Empire Theatre, Eden Court, 22 March 2009

Jacqueline Shave

LEAD BY Jacqueline Shave and featuring outstanding solo violinist Alina Ibragimova, the Britten Sinfonia performed an exciting and varied selection of works. The juxtaposition of music by J.S. Bach, Anton Berg and György Kurtág worked incredibly well in a particularly strong and well structured programme.

The first half opened with J.S. Bach’s Keyboard Concerto No. 5 in F minor, BWV10569 (c.1738), followed by the three movements from Berg’s Lyric Suite (1926) arranged by the composer for a lager group, and Bach’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, BWV 1041(1717). The combination of high Baroque and early 20th century music complemented and inform each other beautifully.

There is great lyricism and expression in Berg’s music which is often overlooked. Heard here between two works by Bach, it is perhaps easier for audiences to appreciate his links with traditional form and the musical language of his predecessors.

Similarly the second half of the programme, which alternated excerpts from Bach’s final and incomplete masterwork the Art of Fugue, BWV 1080 (pub. 1751), with six selected movements from György Kurtág’s Signs, Games and Messages was inspired, heightening the qualities and connections between each work and exposing the listener to an extraordinary range of sound.

Each of the three movements of Berg’s Lyric Suite is equally fascinating. This is a richly textural and strangely poetic piece of music, beginning with the melancholic, meandering ebb and flow of strings, building to multiple points of tension, lower and higher registers straining against each other then separating harmoniously unto themselves.

The fragmentary nature of the second movement with its complex and intricate arrangement of high register, barely audible and percussive sounds in the strings is wonderfully expressive, conveying a state of apprehension and anxiety. This apparent chaos is deceptive because like a truly great abstract painting, it ultimately hinges on a deep understanding of composition rather than abandonment of its principles.

There is a sense of emotive freedom in Berg’s music which is superbly counterbalanced by its underpinning theoretical structure of Twelve Tone compositional techniques.

A work which has continued to evolve in various forms since its conception in 1984, Kurtág’s Signs, Games and Messages was presented like a tantalising series of sound bytes between excerpts from Bach’s investigation of contrapuntal writing in the Art of Fugue. The diversity of sound within this whole sequence was fantastic, coupled with the excitement of real exploration of musical form.

Kurtág’s Panaszos Nóta creates the most incredible sound from the solo viola, an atmospheric wailing echo that is completely unexpected. Closely followed by Bach’s Canon xiv, where violin and cello strip back Bachian form to its bare elements, a juxtaposition of sound and theory is created that is incredibly interesting and compelling.

The final work in the programme, J.S. Bach’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in E Major, BWV 1042 (1717), demonstrated Alina Ibragimova’s subtlety and amazing skill as a soloist. In her hands the pure voice of the instrument together with Bach’s writing inspired by the operatic aria created an exhilarating performance. The ensemble playing was crisp and tightly woven, with every voice – violins, viola, cello, double bass and harpsichord – in full complement.

The slow middle movement where the solo violin emerges soulfully from a fragile ground of mellow lower strings and harpsichord was exquisitely communicated. Within the triumphant and exuberant final movement Ibrgimova’s bowing sounded almost improvised within the structure of the melody, giving the work an unexpected edge. There was a sense in which all the works in the programme operated in counterpoint, uniquely independent and yet dependent on each other within the context of the Western musical tradition.

This was a thoroughly engaging concert for the heart and the mind where music itself was centre stage. Although the soloist was dazzling, this was never in the service of anything but the composition. The dynamic of form and feeling was a resounding strength of the programme and of the performance as a whole.

© Georgina Coburn, 2009

Links

• Britten Sinfonia