There was a distinct Austrian theme to the concert on Wednesday night in the Perth Concert Hall.
Recital halls in Vienna and Saltzburg witnessed the first performances of works chosen by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra for their last concert of 2021.
The concert might have been shorter than usual but it proved that quantity isn’t the be all and end all. Quality counts first and foremost, and that is the byword of the SCO.
The biggest drawcard
But why was the concert sold out long before the event? Music by Johann Strauss II? Schoenberg’s fantastic Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Night)? A Mozart violin concerto?
I think the latter is the reason but not because of the work itself, good though it is.
It was the soloist, and once again we experienced the draw that is Nicola Benedetti.
There have been great violinists over the decades, but few have or have had the Benedetti factor. Just her name on a concert listing is enough to cause a box-office rush.
I’ve heard her perform anything from Vivaldi to Szymanowski but I’ve never heard her tackle a Mozart concerto.
I’d dearly like to hear her again in this genre again as this was the first time in many years I wasn’t given the normal Benedetti “wow” factor.
She didn’t seem as relaxed as I’ve seen her before, not as animated in the many virtuosic passes the work demands and I felt the fixation of the music on the stand seemed to hold her back a tad.
Something was missing
I expected the lyrical side of her to come out in the second movement, but Mozart seemed reluctant to deliver the usual dreamy melody his adagios usually provide.
Of course, her expertise was obvious on many occasions, but I felt there was something missing from the performance.
Not dull by any means but not as captivating as she usually is.
However, her next appearance – not in a solo capacity but as leader of the SCO – was something really to shout about.
I’ve experienced Verklarte Nacht with the original setting of six strings, but Schoenberg’s revision for full string orchestra gives it more meaning, more passion, more depth, more substance.
Tale of young lovers
As befits the poem it is based on, a tale of two young lovers and the ramifications thereof, the work leads to huge swings of emotion and I thought this was when the concert really peaked.
A tale of infidelity and love like you’ve never heard before, and with the composer in his original mood, before he turned his mind to the world of atonal tone rows, it is glorious in its heavy romanticism and makes for some beautifully constructed string composition.
A spring in the step
With the highly animated Benjamin Marquise Gilmore directing, Strauss topped and tailed the concert, with his overture to The Gypsy Baron.
It took me back to the nervous moments with Broughty Opera before curtain up, and the folk-inspired Tales From The Vienna Woods where waltzes and melodies swayed together hand in hand.
It seemed incongruous to end with such a light-hearted flirt with nature after the heaviness of the Schoenberg, but in the current Covid situation, leaving with a spring in one’s step was nothing but a massive plus.
