Philharmonie
Violin Concerto no.3 in B
minor, op.61
Symphony no.3 in C minor,
op.78, ‘Organ’
Lisa Batiashvili (violin)
Christian Schmitt (organ)
Staatskapelle Berlin
Daniel Barenboim (conductor)
In preparation for the Staatsoper
Unter den Linden’s new production of Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila, directed by Damián Szifron and conducted by
Daniel Barenboim, of which more in due course, Berlin is hearing more of the
composer’s œuvre than might generally be expected. I shall be reporting not
only from the opera but also from a chamber
concert at the Apollo Saal for piano and harmonium. In the meantime, here
were two orchestral works, also conducted by Barenboim.
For the first—to my mind, the
most successful—of the works, the Third Violin Concerto, Barenboim and the
Staatskapelle Berlin were joined by Lisa Batiashvili, whose performance proved
to be nothing less than outstanding. A heightened sense of expectancy from
orchestra—not least ominous timpani—and soloist alike had the first movement off
to an excellent start, its promise fully repaid. Not only did Batiashvili offer
as darkly focused a line as one could wish for, the way in which it was spun
made one eager for more. The darkness of key—for various reasons, B minor is not
so common for strings—registered from all concerned, brass as much as strings.
There was plenty of Mendelssohnian light too, though, added to which I heard an
intriguing sense, born perhaps of common Mendelssohnian roots, a common key,
and the conductor’s identity, of affinity with Elgar.
The slow movement came very
much as response: contrast, yes, but necessary rather than arbitrary. The
violin’s lovely siciliano duetting with woodwind could hardly fail to delight
with such all-round excellence of playing. Not that it was all sweetness and
light: there were beautiful, meaningful shadows cast too, yet within
appropriate bounds. Above all, it sang. There was, moreover, a fine sense of difference,
of particularity, of key, both in work and performance. There may be no
harmonic shocks here, but there were plenty of harmonic surprises, so long as
one listened. Batiashvili’s closing harmonics proved both of this world—Saint-Saëns
is not really a composer for transcendence—and yet suggestive, not unlike
Berlioz in L’Enfance du Christ, of a
childhood longing for something beyond.
A passionate violin cry managed
to cut through even the noisiest of coughing and chatter to silence—eventually—the
audience for the finale. Stylish and propulsive, this was a finale in more than
name, Barenboim’s often unremarked excellence as an accompanist—how could it be
otherwise, given his decades of experience at the piano?—as crucial as the
soloist’s musicianship. All concerned seem to relish its post-Mendelssohnian
loveliness. Was there also a hint of the operatic world, of kinship with
Berlioz and even, as presentiment, Puccini, however coincidental? There was,
wisely, no straining at non-existent depth, this fine performance emerging all
the better for it, taking the concerto for what it is rather than for what
someone else might prefer it to be.
Barenboim has a long history
with the ‘Organ’ Symphony, having recorded it a good number of years ago in
Chicago. Here he conducted it from memory—and it showed, given with all the
care and first-hand acquaintance Barenboim would offer Beethoven or Schubert.
Hand on heart, I cannot say it is a work that entirely convinces me, but it has
plenty of interest; indeed, not unlike Liszt, to whom he clearly owes much here
and to whose memory the work is dedicated, Saint-Saëns can be of considerable interest
in his (relative) failures too. The performance, though—to a certain extent, listening
too—is in many respects an opportunity to put the case for the defence.
Barenboim and his orchestra certainly did that, from a perfectly judged opening
string crescendo and diminuendo—expectancy once more—to the showmanship and resonance
of the close. A rapt quality to the second section of the first movement—the second
movement of four, if you prefer to consider its form more traditionally—once again
brought Elgar, even Mahler, to mind; for what a string section this is!
Barenboim often did little, but one could tell that the orchestra was doing
what he required. By letting the music speak so ‘naturally’—whatever hard work
that may mask—Barenboim and his players assented to the truth voiced in the
composer’s memoir, École buissonnière:
‘Music is something beyond a source of sensuous pleasure and keenly-felt
emotion ... He who does not derive absolute pleasure from a simple series of
well-constructed chords, beautiful only in their arrangement, is not truly fond
of music.’
Harmony, then, afforded its ‘own’
pleasure; yet when Barenboim actively conducted the music, taking it by the
scruff of its neck, it might almost have been Wagner. For the second of
Saint-Saëns’s prescribed two movements opened with all the urgency of a new
dramatic act, the Presto part of that
opening section reminding us, as so often with Barenboim and this orchestra, that
clarity and litheness need entail no sacrifice to depth of tone. If you are
trading one for the other, you should probably find another trade. The organ
chords (Christian Schmitt) and piano arpeggios of the movement’s second section
certainly had impact, although—and this has nothing to do with the quality of
the performance—I could not help but reflect how Liszt would have been excoriated,
had he written anything quite so vulgar. Counterpoint, at any rate, proved
clear and directed, and the sound was quite magnificent.
