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Review: Prom 19: Gurning at the Albert Hall
The Guardian - United Kingdom; Aug 01, 2005
TOM SERVICE
BBCPO/ Sinaisky: Royal Albert Hall, London 4/5
Armenian violinist Sergey Khachatryan is only 20, but his performance
of Shostakovich's First Violin Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic
Orchestra, conducted by Vassily Sinaisky, was one of the most mature
and complete interpretations of this piece it is possible to imagine.
Not only did he master the fantastic technical challenges of this huge,
daunting work, but he turned the music's four movements into a vivid,
psychological drama.
Composed in 1948, Shostakovich's concerto had to wait until 1955 for
its first performance, a victim of the Soviets' infamous decree banning
formalism in music. It is a piece that eschews the flamboyance of
the concerto form to create an introverted musical world. Khachatryan
played the opening slow movement with a searing intensity; a single
arc of melancholic melody. The scherzo was an explosion of biting,
obsessive energy, and the burlesque finale hurtled to the finishing
line. But it was the third movement, a rigorous passacaglia, that was
the heart of Khachatryan's performance. Over a haunting, gloomy bass
line, he wove an arc of melody that grew to an overwhelming climax and
subsided in a long, solo cadenza. Without ever resorting to hollow
sentimentality, Khachatryan made this movement a draining emotional
experience, and revealed the piece as one of the 20th century's most
important concertos.
The other side of Soviet music was represented in Sinaisky's
performance of Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony, written in 1944. Where
Shostakovich creates a subtle interior world, the energy of
Prokofiev's music is directed outwards. This is music on a grand,
public scale. The conviction of the BBC Philharmonic's playing gave
the piece a bold simplicity, but in comparison with the Shostakovich,
the symphony seemed one-dimensional. Where Shostakovich's scherzo
was witty and sardonic, Prokofiev's was merely energetic; where the
finale of the concerto grimaced and gurned, the last movement of the
symphony celebrated its own grandiosity. Only in the final bars, and a
manic passage for solo string quartet in the midst of the surrounding
orchestral tumult, did Prokofiev create a sense of musical ambiguity.
The Guardian - United Kingdom; Aug 01, 2005
TOM SERVICE
BBCPO/ Sinaisky: Royal Albert Hall, London 4/5
Armenian violinist Sergey Khachatryan is only 20, but his performance
of Shostakovich's First Violin Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic
Orchestra, conducted by Vassily Sinaisky, was one of the most mature
and complete interpretations of this piece it is possible to imagine.
Not only did he master the fantastic technical challenges of this huge,
daunting work, but he turned the music's four movements into a vivid,
psychological drama.
Composed in 1948, Shostakovich's concerto had to wait until 1955 for
its first performance, a victim of the Soviets' infamous decree banning
formalism in music. It is a piece that eschews the flamboyance of
the concerto form to create an introverted musical world. Khachatryan
played the opening slow movement with a searing intensity; a single
arc of melancholic melody. The scherzo was an explosion of biting,
obsessive energy, and the burlesque finale hurtled to the finishing
line. But it was the third movement, a rigorous passacaglia, that was
the heart of Khachatryan's performance. Over a haunting, gloomy bass
line, he wove an arc of melody that grew to an overwhelming climax and
subsided in a long, solo cadenza. Without ever resorting to hollow
sentimentality, Khachatryan made this movement a draining emotional
experience, and revealed the piece as one of the 20th century's most
important concertos.
The other side of Soviet music was represented in Sinaisky's
performance of Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony, written in 1944. Where
Shostakovich creates a subtle interior world, the energy of
Prokofiev's music is directed outwards. This is music on a grand,
public scale. The conviction of the BBC Philharmonic's playing gave
the piece a bold simplicity, but in comparison with the Shostakovich,
the symphony seemed one-dimensional. Where Shostakovich's scherzo
was witty and sardonic, Prokofiev's was merely energetic; where the
finale of the concerto grimaced and gurned, the last movement of the
symphony celebrated its own grandiosity. Only in the final bars, and a
manic passage for solo string quartet in the midst of the surrounding
orchestral tumult, did Prokofiev create a sense of musical ambiguity.