I HAVE to say this: I was shocked at the level of polemical debate going on around me in Perth Concert Hall on Sunday, when Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra, on an intensive all-Beethoven weekend in Scotland that hit Aberdeen and Perth, played Beethoven's Seventh and Fifth Symphonies back to back in the Fair City.
Had it been in Glasgow, relatively a dialectical rough-house, I would have understood; but Perth I associate with more modest and restrained expression. Not on Sunday, where one listener in the good-sized and very involved audience described Salonen's version of the Seventh Symphony's first two movements as "driving with the hand-brake on", while another criticised his tempi throughout, and yet another, cruelly, set about describing how "the SCO would have done this better".
There were indeed some problems in the Seventh Symphony performance, though, for this listener, they resided essentially in the trumpet department, all three of them, who mercilessly blew their flaming tonic-dominant heads off right through the piece, shattering the Philharmonia's legendary unanimity of ensemble and overwhelming the great string section. It was as inappropriate to the piece as it was an outrageous assault on the ears.
I have no idea if the coach had words with the squad at half-time, but in an ultra-dynamic, cumulatively dramatic version of Beethoven's Fifth, order was restored and the trajectory of the symphony properly realised. Salonen was incisive and orchestral playing was astounding in a classic Philharmonia performance that found the incredible intellectual depth of one of the cleverest pieces ever written, and balanced that with the exhilarating, impulsive and energetic volatility of Beethoven's always amazing symphony.
Supported by Dunard Fund.
HHH
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article