Gergiev provided a very incisive opening to the Allegro of Borodin’s Symphony No. 2 in B Minor before
the expansive second subject, always managing to bring surprises by varying
tempi and dynamics. There followed a lovely, light dancing prestissimo with a
flowing central section where the brooding moments were well caught and with
some terrific playing from the LSO. The andante brought a beautifully detailed
opening with a very Russian sounding LSO horn in, surely, one of Borodin’s most
beautiful creations, given a new feel with Gergiev’s longer drawn, brooding,
darker atmosphere, revealing much more drama than usual. A brilliant Allegro, with the LSO responding
to every detail, brought to an end this wonderful performance.
Glazunov is still
only known for his attractive violin concerto but his Piano Concerto No. 2 in B Major Op. 100 has much to recommend it,
not least the memorable tune that opens the work and permeates right through
it. Daniil Trifonov www.daniiltrifonov.com , winner of the 2011Tchaikovsky Competition, opened
with some beautifully pure crystalline playing and, as the Andante Sostenuto section
developed, this pianist demonstrated his lovely rubato and shaping of phrases. There
were some lovely poetic passages from Trifonov at the heart of the concerto
where it slowly builds in romantic expression. Both Trifonov and Gergiev handled
the fleeting moods perfectly before some virtuosic playing from Trifonov when
the concerto neared its coda.
As an encore Daniil Trifonov gave the Prom audience an
intoxicatingly brilliant performance of an piano arrangement of Stravinsky’s Infernal Dance from The Firebird, leaving us in no doubt as
to his technique.
After the interval Gergiev returned to give the first UK
performance of Sophia Gubaidulina’s, The
Ride on the White Horse, inspired by the story of the First Horseman of the
Apocalypse. Remote tinkling sounds from bells and harpsichord and ethereal string sounds
opened this work before leading to fuller orchestral sounds that rushed in as
though a torrent. Great swirls of sound, complete with organ chords, followed
before thunderous drums sounded out, alone, in a kind of rhythmic dance or
pattern. This subsided to a quiet brooding orchestral sequence that tried to
rise up which it eventually did, with more massive organ chords. A scurrying orchestral
passage, with brass chords cutting through, led to a fanfare for brass, violent
drums and organ chords in a furious section. A hushed section with chiming bells
interspersed with orchestral outbursts before the orchestra rose up again with more
brass fanfares and organ chords. Finally the music quietened with the hushed
sound of bells as this remarkably atmospheric work drew to a close.
This is another of Gubaidulina’s works that I would very
much like to hear again. Gergiev is superb in this music with which he appears
to have a close affinity.
Gergiev showed again just how well he can conjure up
atmosphere and changing moods in the concluding work in this Prom, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition as
orchestrated by Ravel. There was an atmospheric Gnomus, a beautifully blended Il vecchio castello where the LSO
woodwinds really excelled themselves and a beautifully characterised Samuel Goldberg und Schmuyle. Bydlo had a really Russian feel, heavy
and massive in its force, whilst there was a melancholy, dark and dramatic Catacombs with a very Russian sounding
trumpet, a spectral and eerie Cum mortuis
in lingua morta and a manic depiction of the witch Baba Yaga before La Grande
porte de Kiev where Gergiev concluded the work in a gloriously majestic
manner.
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