There was a major transformation in musical idioms from the 19th to the 20th century, in which the sweeping movement of the Romantics was abandoned in favour of radical and innovatory new forms. Some, like the avant garde movement, were unrepentently pungent and sardonic, while others, like the French schools of Debussy and Ravel, were more soul-searching and introspective. Yet others were deeply rooted in nationalism - there was an emergence from the Low Countries and Eastern Europe, so much so that the word "bohemian" (both literally and metaphorically) comes to mind.

All three works presented in this concert bestride this span of artistic revolution. The composers were born late in the 19th century and died well into the 20th, and the music was all composed and premiered in the first decade of the 20th century - albeit one might find a certain atavism towards the old school of the Romantics. The Rachmaninov alone, of course, would been worth the price of admission, but the bookends also deserved an airing.

Enescu's Romanian Rhapsody No.1, multifarious in character and perennially a crowd-pleaser, was an intelligent choice for the curtain-raiser to the new season. Built on Romanian folk melodies and typified by sharp swings of mood, this chimerical work was an absolute tour de force of rich orchestral colours for the philharmonic, even if one has come to expect nothing less. It set a perfect stage for the pianistic pyrotechnics to follow.

Any performance of the Rachmaninov Third Piano Concerto is always an occasion to savour, given the sheer breathtaking bravura it demands. The last time I heard this work in concert was a rather extraordinary occasion with 1974 Tchaikovsky Gold Medalist Andrei Gavrilov (on the exact 250th anniversary of Bach's death). By all accounts, Boris Berezovsky - himself a Gold Medal alumni of 1990 - promised to be equally exciting.

The simple, quasi-religious chant of the opening was purposefully understated, yet blandly elegant, giving no hint of the virtuoso display about to follow. Suddenly launching into formidable fistfuls of chords, Berezovsky's trailblazing technique and meticulous articulation was not just merely mechanical prowess with little grace or charm, but a mighty effort underpinned by a sound awareness of Rachmaninov's grand, if asymmetric, architecture of the work.

Berezovsky (right) was never brittle as he picked his way through the hard-edged minutiae and foilage of notes with indefatigability. His uncompromising ossia cadenza in particular was not something to be made light of. Yet, in its entirety there was something absent in the first section which did not exactly leave one breathless; his longeurs, if tinged with some idiosyncracy, had a tendency to drift towards the edge of banality, but thankfully never entirely crossing over.

Much as commentators have declaimed the central movement as the weak link of the work, it was the intermezzo which revealed the epiphany of the evening. As much as Bakels and the orchestra had been in total empathy with their soloist, Berezovsky single-handedly lifted the music-making to another level. With splendidly sculpted lines of phrasing coupled with an hitherto-unattained quality of meditative intimacy, this was pure distillation of quintessential Rachmaninov.

It was from this plateau which Berezovsky propelled the music into the final movement at blazing white heat, and there is absolutely no gainsaying the sheer exhilaration of his artistry. Aristocratic at times and feral at others, Berezovsky was the fulcrum (or should I say apex) around which Bakels and the orchestral maelstrom swirled.

And all too soon it was over, to tumultous ovation and shouts of acclaim. Berezovsky reportedly had declined to give an encore the previous night (understandably so given the mental and physical fatigue it requires to scale Rach 3) but at the fourth curtain call this evening, he kindly obliged with a Scriabin Etude: a tempestous coda to the Everest of concertos.

Stravinsky's Symphony in E-flat, decidedly retrograde in character and bearing none of riot-inducing modernisms for which the composer is so noteworthy, must have been quite an eye-opener for those who think they know Stravinsky from his latter-period music. Anyone expecting raw dissonance and wild rhythms would be quite surprised (perhaps even relieved) to discover a charming opus full of lyricism.

Left: Inside the Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS.

As would be expected, the MPO sank their teeth into the music with much relish, the first movement finding utterances of the main theme in various symphonic dress and brought out to perfection by individual sections of the orchestra. The scherzo was tossed off with nonchalance, followed by a largo played with typical Romantic potboiling melodrama, and the last movement was quickly swaggered off with a considerably right amount of bombast.

This is not to say that the performance was recklessly brash - far from it, as we witnessed on several occasions entire sections playing pianissimo softer than a single instrument, and always in pinpoint ensemble. Bakels was always spot on at the reins of the orchestra, whether on a gallop or at a canter, through this decidedly phantasmagoric musical landscape. A pity, though, that the orchestra did not oblige with an encore - but on all counts, a first-class performance through and through, and a smashing start to the 01/02 season.

BENJAMIN CHEE enjoyed the caviar at the reception.

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9xx: 29.8.2001 © Benjamin Chee

 

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