Delicacy and grandeur in nineteenth century masterworks

Romantic Brahms

Auckland Philharmonia

Auckland Town Hall

April 10

Reviewed by Peter Simpson

The April 10 concert of the Auckland Philharmonia headed ‘Romantic Brahms’, placed the audience squarely in the nineteenth century (where most audiences most like to be), with an overture from 1834, a concerto from 1881 and a symphony from 1888. The conductor was the Swiss-Australian Elena Schwarz who is currently with Klangforum, a chamber orchestra specialising in contemporary music based in Vienna; she is also a guest conductor with leading orchestras in Europe, America and Australia.  Elegant and agile in her dark trouser suit she seemed completely in command of these complex scores.

Louise Farrenc (1804-1975) was famous in her time (and is now undergoing recuperation) as a pianist, teacher and composer in Paris, earning the respect of Schumann and Berlioz for her compositions which included symphonies and chamber works as well as two orchestral overtures in 1834, the second of which played in Auckland demonstrates her confident control of the post-Beethoven orchestra and musical idioms.

Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 is possibly his greatest orchestral work, at least I have thought so since the early 1960s when I first heard Sviatoslav Richter’s famous recording with the Chicago Symphony under Erich Leinsdorf made during Richter’s first tour of America. Israeli-pianist Inon Barnatan was well up to the demands of this heroic score ranging as it does from  extreme delicacy – as in the opening exchanges between piano and horn (the beginning slightly fluffed by APO’s horn soloist) – to full orchestral grandeur in the many climactic passages. For his encore the pianist unusually chose a graceful duet by Rachmaninov with a cellist instead of a solo piece, perhaps in recognition of the lovely ‘cello solo at the start of the third movement of the concerto.

According to Heath Lees’ programme notes, César Franck’s Symphony in D has somewhat lost favour with modern audiences compared to its earlier fame, but it still comes across as a noble and majestic piece, especially in its swelling major theme which recurs throughout the circular structure The texture of the work can sometimes seem a bit muddy but not in Elena Schwarz’s expert separating out of the separate layers of sound. It was a fitting conclusion to a stirring and satisfying evening of Romantic music.