London Philharmonic Orchestra concert 11 October 2009 - Program Two

Featuring:
- Wagner Prelude to Act 1 of Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg
- Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
- Beethoven Symphony No. 3 'Eroica'

Vadim Repin - Violin
Vladimir Jurowski - Conductor

So, how did this concert go after a mind-blowing concert the day before? To be honest, I thought the Saturday's concert was better than the Sunday's.

The concert hall was full for this performance, probably due to the strong words from yesterday's concert goers. And for the first time since I started attending concerts, all audience are required to stand up to 'God Save the Queen' and 'Advance Australia Fair' played by the orchestra. Wagner's Prelude to act 1 of Die Meistersinger opened up the concert. As the programs suggested, there are plenty of counter melodies and counter points throughout the piece, especially in the cello. The finale where all melodies and a choral-like melody combined together proved to be the highlight of the concert for me.

Tchaikovsky's violin concerto is a warhorse that will always please the audience. Vadim Repin delivered a solid playing of it, and there's no point discussing his techniques. His recording of this concerto with Gergiev is my favourite recording of this piece, and he delivered similar reading of it in the concert. I was disappointed when he did the pizzicato in the solo violin passage after the burst in the beginning of the last movement. He plucked all the strings at once, yes, that was indicated at score, but I was hoping he would pluck them one by one, just like he did in his recording. Anyway, the finale was hot, although I enjoyed the second movement the best. The intimate woodwind melodies came out nicely, and I should commend LPO woodwinds for this. For the maestro, he brought out some little details that again went unnoticed by me, stressing some passages which feel unimportant, but were actually very effective. His trademark big gestures are still there. I mentioned something about his left hand on my previous post, so let me comment on his right hand. He hold his baton in his right hand, and prefer to 'jab' the baton to indicate entries in the orchestra. Also he occasionally joined both of his hands, gripping tight to the baton when he wanted the orchestra to play a big forte chord.

The opening movement of the Eroica was taken at a brisk pace, although not as fast as Gardiner's recording. The big chords weren't as loud and dramatic as I would have expected, but I'm pretty sure Jurowski was trying to hold the orchestra until the big climaxes in the second and fourth movements. This proved to be true, the second movement is one of the most morbid funeral march that I've ever listened to and with amazing development section in the passages before the famous fugue in the middle. The clarity from the strings (I can listen to the violas without actually paying special attention to them!) helped enhancing the effect in the fugue. Big moment in the opening of the last movement was a bit unclean, but the variations were brought out nicely. Overall, the performance was of high quality, but not as thought-provoking as last night's Tchaikovsky's 4th. Huge applause followed, but with less standing ovations this time. The encore is...a piece that I'm not familiar with. I know the cellos started it, and the horns were prominent. After the concert, I was too shy to approach any of the orchestral players to ask them what the piece was, until I finally brace myself to talk to, surprise surprise, the leader of the second violin (I believe his name is Fredrik Paulsson), who I was so excited about. I thanked him for a great concert, and commented on his passionate playing. He also mentioned that the orchestra is going back to London tonight. And yes, he informed me that the encore piece was the Prelude to the third act of Die Meistersinger.

A person that I would have loved to meet is the principal cello. She is this gorgeous blonde woman who played with the upmost passion. Unfortunately, I didn't see her after the concert.

Summing up, I really enjoyed both concerts (esp. the Saturday's) and Vladimir Jurowski successfully brought out little details that are as important as the obvious themes in the music. This alone, have enhanced my experience by multiple levels. The enjoyment of hearing counter melodies and counterpoints from the orchestra and when played with such presence and clarity that you can't help but noticing them is a no easy feat and I should commend Jurowski for producing this effect. Orchestra discipline is another important point, when the orchestra moved and played as one, it will make a big impact to the audience (although I need to mention that the orchestra is less discipline on Sunday, as I can detect some hurried and unclean entries). Another point that I need to mention is the quality of the woodwinds section. Often the sound coming out from the winds are blended, and often it's hard to distinguish one from the other when playing unison. In both performances, I could effortlessly do this because of such different colours produced by each player. I don't need to make comments on the brass section: they're just mad. In the fiendishly difficult brass writing in Tchaikovsky's 4th, they produced those crazy fanfares to perfection. Credit also to the percussion section for their awesome performance in Koehne's piece.

Finally, I'll take the bullet asking this question: which orchestra is better? MSO or LPO? Right now, for me, the answer is easy: LPO. However, comparing an orchestra is not that easy: it might be the conductor who made the difference in the level of orchestra playing. I would certainly be able to make better judgement if Jurowski conducts the MSO in, let's say the Tchaikovsky's 4th symphony again.