Tonight to the Royal Festival Hall for the Philharmonia Orchestra under Christoph von Dohnanyi.
The concert ended with Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. I'm not even going to attempt to describe the music, when EM Forster said
It will be generally admitted that Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is the most sublime noise that has ever penetrated into the ear of man...Gusts of splendour, gods and demigods contending with vast swords, colour and fragrance broadcast on the fields of battle, magnificent victory, magnificent death!Unfortunately, my tape of it is going fast-and-slow at the same time - evidence of overplay in my youth - which is why it is in a basket in the fireplace rather than on the shelves (don't ask...). However, nice Mr Amazon has been contacted...
I always feel slightly anxious when a really familiar piece begins, and I wonder what is this conductor/orchestra going to make of it. Fortuntaely, they were truly splendid, and I spent most of the symphony with a smile on my face, a smile of unadulterated bliss. But it was way too short, the minutes seemed to pass as seconds. In the fourth movement - you know, in that really famous bit, when the strings fall and the brass rises in an imperial fashion, I felt an almost irresistable urge to throw my clothes off and dance. You may be relieved to know that I didn't.
The only percussion Beethoven used in this was timpani, yet he used them magnificently, as musical instruments forming an integral part of the tune and the orchestra. Soemtimes I wonder if it makes me a bit of Phillistine that some of the music I love the most is some of the most popular in the canon, but then I think, I am only reflecting the judgements of great musicians and of people far more knowledgable than myself.
The question has to be asked "Does anybody actually like Shostakovich?" His Symphony No 1 bored me rigid. Sure, it had a fine array of percussion - timpani, snare drum, bass drum, gong, glockenspiel - but they were just there for effect. Each movement seemed to last a lifetime, and I noticed around me much fidgeting and shuffling. The applause at the end was polite rather than enthusiastic.
The middle piece was Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, the main reason I booked this concert. I deceided a couple of months back that Mendelssohn is a seriously underrated composer in my mind. Of course, when the soloist Vadim Repin, all the way from Siberia, played the first few notes, I realised that i actually know every note of this concerto. I have it on a tape by Nigel Kennedy, coupled with the Bruch. I think I was seduced into buying the tape at a young age because Nigel Kennedy was a hot celebrity. I grew to love both pieces.
In conclusion, I enjoyed the evening, even though it confirmed to me that I really don't like Shostakovich.
