CBSO
Symphony
Hall ****
Frankly speaking, the first half of Thursday’s CBSO matinee
was something of a disappointment. Despite the expert playing of the musicians
both collectively and individually, the opening account of Ravel’s Mother Goose
Suite was undercharacterised under the elegant conducting of Roderick Cox, and
cellist Alban Gerhardt deserved something more musically rewarding than the
third-rate Mendelssohn pastiche which is Saint-Saens’ Cello Concerto no.1 to
display his awesome gifts.
These include remarkable purity of tone, fluency of bowing
(Cox’s orchestra complementing with equally supple collaboration), and deep
involvement in the music, whatever its quality. Gerhardt’s encore had far more
to offer, a movement from Ligeti’s Sonata for Solo Cello, a welcome departure
from the habitual Bach, but so redolent of that composer’s serenity. The CBSO
cello section applauded even more vociferously than their colleagues, and after
the interval we soon understood why.
There on the back desk of the cellos was the unusual sight
of an 11th player, Alban Gerhardt himself modestly joining his
orchestral colleagues for Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra. Perhaps his presence
contributed to the amazingly rich lower string sound in the atmospheric opening
of this technically searching work.
Cox managed the movement’s tempo changes and tricky corners
adroitly, briskly and crisply, balancing his forces well throughout the length
of a gripping performance of this colourful, attractive showpiece for
orchestra. The wind instruments coupled well in the snare drum-punctuated
second movement, swift, and with confident rubato, though there were a few incoherences when they
were gooseberried by third parties after a sonorous central chorale.
Violas brought outstanding depth of tone to the Elegy, and
after a cheeky Intermezzo Interrotto, the zinging finale was an exhilarating
celebration of the life-force the terminally ill Bartok was hanging on to with
all his mighty spirit.
Christopher Morley