THE eternal musical flame of Mother Russia continues to burn bright. After the extraordinary musical riches laid out last week by the RSNO, a veritable banquet which had more people going gaga with superlatives outside the Royal Concert Hall than I have ever witnessed, it is significant that the event is just the start of a Russian run. Some folk remarked that they hadn’t really known Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony and they had only come because they had secured a ticket to see Nicola Benedetti, after which they had found themselves completely wrapped up in and blown away by the Rachmaninov. If you were captivated by this rich Russian Romantic music, I should point out that the RSNO will also be playing Rachmaninov’s Third Symphony and his last orchestral work, the Symphonic Dances, a colossal masterwork, later this season.
But if you have a taste for this music there is much more not far down the line. Indeed, just a week tomorrow there is a big concert in the Usher Hall at 3pm, given by the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra. The programme is all-Tchaikovsky, with Francesca da Rimini as a starter, the Violin Concerto again, with Jennifer Pike as soloist, and the volcanic Fifth Symphony. The conductor will be the octogenarian Vladimir Fedoseyev.
A wee word about this lot: the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra is the old, and fabled, Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, so expect a sea of strings. The orchestra changed its name in 1993, following the collapse and dissolution of the USSR. Fedoseyev was its chief conductor from 1974 to 1999, and has been its music director since 2006. To the best of my knowledge he is the only conductor ever to have had an asteroid named after him! During his long and sometimes controversial life he has also been principal conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. A few weeks ago I bumped into a chap I know in the Usher Hall during the Brussels Philharmonic concert who said he didn’t fancy two accounts of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto on the trot, the other being Nicola Benedetti’s last weekend. It struck him as “bad planning”, and couldn’t they all get round the table to discuss clashes and how to avoid them?
I know what he meant, and, to whatever degree, the Scottish orchestras do this. But when it comes to inviting a guest international orchestra, nine times out of 10 you are plucking them off a touring circuit and have to take the repertoire they happen to be touring with. This is strictly personal, but I must say that having heard Nicola Benedetti’s superb version twice last week, once in an open rehearsal, and then at the Saturday concert, I also relish the opportunity to hear young Ms Pike’s account just a little later, with Benedetti’s version still fresh in my mind – such opportunities are rare for a listener.
Keep your eye on the Usher Hall. Venue manager Karl Chapman is on the Russian warpath this season for his 3pm Sunday concerts. He’ll have Natalie Clein playing Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra in November, superstar trumpeter Alison Balsom and pianist Gabriela Montero playing Shostakovich’s concerto for those two instruments with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra. Then, in an almighty concert on January 22 next year, the historic St Petersburg Philharmonic arrives with its own legendary conductor, Yuri Temirkanov, who’ll conduct Khachaturian’s Spartacus and Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, with yet another legend, pianist John Lill, playing Prokofiev’s most-loved Piano Concerto, the Third. A line-up and programme to die for, or what?
This is by no means a comprehensive Tchaikovsky concert-list in Scotland, but the Russian musical flame, now blazing, is not confined to the concert hall. There seems to be an outbreak of the stuff across the music business. Just yesterday there were two separate CD releases, both featuring Valery Gergiev as conductor. In the first, an all-Tchaikovsky affair, Gergiev conducts his Mariinsky Orchestra in a double-CD recording which, with dazzling originality, couples the complete Nutcracker with the composer’s autobiographical, Fate-drenched and electric Fourth Symphony, all recorded in the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, where Nutcracker was premiered. On the other disc, marking the end of Gergiev’s tenure with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Russian element is Stravinsky’s Firebird (with a wee taste of Prokofiev) on a CD otherwise devoted to music by Bartok.
Completing this Russian banquet is a monumental new six-cd, boxed set, Chandos recording of Shostakovich’s 15 string quartets by the one and only Brodsky Quartet, recorded live in Amsterdam. This one’s pretty much just in the door and I’ll get to it in due course, but it features a lovely reflective essay by Paul Cassidy, violist in the Brodskys and a thoroughly charming man.
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 here