Beethoven
Fidelio, Op.72 – Overture
Schoenberg
Piano Concerto, Op.42
Shostakovich
Symphony No.8 in C minor, Op.65
Dame Mitsuko Uchida (piano)
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Vladimir Jurowski
Reviewed by: David Truslove
Reviewed: 4 September, 2015
Venue: Royal Albert Hall, London
With so many newspaper and television images revealing the plight of Syrian refugees seeking a better life, this Prom, linking themes of war, tyranny and freedom, could not have been more apposite. The choice of Beethoven, Schoenberg and Shostakovich was a thoughtfully conceived trio, designed to show their individual responses to political upheaval.
Beethoven’s fourth and final Overture to Fidelio began proceedings in an efficient account from the London Philharmonic and its Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski. While not a roof–raising performance there was sufficient tension to remind us that Beethoven had lived through the Siege of Vienna when French troops had occupied the city. Horns and woodwinds dispatched their contributions neatly and tightly focused strings added to the sense of grim intensity.
If Fidelio represents the composer’s belief in freedom from tyranny, then Schoenberg’s 1942 Piano Concerto (according to his own narrative of the work) is a personal response to the previous decade when he was forced to flee Nazi Germany. In this seldom-performed 20-minute work Mitsuko Uchida was the eloquent soloist. She has a long association with it, having recorded it with Pierre Boulez and the Cleveland Orchestra and she performed it at the Proms twenty-five years ago, conducted by Christoph von Dohnányi.
As an encore Uchida threw in a brief (one-minute) morsel, the second number from Schoenberg’s Sechs kleine Klavierstücke (Opus 19), delicate and spare, and given bemused appreciation by a full house.
All the more remarkable was the quiet intensity of the Largo where horn and muted strings were utterly compelling. From this strange eeriness emerged the wintry sun of the concluding Allegretto – and the hard-won transformation to C major. Again, instrumental colouring was brilliantly effective and left a lasting impression. In short, the LPO and Jurowski were in terrific form, and perhaps we shall hear them more than just once at future Proms. Surely they’ve just earned that.
- Broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 (available on BBC iPlayer for thirty days afterwards)
- BBC Proms www.bbc.co.uk/proms
- Shostakovich 8, New York, October 2014
- Shostakovich 8, London, September 2014