Review
Beethoven - Symphony No.9
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment conducted by Ilan Volkov
Royal Festival Hall, London, 9 April 2010
Centro Cultural Miguel Delibes, Valladolid, Spain, 11 April 2010
12 / 04 / 2010
Symphony No.9 - Beethoven
Rebecca Evans - soprano
Diana Montagu - mezzo-soprano
Timothy Robinson - tenor
Christopher Purves - bass
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
conducted by Ilan Volkov
The Beethoven symphony cycle that has been occupying the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment since the start of the year is close to reaching its summit. Four days of supporting events are coming up at King’s Place next weekend – called “Beethoven with Guts”, as if the journey has been a tough one – and Friday’s penultimate concert on the South Bank consisted simply of a performance of the Ninth Symphony.
The conductor was to have been Charles Mackerras, but sadly he had to withdraw because of illness – a shame, as the evening newspapers had just broken the news that BBC Radio 3 is launching its first classical music chart programme and Mackerras has come in at number two. Not bad to have a top 10 hit at the age of 84.
In his place we had Ilan Volkov, best known as the chief conductor until last year of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. His view of the symphony was youthfully energetic – not that the octogenarian Mackerras would probably have sounded any less youthful – and he set about the music with enough determination to earn the “Beethoven with Guts” label.
This was a big performance, as befits a venue the size of the Royal Festival Hall. The playing of the large band was sometimes ragged, a consequence perhaps of the last-minute change of conductor, but its clarity was more than just the usual period-instrument transparency: real care had been taken in balancing the orchestral parts. Having set urgent speeds for each movement, Volkov kept to them rigorously. This gave the symphony undeniable momentum, but at the points where the music needs only a second or two to catch its thoughts, Volkov pressed on regardless, leaving the listener breathless and rather exasperated – like a man who keeps running for the bus only to see it set off as he reaches the door.
The solo quartet was led by Christopher Purves, warm-hearted rather than momentous in the opening bass solo. Rebecca Evans and Diana Montague were the well-matched soprano and mezzo, and Timothy Robinson, squeezing his voice uncomfortably, was the tenor. Best of all was the Philharmonia Chorus, which sounded refreshed and invigorated by its gutsy, period-instrument Beethoven experience.
Richard Fairman, Financial Times, 12 April 2010
Ilan Volkov faced an unenviable task when Sir Charles Mackerras's poor health forced him to withdraw from the climactic concert of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment's Beethoven series. To take over from such a revered conductor whose work with this band has provided some of this country's most memorable orchestral music-making of the last decade, and in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony of all pieces, was a tall order indeed. Volkov did his best, but we missed Mackerras, and there is no point pretending otherwise.
Volkov took a fast and direct approach to the Ninth. This is standard practice for period performances of Beethoven and greater familiarity has certainly not bred contempt for this liberated and often thrilling method. The scherzo, in particular, had a Dionysian propulsion that was hard to resist. But there is also no denying that there can be losses. The Ninth is not just any other score. It has many moments of cosmic tension – not least the symphony's opening – that require something more searching than the press-on approach, and Volkov was at his least persuasive here.
There were one or two moments of false intonation and occasional slack ensemble, too. But the best feature of this performance was the colouring, balance and interplay between the strings and the orchestra's often superb wind sections, especially in the adagio. In the final movement, the vocal soloists were well matched and professional, though Christopher Purves's bass felt a bit routine. Timothy Robinson was showed far more character in the tenor solo, accompanied by a fruity oompah march. The Philharmonia Chorus were in cracking form, too, and Volkov drove his forces to a breathlessly exuberant finish.
Martin Kettle, The Guardian, 12 April 2010
Though early 19th-century audiences were wowed by the grandeur of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and thrilled by the turbulent symphonic energies unleashed for the final time by this ageing titan, they were baffled too. In each movement the composer broke conventions: in form, harmony, musico-dramatic scope and range of forces used. Plenty of contemporary reports attest to the shock that listeners felt at every turn.
One unintended consequence of this performance — part of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’s Beethoven cycle — was that authentic bewilderment seemed recreated afresh. For although the young Israeli conductor Ilan Volkov drove through the allegros with vim and vigour (conjuring, in the finale, surely the first galloping German band in history), the daring harmonic twists, especially in the slow movement, seemed to catch him unawares time and again.
In one way that was refreshing. These days we know the Ninth so well that what once sounded shocking now seems as comfortable as a well-worn cardigan. With the OAE’s period brass adding a raw rasp to the climaxes, the strings vibrato-less and viol-like for much of the slow movement, and the woodwinds often palpably struggling to attune their old instruments to Beethoven’s bucking lines, there was a real feeling of entering into an early 19th-century soundworld.
But I wish that Volkov had matched this with an interpretation that offered a viewpoint on the work’s profound ambiguities. Too much here seemed delivered, sometimes slightly scrappily, but not considered. It was impossible not to miss the galvanising presence of Sir Charles Mackerras, who should have been conducting but was too ill.
Still, the soloists were adequate (though I wish they had sung their few notes from memory); and the Philharmonia Chorus much more than that. In choral circles there’s a fair bit of controversy about this amateur ensemble’s decision to stiffen its ranks with young professionals. Whatever the rights or wrongs, it sounded here like a choir reborn.
Richard Morrison, The Times, 13 April 2010
Si de algo podemos estar seguros es de que la OAE, es una orquesta diferentes. La idea de reproducir el sonido con los instrumentos históricos, es llevada por esta formación hasta las últimas consecuencias. El proyecto, de indudable interés, llenó el Auditorio con la 'Novena sinfonía' de Beethoven, bajo la dirección del joven Ivan Volkov, que sustituía a Charles Mackerras. Tardamos en adaptar el oído al sonido peculiar de estos instrumentos de menor recorrido sonoro y opaco timbre. Y aunque la voluntad, conocimiento y planificación del joven director fueron irreprochables, el sonido decepcionó en el primer tiempo en el que hubo más de un desajuste. Ya en el scherzo se vieron claras las intenciones de Volkov: Ritmo muy vivo y marcados fraseos con claridad diáfana en las identidades de cada sección, aunque la cuerda no fue un modelo de afinación. Poco a poco la defragmentación beethoveniana de estos tiempos y del cantabile, fue reconstruida con detalle, en una vertiginosa versión. Volkov supo mantener la tensión necesaria hasta la llegada del último movimiento en el que la aportación del Coro Philharmonia fue sobresaliente. Sus voces exactas en impostación, estilo y afinación, marcaron con precisión el majestuoso presto con un cuarteto de solistas exquisito en el empaste, aún con las ya sabidas dificultades en la parte de la soprano. La aportación decisiva de la percusión redondeó con brillantez esta milagrosa sinfonía aportando novedades que ayudan a engrandecerla a lo largo del tiempo.
We can be certain of one thing: the OAE is an entirely different type of orchestra. The idea of reproducing sound with the historical instruments of its time is taken to the last consequences by this formation. The project, of undeniable interest, filled the Auditorium with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony conducted by young Ivan Volkov, who was standing in for Charles Mackerras. It took us some time to adapt our hearing to the peculiar sound of these instruments, of narrower sound range and dull timbre. Notwithstanding the intentions, skill and planning of the young conductor, which were beyond reproach, the sound during the first movement was disappointing, due to lack of coordination more than once. The scherzo clearly revealed Volkov’s intentions: a very lively rhythm with marked phrases, and diaphanous clarity in the identity of each section - though the strings were not a model of tuning. Step by step the Beethovenian defragmentation of these tempos and of the cantabile were reconstructed in detail, in a vertiginous version. Volkov maintained the required tension until the advent of the last movement, and the contribution of the Philharmonia Chorus was outstanding. Their voices, of exact placement, style and tuning, marked the majestic presto with precision with a quartet of soloists blending exquisitely, in spite of the well-known difficulties of the soprano parts. The decisive intervention of the percussion brilliantly rounded up this miraculous symphony, in a novel approach which contributes towards its growth in stature through time.
Emiliano Allende, El Norte de Castilla, 13 April 2010
(with thanks to Silvia Zumarán for the translation)
