SCO, 11/11/2016

Beethoven : The Creatures of Prometheus - Overture
Méhul : Symphony No. 1
Beethoven : Symphony No. 6 "Pastoral"

Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Richard Egarr

Richard Egarr doesn't waste much time on the civilities; he strode onto the platform, with a friendly wave for the applauding audience, and instantly launched into the Prometheus Overture, without podium, without baton and, to a large extent, at least where the Beethoven was concerned, without much reference to the score.  His Beethoven is bright and brisk, and the Overture was an invigorating commencement to the evening.

The curiosity tonight was the Méhul symphony.  If Beethoven - a near exact contemporary - was a revolutionary composer, Méhul was a Revolutionary one, in that he was one of the principal musical figures to operate throughout the years of the French Revolution, and continue on successfully into the Napoleonic era.  In fact, Napoleon actually liked his music, which was unusual as he didn't appreciate music much at all, generally.  Méhul was primarily an operatic composer, although in fact he's best known for the "Chant du départ",  one of the most important anthems of the Revolution.

This first symphony dates from 1808, the same year as the "Pastoral", but the music is nevertheless more clearly descended from Haydn than anything Beethoven was writing by this point.  It's fairly unlikely Méhul and Beethoven heard anything of each other's music; neither travelled outside their own countries much, and while musicians and composers often consulted publications, to find out what was being written elsewhere, at this point in time, the two countries were at war, and that sort of commerce was severely curtailed.  However, it's curious to find the four-note 'knocking' theme of Beethoven's 5th appearing quite clearly in the Finale of the Méhul.  The work's mood as a whole is fairly dramatic, and there are some genuinely interesting sections, particularly the 3rd movement, especially in a persuasive reading such as this.

Egarr brings an 'early music' approach to the "Pastoral", with very brisk tempi, to the point that he expedited the piece in just over half-an-hour, where a more traditional interpretation usually takes around forty minutes, give or take a few.  He kept the orchestral textures light too, and there was that added frisson of the raw sound of natural horns and trumpets.  I like this, it's a form of living dangerously, because accuracy of pitch with natural brass is always a dicey thing.  It has to be said that Bostjan Lipovsek was struggling tonight, more than was really desirable, but it's an imprecise art at the best of times, and I imagine everyone has their on and off days.  If there's one thing that this fleet, transparent approach lacks, it's perhaps a deeper sense of the spirituality of the work, especially in the last movement, but it was nevertheless an engaging performance, vivid and vital, brushing the cobwebs off a piece that can sometimes seem all too familiar.

[Next : 12th October]