RSNO, 05/11/2016

Liadov : The Enchanted Lake
Prokofiev : Piano Concerto No. 5
Prokofiev : Piano Concerto No. 1
Rachmaninoff : Symphony No. 3

Nikolai Lugansky, piano
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Eivind Gullberg Jensen
Nikolai Lugansky has been performing a cycle of the complete Prokofiev Piano Concertos with the RSNO over the last two seasons; with tonight's concert, he just has one more to go, next week, the most popular one.  Tonight, however, very unusually, we got two concertos - I presume it's because No. 1 is so short, but I didn't envy Lugansky the task.  Prokofiev was writing these pieces mostly with himself in mind as the soloist, and he certainly didn't make things easy for himself, whether at 20 or at 40.

However, this all-Russian programme began with a moment of serenity in an otherwise very busy evening.  The Enchanted Lake is the second of the three tone poems that are Liadov's best known works outside Russia.  (He's also, peripherally, known as the man who didn't write The Firebird, because he was too dilatory in delivering the music for Diaghilev's liking, or so the story goes, thus providing Stravinsky with his big break.)  What's clear from Liadov's output is that he was a miniaturist, very precise in the detail, and the rippling orchestration of The Enchanted Lake is a fine example of that precision.  The piece is not a narrative, like the two other ones, but a painting in sound, a piece of true Impressionism, the music full of the play of light on water, subtle suggestions of movement flittering over a still, shimmering surface, very well conveyed by the orchestra.

All of Prokofiev's piano concertos are relatively early works, written between his Conservatoire years, and the end of his period abroad.  When he returned to the Soviet Union in 1936, he appeared less and less frequently as a soloist, in favour of focusing on composition.

The 5th Concerto is a bright, energetic work, with a passionately lyrical slow movement that comes almost as a surprise after three movements of vigorous, rhythmic and very virtuosic playing.  Lugansky doesn't exactly make it look easy - nothing could make those great leaps around the keyboard, and the fast, precise runs, look easy - but he makes it look ineluctable, infallible.  The clarity of his playing is matched by the transparency of the orchestra, sharply delineated, and full of piquancy.

The 1st Piano Concerto is just as virtuosic and vital, but more effulgent, with richer orchestration and more obviously melodic.  From the moment the piano bounds into play, it hardly ever ceases, but here too, Lugansky negotiated the cascades of notes with complete assurance, buoyant and spirited, but dreamily poetic in the central section, before coming to a brilliant conclusion in a peal of bells.  These were both excellent readings, clearly demarcated from each other, yet bearing the unmistakable stamp of Prokofiev, and very well supported by the orchestra.

Jensen kept the momentum going with an invigorating and dramatic reading of Rachmaninoff's 3rd Symphony, with plenty of lushly romantic playing from the strings in particular, and a swagger to the last movement that made me wonder if Korngold might not have heard the symphony before undertaking the composition of his best film scores.  At moments of peak intensity, Jensen has a tendency to talk to the orchestra, which is a little disconcerting if you're sitting close enough to catch it, but otherwise he delivered as fine a performance of this as I've heard.  Like the other symphonies, I still find it a bit long, but Jensen and the orchestra made a much better than average attempt at persuading me otherwise.

[Next : 10th November]