Royal Festival Hall
Brahms – Piano Concerto no.1
in D minor op.15
Beethoven – Symphony no.3 in
E-flat major, ‘Eroica’, op.55
Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano)
Philharmonia Orchestra
Christoph von Dohnányi (conductor)
The opening of the first
movement of Brahms’s First Piano Concerto is one of those passages that sears
itself into the memory; it is as redolent of the struggles Brahms experienced
in writing the work as of anything more metaphysical, though both varieties
surely play their part. In this performance, it was imposing – how could it not
be? – but swifter than one often hears: perhaps a portent of a more ‘Classical’
than ‘Romantic’ Brahms, to employ an all-too-easy typology? Not really, for
Christoph von Dohnányi certainly knew how to yield; rather, it was indicative
of an approach neither encumbered by ‘performing tradition’ nor attempting
novelty for its own sake. There were mood swings, certainly, but they seemed to
emerge from the music rather than being imposed upon it. Throughout, there was
estimable clarity from the Philharmonia. Pierre-Laurent Aimard’s entry was
similarly devoid of grandstanding. If not exactly reticent, for such would be
absurd, then he was content to let the score, or rather his performance of the
score, do the work. One might consider the performance as a whole to have been
of a modernistic, ‘objective’ variety, though that description tends to beg
more questions than it answers. At times, Aimard perhaps tended – a little too
much? – towards recounting the story in a twenty-first-century third person. Did
I miss the first person? I am sure I should if I always heard it like that, but
it was in many respects refreshing to hear a more ‘observed’ performance. And
indeed, if one were to be given the choice between silly ‘virtuoso’ rhetoric
and musicianly delight in Brahms’s material, who in his right mind would not
choose the latter? There were occasions when I might have wished for more fire
from all concerned, but they were outnumbered by those in which it was possible
to enjoy Brahms, if not ‘as written’, always a pernicious fiction, but without
the perverse interventionism of pulling the score around arbitrarily that
infects so many performances of his music at the moment. The Philharmonia’s wind
instruments deserve especial mention for their own very well-judged brand of
Classical Romanticism.
The slow movement benefited
from a similar lack of self-indulgence. Aimard struck an excellent balance – or
generated a compelling dialectic – between ‘simplicity’ of expression and the ‘involved’
complexity of Brahms’s thematic working. If the orchestra were often relatively
subdued, that is not necessarily a bad thing. Besides, Brahms’s music and his
thought lie mostly beneath the surface, as one could hear, assuming a
willingness to make the necessary effort. In that context, the great climax
could be appreciated, indeed felt as absolute necessity, all the more strongly.
Again, a fine balance was struck in the finale: between weight and fleetness of
foot. It was perhaps surprisingly flexible in tempo, with a strong flavour of
the ‘Hungarian’ Brahms. This, like the rest of the performance, was certainly
not ‘heart-on-sleeve’ Brahms, but that is a good thing; there are few worse
musical experiences than having Brahms sound like Tchaikovsky. (Tchaikovsky, on
the other hand, often benefits from being made to sound a little more like
Brahms.) One notable slip from the pianist could readily be forgiven, especially
given that it seemed to incite Aimard to greater precision and forcefulness thereafter, heralding if not quite the end, then a
magnificent account of the cadenza. This, then, was a genuinely interesting
performance. I am not claiming that I should always wish to hear it like this,
but Gilels and Jochum, to take perhaps the finest recorded performance, will
not disappear any day soon. Above all, I was made to think.
I wondered how such an
approach would transfer itself to the Eroica.
After all, the last thing we in our present condition need is non-committal
Beethoven, which might have been a danger. However, whilst Dohnányi’s account
might certainly be better described as having belonged to the more ‘objective’
end of the spectrum – or better, a spectrum
– it nevertheless proved highly
involving, again through intelligent and often intense immersion in the musical
material and its development. This
was not the Beethoven of, say, Barenboim or Furtwängler, but by the same token there
was nothing neutral to it either. It is probably fair to say, moreover, that
the Philharmonia strings were on better form here than in the Brahms, when on
occasion they had sounded a little wiry; indeed, the orchestra as a whole
sounded wonderfully fresh. Praise of articulation often seems today to imply
something fussy, even – God help us! – Harnoncourt-like; here, however, there
was no point-scoring, just a fine degree of attention to the notes and to their
particular connection with one another. From the very opening, the Philharmonia
offered playing that was cultivated in the best sense: not unduly polite, but by
the same token preferring musical over gestural means. Subtlety of dynamic contrast
was a particular hallmark of Dohnányi’s approach, allied to rather than opposed
to the work’s structure. Likewise, rhythm was allied to harmony rather than
overpowering it, as too often happens in fashionable present-day performances.
The slow movement certainly
told of tragedy, but in general – though not generalised – terms rather than
the specifically political. This was not Wagnerian Beethoven, but crucially it
was not emptied of its content; one was moved through means it would be
tempting to relate to ‘absolute music’, were that not now so ideologically tainted
a term. The Philharmonia woodwind often sounded exquisite, yet not in a
deliberately ear-catching fashion, being fully integrated into the musical argument.
The scherzo was fast without being hard-driven or frenetic. Rhythm again proved
generative within a broader musical context. Horns were everything one might
have hoped for in the trio, vernal heralds of German Romanticism, without
entirely having left their Mozartian roots behind – much like the work itself.
In the finale, Dohnányi judged very well the balance between individual
characterisation of variations and longer line. One neither forgot that,
obvious point though this might be, that this is a set of variations, nor lost
sight of Beethoven’s musical teleology.
