The Dome, Brighton, 14 May 2013
Some concerts which look pleasantly conventional on paper can prove to be unexpectedly exciting in delivery. Such was the BBC Symphony Orchestra concert under James Gaffigan in a programme of Mendelssohn and Brahms, where the only unusual item appeared to be Hartmann’s Symphony No2.
Hartmann managed to survive in Germany during the war and promoted new music in the country up until his death in 1963. Although trained by Anton Webern his music is entirely his own, drawing together strands as disparate as the atonal school and late romantics. The Second Symphony was eventually completed in 1946. Although titled Adagio, that hardly does justice to the range of moods and dynamics of the single movement structure. The work opens in great tension before a solo for baritone saxophone cuts through with hints of The Rite of Spring. Though there are many hints of Strauss and Mahler, it is Stravinsky that the work constantly returns to in its undercurrent of tension and danger. At its climax it releases a ferocity at breakneck speed which mounts towards its denouement.
After such excitement the other works could have seemed rather bland; it was anything but. James Gaffigan takes a lean and athletic approach to Mendelssohn’s violin concerto and Veronika Eberle has the technical finesse and passion to meet it. Her bright tone and powerful playing were coupled with moments of sudden introspection in the opening movement. The Andante was taken at a dancing 6/8 rather than the more conventional relaxed 3/4, and led to a flirtatious finale, where the beauty of the cello line almost stole the show. The enthusiastic reception was very well deserved.
Brahms’ Fourth Symphony may have felt more relaxed than the Mendelssohn but was as strongly structured, with hints of nobility and heroism in the opening movement. The precise, almost clipped, phrasing of the Andante moderato seemed to hint at Elgar in its warmth, and there was a brash enthusiasm in the Allegro giocoso. The final movement brought finely textured contrasts, with a limpid brass chorale before the fire of the final moments.
A splendid evening, worthy of any festival. BH