BY JOSEPH ASQUITH, LEAD WRITER (UK)
Spirits of Delight
London Philharmonic Orchestra
National Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, 28 January
With winter still very much holding its tight grasp over the city of London, orchestral concerts are an apt choice for those seeking warmth and comfort from the inclement weather. Luckily, for the people of London, including myself, the London Philharmonic Orchestra is as vibrant and active as ever. On January 28 they performed, at National Festival Hall in the distinguished Southbank Centre, Spirits of Delight, a mesmeric program comprising repertoire by Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Elgar. The orchestra was joined on this occasion by venerated Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson.
The Fair Melusine Overture by Felix Mendelssohn started the concert. Under the trustworthy baton of principal conductor Edward Gardner, the orchestra masterfully executed the lush momentum of stately harmonies and rich palette of tone colours. The woodwinds, with their athletic arpeggio passages and mellifluous melodies, added to the timbral mix a resonant and velvety satisfaction. The string section maintained a steadfast accompaniment, with flourishes of rhythmic virtuosity, which provided bursts of rich and sprightly tone colours. The characteristically romantic ebb and flow of harmonic tension and resolution shined in the perfectly secure sense of ensemble in this dynamically charged performance.
Following this was Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor, which is interestingly his only piano concerto. I had never actually heard this concerto performed live, and so this was particularly compelling for me. Ólafsson was the featured soloist. His performance of this concerto was as expressive and soulful as it was virtuosic. With tightly handled arpeggios, lyrical melodies, and active engagement with the orchestra, Ólafsson’s performance with the London Philharmonic Orchestra was a sensationally eminent display of first class musicianship, with the added bonus of having a warm and meaningful connection with the audience.
After the performance, Ólafsson was presented the 2023 International Nordic Person of the Year from CoScan, the Confederation of Scandinavian Societies in the UK. As the audience appeared spellbound by his superlative sensitivity, virtuosity, and musicianship, he treated us once more to what was simply referred to as an “Icelandic piece”. After such an action-packed concerto, this encore, with its cantabile aesthetic, certainly seemed to dulcify the audience into unadulterated contentment.
After a quick intermission, we had the performance of Edward Elgar’s Symphony No.2. For this performance, the orchestra expanded at least one-and-a-half times larger to accommodate the vastness of dynamic and textural demands of this piece. For example, a piccolo was introduced, several percussion instruments, and more brass, including an entire section for the French horns. Divided into four movements, the first movement, Allegro vivace e nobilmente, introduced the melodic motifs which would be sustained in the piece. The immensity and vitality of the timbral soundscape, along with the thick texture and animated melodies, sometimes superimposed on one another in an enthralling display of polyphony, put into motion the imposing grandeur of this symphony.
After the conclusion of this first movement, the audience simply couldn’t resist an applause (no judgement from me). The second movement, Larghetto, was more subdued, as the name would perhaps suggest. The gentler tempo lent itself well to the funeral march style to which this movement aspires. The performance was interwoven with folk-like melodies with euphoric moments of major modulation, endorsing a powerful fluctuation of light and shade of tonality. The brightness of the piccolo, the velvety warmth of the other woodwinds, the resonance of the strings and the boldness of the brass created a perfectly balanced and captivating timbral blend.
The third movement, Rondo, immediately burst into energy. The agile melodies, playing carefully controlled oscillations of dynamic variation, had an almost scherzo-like quirkiness in the use of chromaticism, call and response among instrumental parts, and sforzandos. The final movement, Moderato e maestoso, recapitulated the original melodic themes from the first movement. The sonata form structure allowed for various compositional techniques to be deployed, such as fugues, modulations, climaxing sequences and that ever-so-satisfying cymbal crash, making for a thrilling and exhilarating spectacle of virtuosity. The performance ended with a modest crescendo, which faded away with a perfectly resolved harmonic and rhythmic cadence.
Spirits of Delight set out to do what live music does best — leave audiences with a boosted morale and an ameliorated zest for life. It is but one example of the thriving music scene currently in London.
Image supplied. Credit: London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Absolutely spendid