pianomania: BEETHOVEN WITH JAMES EHNES AND LAWRENCE RENES / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

BEETHOVEN WITH JAMES EHNES

AND LAWRENCE RENES

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Saturday (9 November 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 11 November 2024 with the title "SSO's most exciting and memorable Beethoven concert yet".

The idea of a concert comprising wholly works by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) is hardly new, yet a fully packed Victoria Concert Hall showed that the great German composer still has a special cachet among concert-goers. Even the tried and tested three-work overture-concerto-symphony format seemed to work a charm.

First up was Coriolan Overture (Op.62), not based on William Shakespeare but the German dramatist Heinrich von Collin. Nonetheless, the struggle between belligerence and peace-making in this tragedy remained the same, with the opening punched-out chords delivered with extreme vehemence. The level of tension ratcheted up by the orchestra under Dutch-Maltese conductor Lawrence Renes was key to its high drama.

It was undoubtedly Canadian violinist James Ehnes performing the Violin Concerto in D major (Op.61) that was the concert’s main draw. His performance came closest to the perfect conception of this 45 minute masterpiece, longest in the violin concerto repertoire.

From his entry, commanding yet not in-your-face, listeners were riveted by his big tone, purity of intonation and clarity of intent. The contrapuntally rich first movement cadenza by Fritz Kreisler was delivered effortlessly, and the passage accompanied by pizzicato strings immediately following that sounded like pure magic.

Premature applause erupted and for some, that seemed like a guilty pleasure. The Larghetto slow movement also passed like a dream, its seamless lyricism made one wished it would not end. The Rondo finale’s dance-like moves were replicated by Renes on the podium as both violinist and orchestra romped to a brilliant close.

Ehnes was not allowed to leave without offering two generous encores, Eugene Ysaye’s thorny Sonata No.3 (or Ballade) and the slow movement from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sonata No.3 (BWV.1005). Every moment in the company of Ehnes was time well spent.

Moving in reverse Opus number order, Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony in B flat major (Op.60) closed the concert on a high. Although less glamourous than his Third and Fifth Symphonies, its many sublime passages can still move hearts and excite under the right hands. Conducting completely from memory, Renes had that Midas touch.

Its Adagio slow opening, possessing the same set of notes as the famous Fifth Symphony, was arresting, then erupting into an Allegro that bristled and bounded with energy. Even the slow movement was illusory, gaining speed and volume, being built on waves of momentum to the timpani’s beat.

The third movement’s country dance was very well judged, animated and charged without coming across as too ungainly. All and sundry would be swept away by the perpetual motion of the finale’s tarantella rhythm. Precision and accuracy were almost scarcely believable at such high speeds, and the symphony wound to a breathless close.