SCO Beethoven's Fifth Usher Hall Edinburgh 27th April 2023 Review
SCO Beethoven’s Fifth at the Usher Hall Edinburgh tonight featured a programme of music comprising three works that at first glance may not have connections to each other, but if you look a little bit deeper into not only the music, but the composers themselves, then strands of connectivity begin to appear.
The full programme, conducted by Mark Wigglesworth, provided an evening of contrast in not only the personal life experiences of each composer, but how this at the time of writing the works performed is reflected in their music.
The opening music for the evening, BRITTEN Simple Symphony was written by Benjamin Britten when he was only 20 years old. The music itself, however, is often from an even younger hand and mind as this work contains parts of works written when Britten was only a child (9 to 12 years old).
Simple Symphony is obviously the work of a composer who, even at 20 years old, was giving the world a taste of just what was to come from him in later years, but it is also a work of youthful hopes and dreams that are at this point in time unaffected by the many darker emotions that adult life can throw at everyone. This is Benjamin Britten before some experiences in his own life were to at times find their way into darker colours and textures of some of his later works.
Simple Symphony is in symphonic terms a short work (some 20 minutes), but it is full of fun and more than a few surprises. The second movement, “Playful Pizzicato” is just a pleasure to listen to, and many people will probably recognise elements of the theme tune to The Archers radio show in there…coincidence?; who knows apart from the composer what was influencing him in those very young years of his life.
By contrast, SHOSTAKOVICH Cello Concerto No 2 was written when the composer was in the final decade of his life and, given the many dark moments that he had had over the years and the many clashes and censures with the Soviet State, then you would expect this later, penultimate work to express the darker side of emotions. The opposite is actually true; this is not only a very personal, almost meditative sound experience from Shostakovich, it is also a work that gives, to me at least, the impression that he was now writing music purely for himself and at a stage in his life where he simply was no longer worried about what anyone thought of his music; no one person or state department was going to tell him what to write anymore. Perhaps this freedom is something that only the very young and the old have in common.
Cello Concerto No 2 is more like a symphony in construction and full of contrasts of light, mood, emotions and colours. For me, no one really matches Shostakovich in his ability to create contrasting soundscapes, and his ability to surprise you by often utilising unexpected instruments into his work means that the surprises never stop. Even when his music is dark, sharp, even angular, it is always beautiful, and SCO and a fine performance from Laura van der Heijden on cello bring all of these contrasts and emotions to life. The ability of Shostakovich to have an emotional impact upon people was clearly evident watching Laura van der Heijden herself as she performed this work.
Last, but not least, possibly the most famous symphony in musical history and certainly the most famous opening four notes ever written, BEETHOVEN Symphony No 5 in C minor. What can really be said about this work that has not already been written, as not only does it reflect so much of the composer’s own emotions and thoughts at time of writing, but it also makes so many of us stop and think for a little moment or two upon hearing it. Are those opening notes really fate knocking at the door? Perhaps no one will ever really know, but over the years, this work has become so interwoven into our lives that we sometimes are completely unaware of its influence. Perhaps one of the most obvious was its World War Two use of the opening four notes. The familiar first four notes convert to dot dot dot dash in Morse code indicating the letter “V” for Victory.
BEETHOVEN Symphony No 5 in C minor is also an odd work at times as those opening notes that are so familiar to everyone have perhaps contributed to the concept that BEETHOVEN is solely a composer of these dark and ominous sounds, and nothing could be further from the truth. This work alone (the second movement is always my favourite) has such contrasts of light and dark, moments of beauty, and touches of fragility. Every time I hear this music, I find something new in it, something that I had missed before. BEETHOVEN Symphony No 5 is always a little bit like opening a box full of surprises and it is easy to see why so many people came out tonight to listen to this performance by the SCO.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
The full programme, conducted by Mark Wigglesworth, provided an evening of contrast in not only the personal life experiences of each composer, but how this at the time of writing the works performed is reflected in their music.
The opening music for the evening, BRITTEN Simple Symphony was written by Benjamin Britten when he was only 20 years old. The music itself, however, is often from an even younger hand and mind as this work contains parts of works written when Britten was only a child (9 to 12 years old).
Simple Symphony is obviously the work of a composer who, even at 20 years old, was giving the world a taste of just what was to come from him in later years, but it is also a work of youthful hopes and dreams that are at this point in time unaffected by the many darker emotions that adult life can throw at everyone. This is Benjamin Britten before some experiences in his own life were to at times find their way into darker colours and textures of some of his later works.
Simple Symphony is in symphonic terms a short work (some 20 minutes), but it is full of fun and more than a few surprises. The second movement, “Playful Pizzicato” is just a pleasure to listen to, and many people will probably recognise elements of the theme tune to The Archers radio show in there…coincidence?; who knows apart from the composer what was influencing him in those very young years of his life.
By contrast, SHOSTAKOVICH Cello Concerto No 2 was written when the composer was in the final decade of his life and, given the many dark moments that he had had over the years and the many clashes and censures with the Soviet State, then you would expect this later, penultimate work to express the darker side of emotions. The opposite is actually true; this is not only a very personal, almost meditative sound experience from Shostakovich, it is also a work that gives, to me at least, the impression that he was now writing music purely for himself and at a stage in his life where he simply was no longer worried about what anyone thought of his music; no one person or state department was going to tell him what to write anymore. Perhaps this freedom is something that only the very young and the old have in common.
Cello Concerto No 2 is more like a symphony in construction and full of contrasts of light, mood, emotions and colours. For me, no one really matches Shostakovich in his ability to create contrasting soundscapes, and his ability to surprise you by often utilising unexpected instruments into his work means that the surprises never stop. Even when his music is dark, sharp, even angular, it is always beautiful, and SCO and a fine performance from Laura van der Heijden on cello bring all of these contrasts and emotions to life. The ability of Shostakovich to have an emotional impact upon people was clearly evident watching Laura van der Heijden herself as she performed this work.
Last, but not least, possibly the most famous symphony in musical history and certainly the most famous opening four notes ever written, BEETHOVEN Symphony No 5 in C minor. What can really be said about this work that has not already been written, as not only does it reflect so much of the composer’s own emotions and thoughts at time of writing, but it also makes so many of us stop and think for a little moment or two upon hearing it. Are those opening notes really fate knocking at the door? Perhaps no one will ever really know, but over the years, this work has become so interwoven into our lives that we sometimes are completely unaware of its influence. Perhaps one of the most obvious was its World War Two use of the opening four notes. The familiar first four notes convert to dot dot dot dash in Morse code indicating the letter “V” for Victory.
BEETHOVEN Symphony No 5 in C minor is also an odd work at times as those opening notes that are so familiar to everyone have perhaps contributed to the concept that BEETHOVEN is solely a composer of these dark and ominous sounds, and nothing could be further from the truth. This work alone (the second movement is always my favourite) has such contrasts of light and dark, moments of beauty, and touches of fragility. Every time I hear this music, I find something new in it, something that I had missed before. BEETHOVEN Symphony No 5 is always a little bit like opening a box full of surprises and it is easy to see why so many people came out tonight to listen to this performance by the SCO.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
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