Perfect marriage of orchestra and acoustics
RSNO Jackson Hall, UC Davis, California JJJJJ
That enigmatic rising scale in the strings; the undulating serenity of woodwind motifs emerging with gentle urgency; then that ripened melody on the violas, leading us towards a gargantuan Wagnerian climax and bronzed trombone solo.
Of all the performances this week of Sibelius’ Seventh Symphony during the RSNO’S weeklong US concert tour under musical director Thomas Søndergård, here, in the capacious Jackson Hall at UC Davis in California, was the perfect marriage between orchestra and acoustics.
It fostered a formidable naturalness in the unfolding symphonic argument, a spontaneity that animated the discursive musical narrative, and gave full vent to the slow organic process, its elemental drive and final earthen apotheosis. I don’t recall hearing a more expansive, visceral performance of this work.
Throughout the week, pianist Olga Kern seemed to be searching for an acoustic big enough to accommodate the fiery intent with which she addresses Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. And here it was, a channel for her electrifying precision and muscular strength. Above all, it was the
truly rhapsodic, at times quixotic, periodically fearsome and thoroughly compelling power of Kern’s pianism that so enthralled.
She has family links to Rachmaninov. Given the forceful heft of her tone and her firmness of touch, who would doubt that? This was a fast and furious performance, huge in the archetypal Russian sense, but tempered with snatches of wit.
Kern had a different encore up her sleeve on every occasion of this tour. We’d had Rachmaninov, Mussorgsky and Scriabin, but she stole the show on Saturday with Liadov’s whimsical Music Box, then letting rip with Rimsky-korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee, played at the speed of light.
All of which set a gold standard for the hottest tour performance of Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony: gentle and caressing at one end of the spectrum, bloodcurdling in the ferocity of its screaming dissonances and searing melodies.
This was playing of the highest calibre, meting out the expressive extremes of the opening movement, the acid irony of the Allegro marcato, the angst-filled Adagio, and the hurtling ecstasy of the finale, rising to a state of uncontrolled euphoria that drives the final bars over a metaphorical cliff.
It marked the close of a magnificent tour, one that was also the parting shot for the orchestra’s endlessly creative communications manager, Danny Pollitt, who leaves soon to pursue new interests. He’ll be sorely missed.