21st February 2020
Royal Festival Hall, London, United Kingdom
BEETHOVEN Bagatelle in C, Op. 119 No. 7
BEETHOVEN Bagatelle in A minor, Op. 119 No. 9
BEETHOVEN Bagatelle in A, Op. 119 No. 10
BEETHOVEN Bagatelle in B flat, Op. 119 No. 11
ISABEL MUNDRY Resonances
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5
FRANCESCO FILIDEI Quasi una bagatella
BEETHOVEN "I. Adagio sostenuto" from Piano Sonata, Op.27 No.2 (Quasi una fantasia - Moonlight)
ISABEL MUNDRY Resonances
HELMUT LACHENMANN Tableau
ISABEL MUNDRY Resonances
BEETHOVEN Excerpt from first movement of Symphony No.1
BEETHOVEN Excerpt from second movement of Symphony No.7
BEETHOVEN Excerpt from "II. Arietta: Adagio molto semplice e cantabile" from Piano Sonata in C minor, Op.111
ZIMMERMANN Photoptosis
Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano)
Gürzenich-Orchester Köln
François-Xavier Roth (conductor)
It's rare that I am on the receiving end of being dragged to a concert, rarer still that I actually dreaded to attend one by Pierre-Laurent Aimard and François-Xavier Roth, two of my favourite musicians these days. I am just not in the right mental state to listen to some of the most uncompromising works in the repertoire. So 2020 is Beethoven year. Rather than doing the standard tribute concert, Aimard and Roth teamed up with Gürzenich-Orchester Köln to come up with what is perhaps the most "intellectual" interpretation and re-creation of Beethoven's impact as a creative mind. Beethoven shocked his audience with the notorious mammoth concert on 22nd December 1808, in which he premiered his Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6, Piano Concerto No. 4, Choral Fantasy among other choral and solo piano works. It was understood to be a challenging and unpleasant event. This concert aimed to reproduce the spirit of this challenge, in the form of deconstruction of Beethoven's works in the context of and juxtaposition against other contemporary works. With the exception of Piano Concerto No. 5, which was played in its entirety, all of Beethoven's works were presented as excerpts, mostly interwoven with some new (choreographed) orchestral fragments by Isabel Mundry, pitches here and there that hardly seem to constitute any substantial musical argument. Four solo bagatelles were presented that way to set up the scene for the concerto, which was the driest, dullest, most dreary account I have ever heard, contrary to the excellent recording Aimard made with Harnoncourt. It was amazing that 14 first violins sounded more feeble than the piano at pianissimo, and there was no Classical grace throughout whatsoever. The timpanist at the end of the rondo sounded (and looked) more lifeless than the person at the supermarket checkout. In hindsight, that might have been deliberate, as the Francesco Filidei piano concerto Quasi una bagatella that started attacca to the concerto seemed like a parody of Emperor when heard in succession. It was full of rhythmic spikes, chords and fragments that devolve from the Beethoven. Entertaining on surface, substantial in content, worth revisiting. The second half started with the I of Moonlight Sonata against more Mundry, which paved way for Lachenmann's "Tableau". I must confess I don't understand "musique concrète". There was only so much extended techniques one can witness before it got on your nerve for appearing senseless. Then there were excerpts from Beethoven 1 and 7, which, to the credits of the orchestra, were solid performances, full of life and freshness which somehow were absent in the first half. Then Aimard returned to play excerpts from II of Op. 111. The sharp rhythmic grooves of the variations were the highlight of the night for me. Why didn't Aimard just play the whole sonata? Then it faded out to Zimmermann's gigantic prelude for orchestra Photoptosis. That was some impressive sound masses to listen live, full of attractive harmonies, a lot of subtle quotations. It gave me the impression that the work is the disintegration of Petrushka, but apparently it is not. I walked out of the concert completely perplexed like the audience in 1808. I suppose the concert has been very successful.
