This balanced programme, entitled “Musical Puzzles”, traversed the elegant, the emotionally charged and the enigmatic via three composers who, at first glance, may seem to have little in common. Mozart’s writing for woodwind is as distinctive as Pēteris Vasks’ string writing is soulful, while Shostakovich plays with our expectations and ramps up ambiguity, no more so than in his final symphony. Add the impact of outstanding performances from the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under Kirill Karabits and you have an evening of accumulating drama.
Few composers, if any, have equalled Mozart’s intuitive feel for wind instruments or left such a rich and varied legacy from unassuming divertimenti to full scale serenades. Among his chamber works cherished by musicians is the Wind Serenade in C minor, K388, its key, uncompromising rigour and intensity of expression at odds with the genre’s usual function as convivial outdoor entertainment. Here, eight players (two each of oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn) brought an instinctive sense of phrasing to the opening Allegro, eloquence to the Andante and clear outlines to the canonic procedures within the Menuetto. Mozart lets his hair down in the finale, a set of variations culminating in a roistering send off, its wit presented with panache.
Vasks’ Concerto for violin and strings, subtitled “Distant Light”, is a seriously demanding work from 1997 and has been described by the composer as “a song, coming from silence and floating away into silence, full of idealism and love, at times melancholy, at times dramatic”. This last aspect was emphatically underlined by soloist Vadim Gluzman, who gave an angst-ridden account, its lyrical outpouring more passionate than rhapsodic and the ‘distant light’ held in check before reaching a mood of wintry optimism. Combining a formidable technique with an ample tone, he could be elegiac, but left one in no doubt of his big-boned sound that carried convincingly across three cadenzas of increasing complexity. There was considerable heft too from the reduced BSO strings, the players responding keenly to the work’s challenges and rising to the occasion in a climax of orchestral anarchy, followed by a macabre waltz passage redolent of Shostakovich. After playing for most of the concerto’s 30-minute duration, Gluzman returned from his bravura performance to offer the gentle Serenade by Ukrainian composer Valentyn Silvestrov.
The Symphony no. 15 in A major must rank as one of Shostakovich’s most baffling works. With its enlarged percussion section and extended chamber groupings, it is certainly one of his most colourful and ear-catching. Much commentary has been directed at the symphony’s musical borrowings from Rossini and Wagner, and the composer’s own self-quotations. Whatever the meanings behind these references, and there is plenty of room for interpretation, this symphony generated a blistering account, not least in its cataclysmic climaxes. And didn't the BSO players enjoy those moments! There are not too many tutti passages, but their arrival came with edge of seat excitement, an extraordinary wall of sound this orchestra can produce with aplomb. While these were all impactful, it was the startling variety of solo passages and unusual solo groups – a parade of colourful episodes – that continually held one’s attention. Solo double bass, cellos and a vibraphone caught the ear, elsewhere a solemn brass chorale alternated with a solo cello and crisp strings were cut short by the haunting sound of muted brass. The BSO players were on exemplary form; rarely have I heard so many solo passages delivered with such flair. What a class act!
