Music

Wiener Symphoniker with Leonidas Kavakos

Musikverein, Vienna

5/5

Beethoven as it should be

It is always a treat to be at Musikverein, enjoying how the history of this venerable institution continues to shape the performances under its roof. More relaxed than its more famous cousin the Wiener Philharmonic, the Wiener Symphony conducted by Manfred Honeck was in top form playing a repertoire combining the new with the old, the starry-eyed with the strait-laced.

The premiere of a new piece came first. I did not much care for Lera Auerbach’s Frozen dreams, it had some nice textures, but no satisfactory structure and did not really have anything new to say. Violins had long and slow high-pitched wailing sections which were in fashion way back. It seemed the composer’s imagination was indeed frozen in time.

It has been a while since I last heard Leonidas Kavakos. He has aged, but with it a certain musical maturity is evident. Although not particularly demanding for the orchestra, who purely accompany the soloist for the most part, Erich Korngold’s Violin Concerto in D major is well suited to Kavakos’ virtuosity and intensity. He played by and with heart, committed to technical mastery and efficiently communicating the essence of this showy piece.

Korngold’s distinctive cinematic sound evoking the golden age of Hollywood constantly strives to occupy the heights of the violin register. It’s not until the third movement that the orchestra gets to be part of the action in the pacy exchanges with the violin. As an encore Kavakos chose Bach’s Partita No. 3 in E major. During the encore he spectacularly lost his sash. As a true pro he continued as if nothing happened. In the Bach Kavakos’ nerdy approach to interpretation resurfaced, performing as if alone in an echoing empty hall. But with Bach this makes complete sense and contrasts pleasantly with Korngold’s worldly smoothness.

Musikverein does not allow bottles of water to be bought into the auditorium I have found out. How is the audience supposed to suppress a cough in their dry air conditioning? For all their joy of living, the Viennese can be very Germanic at times. Note for next time: bring a bag big enough to hide a water bottle in and small enough not to be forced to leave it in the cloakroom.

After the interval, the orchestra settled into its comfort zone delivering a superb performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A major. It’s always a pleasure seeing and hearing an orchestra enjoy itself and after not being challenged much in the inconsequential Auerbach and soloist-driven Korngold, Beethoven provided a fertile ground for its expansion.

In contrast to Korngold we could hear how proper orchestration is really done. Musikverein’s beautiful acoustic enhanced the rich togetherness of the strings and the mellowness of the woodwind. Manfred Honeck expertly drove the action from the classical beginning, via the spine tingling first theme of the second movement to the blistering finale, making the listener really appreciate its solid and familiar generosity.