Mozart's Piano Concerto No.17
City Halls, Glasgow; 24/4/25
BBCSSO, Anja Bihlmaier (conductor), Javier Perianes (piano)
“Imagine ... a world-renowned pianist and the enduring allure of Mozart” – after a 5-week hiatus, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra’s Thursday night concert season in Glasgow’s City Halls resumed under the direction of German conductor Anja Bihlmaier on the night of 24th April. The work referred to was Mozart's Piano Concerto No.17 in G major, with Spanish virtuoso Javier Perianes as soloist. Two early 20th-century pieces flanked the Mozart, both compilation/arrangements. A triptych of character pieces by French composer Mel Bonis, ‘Trois femmes de légende’, opened the concert. After the interval, we heard a Symphonic Suite of epic music from Richard Strauss’ 1908 one-act tragedy ‘Elektra’, arranged in 2016 by Manfred Honeck and Tomáš Ille. The concert was broadcast live on ‘Radio 3 in Concert’ and introduced by Kate Molleson. Leader of the Ruisi Quartet, Alessandro Ruisi, was the guest leader for the evening. Attendance was disappointingly sparse, but the radio audience would not have guessed: the warmth and enthusiasm of the live audience was palpable.
For the last few years, BBC Radio 3 has done sterling work bringing centuries of music by women composers out of the shadows into the recognition it richly deserves. In what was a new name to my ears, the music of Mel Bonis was very much a case in point. The selection of three (originally standalone but recently published as a suite) pieces portrayed respectively ‘Salome’, ‘Ophelia’ and ‘The Dream of Cleopatra’. From the start, the quality of the richly evocative orchestration was stunning, recalling the exoticism of Stravinsky’s ‘Firebird’, the orientalism of Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Scheherazade’ and the kaleidoscopic texture and colour of Scriabin’s symphonic poems. These elements of musical language were still evident in ‘Ophelia’, but more delicately framed in impressionist musical picture-painting, not unlike Debussy. Exquisite. Orientalism in the form of sinuous chromatic arabesques in the triple woodwind decorated the ‘Cleopatra’ movement. The fact that I have used comparisons with familiar male composers should not be seen as a suggestion that Bonis’ music is in any way derivative. It is exciting, individual and original. Plaudits to the BBC for bringing it to our ears and to Anja Bihlmaier and the BBCSSO for awarding it the utmost advocacy. Let’s have some more in the future. An excellent concert-opener.
For many (and I include myself) Mozart’s 27 piano concertos (or at least the 21 of them that are original compositions for single keyboard and orchestra) represent a supreme achievement of western classical music. That alone justifies the G Major K453 being the headline act of the evening. But, of course, there was much more, as the Allegro got under way. Under a cloak of simplicity, it has 4 principal themes, mostly sunny but the fourth suffused with a sense of aching longing. With Mozart, phrasing is everything and Javier Perianes’ phrasing was limpid and deceptively subtle, concealing the mechanics of performance and suppressing the ego of the performer, even in the cadenza, thereby captivating heart and mind in equal measure. Conversation between soloist and winds, as always with the BBCSSO, was exquisite. Clear too was the shared vision of conductor and soloist. 18 months ago, I reviewed Anja with the RSNO in a programme that included a performance of Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto, with Nelson Goerner as soloist. At that time I wrote:
“As I get older, I find that I value the quality of dialogue between the solo instrument and instruments of the orchestra almost above all other considerations in the performance of concerti. And I have come to the realisation that our Scottish orchestras relish the opportunity to deliver consistently in this regard, and visiting conductors happily embrace the artistry. … Nelson’s flawless phrasing and teasing rubato found a sympathetic response in Anja’s precise but expressive direction.”
I echo the sentiment for Javier’s Mozart. The Andante, a languid, melancholy and very Bachian Sicilienne, was no less delicious, even with its troubled mood. If asked whether I prefer rondo or theme-and-variations Mozart finales, I invariably plump for rondo, before remembering the goodies that exist in the other genre. The Allegretto finale of the G-major is a case in point, a delight and a gem, complete with apocryphal origins as a tune whistled by Mozart’s pet starling. There is a poignant reminder of the slow movement’s sorrow in one minor-key variation. The Presto final variation is a romp, a mock cross-country hunt complete with horn fanfares. Conductor, orchestra and soloist ran with it in evident glee. Superb. The enthusiastic Glasgow applause was rewarded with a sweet encore (with a less dubious link to birdsong): the ‘Notturno’, No.4 from Grieg’s Op.54 set of ‘Lyric Pieces’. Excellent.
Large though the orchestra had been for the Bonis, it was huge for the Strauss arrangement, with quadruple winds, no fewer than 5 trumpets and 6 + 1 horns, giving a sound world somewhere between ‘Also sprach Zarethustra’ and the ‘Alpine Symphony’. One of my favourite CDs is “The Ring Without Words”, Lorin Maazel’s stunning compilation of orchestral goodies from the whole of Wagner’s quadralogy, recorded with the Berlin Philharmonic. Honeck & Ille’s ‘Symphonic Suite’ does a similar job for the Strauss, but there are differences. For one, it’s shorter, weighing in at 35 minutes. More significantly, it is not a mere cherry-pick of orchestral highlights, but also includes vocal lines refashioned as fully-scored instrumental music. There is no sense of ‘patchwork’, as the resulting tone poem is very symphonic in structure, the Leitmotiven of the original serving as symphonic themes (as indeed they also did in the original score). I have no doubt that the piece can be enjoyed as a dramatic narrative, but I experienced it as overwhelmingly immersive pure music and found it irresistible and thrilling. Anja Bihlmaier has clearly learnt every note of the mammoth score and guided a performance that held the attention without a moment of longueur. It was phenomenal and unforgettable.