KREISLER,
STRAVINSKY & MOZART
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Victoria Concert Hall
Friday (12 April 2024)
This review was first published by Bachtrack.com on 15 April 2024 with the title "Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider impresses again in welcome Singapore return".
The year 1997 was when Danish violinist-conductor Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider last appeared in Singapore. Then known as just Nikolaj Znaider, the newly-crowned winner of the Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition gave one of the most memorable performances of Bruch First Violin Concerto with the Singapore Symphony at Victoria Concert Hall in recent and past memory. Now returning in a dual role of soloist and conductor, the chamber-sized concert he led was another classic in the making.
The neoclassical first half opened with Austrian violin virtuoso Fritz Kreisler’s Violin Concerto in C major, composed in 1927 and subtitled “in the style of Vivaldi”. This was much in the same vein as his pastiches of baroque composers, such as “long-lost” pieces by the likes of Pugnani, Porpora, Couperin, Leclair and others. These were later revealed to be from his own hand. At a time when early music scholarship was less well-established, such hoaxes could be pulled off.
More aptly described as “in old style” (im Alten Stil), the characteristic most resembling Vivaldi was length, its three movements playing around ten minutes or so. It would take a stretch of imagination by mistaking the luxuriant solo part, and accompaniment by lush strings and organ for the real thing. Szeps-Znaider exuded a warm and fulsome tone for the opening Allegro energico, contrasted by the aria-like Andante doloroso, its heart-on-sleeve emotions being more a comforting balm than evoking pangs of sorrow. The finale was positively Mozartean, its swift main theme having more than a passing resemblance to the finale of Mozart’s Symphony No.39.
It would be remiss not to have heard more from Kreisler’s 1741 Guarneri del Gesu, used to premiere this very work, Elgar’s Violin Concerto and others. Szeps-Znaider thus obliged with more of his ravishing tone in Kreisler’s tender arrangement with string accompaniment of Mexican composer Manuel Ponce’s lovely Estrellita.
Also in the first half were the eight movements from Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite (1949 edition), with woodwinds and brass augmenting the strings. The opening Sinfonia echoed the Kreisler first movement with its festive spirit, and the Serenata delighted in Rachel Walker’s oboe and guest concertmaster Erik Heide’s violin with its delicate sicilienne. A musical arc soon development in pace and drama all through to its buffo conclusion. It would take cloth ears not to respond to Allen Meek’s trombone slides in the penultimate Vivo and David Smith’s trumpet high kicks for the riotous Finale.
The concert closed with Mozart’s Symphony No.38 in D major, nicknamed the “Prague” as it was premiered in the Bohemian capital in 1787. Emphatic, cleanly delivered opening chords and an elaborate introduction were statement of intent, that the orchestra under Szeps-Znaider pulled no punches. A world away from period-instrument sensibilities, this performance had full-on vibrato, with unabashed flexing of muscle and sinew. The Allegro section was choc-a-bloc with familiar motifs, some of which would later appear in the Jupiter Symphony and The Magic Flute. If this were one’s first encounter with Mozart, one would be instantly hooked.
The slow central movement was the symphony’s heaving heart, being one of deeply-breathed expansiveness. Did anyone else think that its second subject might have been the inspiration of the “original” theme in Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations? The constant reprises in various forms certainly make that a plausible notion. A most buoyant and light-footed Presto concluded the symphony with the thought that the Singapore Symphony has now become a model Mozart orchestra. Whoever thought that a possibility five years ago?
Star Rating: ****
The original review on Bachtrack.com may be found here:
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