6th November
I think the first Long Playing record I bought for myself as a child was Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto played by Shura Cherkassky. Those of us who know Tchaikovsky’s music through the depth, grandeur and Russian romanticism of works like the 5th and 6th symphonies and the violin and piano concerti might find the Rococo Variations for cello and small orchestra rather odd, especially in comparison with the Symphonic Fantasia, Francesca da Rimini, written in the same year, 1876.
The word ‘Rococo’ might make us think of Bavarian churches and the playfully pushy putti which decorate them. What possible connection can they have with Tchaikovsky?
And yet if you go to the Tchaikovsky Museum at Klin on the main road from Moscow to St Petersburg you find a bound volume of all the works of Mozart, to whom he was devoted. Tchaikovsky even wrote a suite entitled Mozartiana in the centenary year of Don Giovanni.
Rococo music in the earlier part of the 18th century was light, intimate and sensitive – all features of these cello variations with an orchestra typical of that period in size, and yet this Rococo, though nurtured by the mid 18th century, has been filtered through the Russian soul.
All this was made clear in Raphael Wallfisch’s performance at the concert here on November 6th. Sitting, as I was, very close to the soloist it struck me again how extraordinary it is that such a wonderful sound can come out of such an odd shaped piece of wooden technology. The piece begins with a theme in the Rococo style invented by Tchaikovsky and proceeds through a series of variations some of which were played as it were with a smile, while others were more passionate and romantic. Soloist, conductor and orchestra related to one another with wonderful sensitivity and made me want to listen again to a work I have shamefully not heard since I was a teenager.
Apart from an encore – a lovely nocturne for cello and orchestra by the same composer – these variations were the climax of a really imaginative concert made possible by the Ian Macdonald-Hay Fund, (part of the Hampstead Music Trust) and put together by Jenny Macdonald-Hay and James Sherlock, the conductor, in memory of Ian. The programme combined reflective works meditating on mortality and loss, with others which affirmed life and creation in all its diversity.
The first item by John Tavener, featured a solo cello reflecting on the melody of the Orthodox chant known as the Trisagion, the Greek version of which has been used by Bishop Richard to mystify the children of he Parochial school: Holy God, Holy and Strong, Holy and Immortal, have mercy upon us. It is used in Orthodox funerals and the performance was ‘liturgically’ choreographed by the conductor so that the choir processed from the back of the church to stand in front of the cellist for the final statement of the words after which the cello soared up to the highest notes it can play.
The next piece – Britten’s ‘Rejoice in the Lamb’ – is in part a hymn to creation, a lament for the persecution of a soul in trouble, and a celebration of the animal kingdom – which St Francis might well have appreciated. In fact the author of the words – Christopher Smart – wrote them in an asylum and yet this is powerful poetry made more powerful by Britten’s setting and Imogen Holst’s orchestration, not normally heard when this piece is sung as an anthem at Evensong. The choir was at its superb best – words radiantly clear, wonderful gradations of gentleness and strength, and excellent solos – I particularly enjoyed Katherine Nicholson’s ‘The mouse is a creature of great personal valour.’
Next Nicholas Mogg beguiled us with four songs from Mahler’s Ruckert Lieder. These took us through the composer’s and the poet’s desire that his love should love him only for love’s sake, his resistance to the treasonous curiosity of those who want to see his work before it is finished, his recreation of the fragrance of a Linden tree, and his rejection of the world so that he can live only in his love and his song. The soloist revealed a wonderful range of sensitivity, passion, and attention to the detail of the words,
The first half ended with Brahms’ Geistliches (Sacred) Lied, again beautifully sung by the choir and ending the first half of the concert with one of the best Amens in the repertoire – at least when I first heard it, that was what moved me most.
The second half took us initially back to the hushed reflection on mortality with which the concert began, through the familiar words of the Nunc Dimittis – ‘Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace’. This setting by Holst which seems unlike any thing else of Holst’s with which we might be more familiar – the Planets or the Hymn of Jesus – is reminiscent of English Renaissance music which Holst and Vaughan Williams had both researched widely. Holst’s ashes are buried in Chichester cathedral close to the grave of Thomas Weelkes, his favorite Tudor composer.
From Holst we moved on to possibly the only piece of music ever to have been first performed on the stairs: the Siegfried Idyll first known as ‘the Triebschen Idyll with Fidi’s birdsong and the orange sunrise, as symphonic birthday greeting. Presented to his Cosima by her Richard.’ (Fidi was their nickname for their son Siegfried)’ This was the only piece in this concert for orchestra alone and showed all the qualities of sound and ensemble of these players from the English Chamber Orchestra. Nevertheless, the way they played on this occasion was also due to the fine conducting of James Sherlock, the more remarkable because of the recent violent attack he suffered and the surgery he had to undergo in consequence. James clearly had a deep knowledge of all the music and a fine rapport with his orchestra and choir.
This was indeed a truly wonderful way of opening the Hampstead Arts Festival, memorialising Ian Macdonald-Hay and expressing our gratitude to Jenny for all that she has contributed to the musical life of Hampstead and its Parish Church.
Hampstead Arts Festival Concert
Stephen Tucker