lack of trying. There was a certain detached quality to the playing of all parties, and without a certain level of high-octane burn to it, the 1st Concerto can come across as over-indulgent and excessive, a young Brahms flexing his muscles and just overdoing it altogether. Much of the orchestration came across as thick, even turgid, and there was not enough light and shade. Good playing, on the whole, but not enough inspiration.
After the official part of the concert, Kozhukhin returned to the platform on his own to play the first five of the Op. 116 Fantasias - these fifteen-minute Codas are a fairly regular feature of the BBCSSO concerts - and demonstrated that he, at least, does know how to put the contrasts in the music to good use. These were masterfully interpreted, and I only regret there wasn't the time to hear the full set. Kozhukhin will be back next week to play the Second Concerto, with a different conductor, and it will be interesting to see what they make of the much more mature, post-1st Symphony Brahms.
The second half of the concert was occupied with an invigorating reading of Beethoven's 7th, all bounding energy and bright, crisp tempi - the musical equivalent of an early-morning cold shower and five-mile run, bracing, to say the least. The transparency of the orchestral texture, and the effortless efficiency of Beethoven's musical arguments were the tart sorbet after a heavy meal. Dausgaard reminded us that the 'slow' movement is only slow relative to the others - it's marked Allegretto, and he kept the pace moving along smartly, but without sacrificing any of its gravitas. Now, if they had brought that level of imagination to the Brahms, this would indeed have been a memorable evening. A first rate Beethoven 7, though, is something to cherish nevertheless.
[Next : 13th May]
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