Intermezzo

Leif Ove Andsnes leaves the fjords behind

Leif Ove Andsnes - Royal Festival Hall, 10 March 2008

Between the towel and the mighty fjord - Norway's biggest pianist

Bach Toccata in E minor, BWV.914
Beethoven Piano Sonata in E flat, Op.27 No.1 (Quasi una fantasia)
Sibelius Commodo (Kyllikki, Op.41 No.3), Elegiaco in C sharp minor, Op.76 No.10, The Birch, Op.75 No.4, Barcarola, Op.24 No.10
Grieg Ballade in G minor, Op.24
Debussy Preludes - Brouillards (Bk.2 No.1), Le vent dans la plaine (Bk.1 No.3), Les collines d'Anacapri (Bk.1 No.5), Des pas sur la neige (Bk.1 No.6), La puerta del vino (Bk.2 No.3), Ce qu'a vu le vent d'ouest (Bk.1 No.7), Bruyeres (Bk.2 No.5), La serenade interrompue (Bk.1 No.9), Canope (Bk.2 No.10), Ondine (Bk.2 No.8), La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune (Bk.2 No.7)

I've been keen to catch Leif Ove Andsnes for a while, but somehow the scheduling has never worked out till now. Tonight's smorgasbord of a programme offered tasters from an unusually broad repertoire. Unfortunately the starter, a ponderous and over-pedalled Bach Toccata, didn't show Andsnes in his best light. The Beethoven satisfied more, but still seemed timorous and fractured in comparison to the effusive assurance of Daniel Barenboim's recent account, still fresh in the memory.

With comforting predictability, Andsnes shifted into top gear with the Scandinavian section of the programme. The four Sibelius pieces, previously unfamiliar to me, may lack the depth and power of his symphonic work, but they do have a certain charm and vivacity that was underscored by Andsnes' intimate and relaxed delivery.

The Grieg Ballade, which Andsnes recently recorded for the first time (story and audio here), formed the centrepiece of the evening in every way. A twenty minute set of variations on a Norwegian folk song, it is all jagged cliffs and deep pools, with little of Grieg's characteristic drawing-room manners. Andsnes drew together its unevenly matched elements in a penetrating and virtuosic performance, truly revelatory.

His second half offering, an intelligent selection of Debussy Preludes based loosely on the theme of weather, was equally engrossing - not to mention unexpectedly appropriate, with storms raging outside all day. From the ever-mounting swells of the opening Brouillards to the ironic Au clair de la lune quote which begins the closing La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune, Andsnes mastered these richly evocative understatements with a memorable delicacy and refinement.

Kate Royal does French

Kate Royal / Roger Vignoles - Wigmore Hall, 16 February 2008

Brahms - Vier Gesänge Op 70
Debussy - Cinq Poèmes de Charles Baudelaire
Poulenc - Fiançailles pour rire
Strauss - Mädchenblumen, Ich wollt ein Straüßlein binden, Als mir dein Leid erklang

What has happened to Kate Royal's bewbs? Modestly corseted for her current role in Die Zauberflöte, it's hard to tell. Unfettered tonight in a stunning dove grey halter neck grecian gown they jostled for attention  like a couple of genetically modified grapefruit. Even in the Wigmore Hall, temple of song, it was enough to arouse interval remarks about 'shapeliness' from elderly gentlemen. I don't recall anything particularly eye popping in previous appearances. Industrial-grade bra padding, or has she been shopping in the same place as Katherine Jenkins?

Unfortunately, they weren't quite spectacular enough to distract from some ropey singing in her first all-Brahms song group. Intonation and diction were accurate enough, but the higher notes elicited a sound like a fork being slowly drawn across a saucepan. She never looked or sounded comfortable. These lugubrious songs are not easy or immediately appealing. Though the group slotted well into the programme, billed as part of the Wigmore Hall's French season, Royal was simply unable to supply any real insight into their elliptical texts.

With her voice now warmed up, she produced a much more attractive sound for Debussy's five Baudelaire settings. But Baudelaire's perfumed eroticism eluded her. Imperfect French accentuated the effect of knee-clutching English reserve. Her approach to the Poulenc group was similarly buttoned-up, her only hint of abandon the occasional tiny gasp. Royal performed without a score and appeared to know the songs inside out, so it was disappointing that she felt unable to take the risks she has demonstrated in her operatic performances.

It was only in the closing Strauss group that she seemed to find the right balance between expression and control, that unexpected blend of ice and warmth in her shimmering silver tones finally ecstatic.

Her eagerly provided encore was Lia's aria from Debussy's L'Enfant Prodigue, an oddly long and doleful choice to send an audience home with. But it was delivered with all the insight and engagement her earlier Debussy group had lacked - a promise of what might have been and an indication that eventual success in this repertoire is not beyond Royal's grasp.

Watch Gergiev and the LSO online - free - and legal

The BBC are currently running a mini-series of Gergiev/LSO concerts recorded at the Barbican earlier this year. They're being broadcast on BBC4 at 7.30 on Friday nights.

And they're offered for free download via the BBC iPlayer site.

Previously this only worked for Vista or XP users, but as from today, it's Mac and Linux enabled too.

Available on the iPlayer until 7.30 tomorrow (14 December) is the first programme, featuring Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune and La Mer, and Prokofiev's Seven They Are Seven. There's also a little pre-concert chat from Gergiev, sitting relaxed in a checked shirt and rather less terrifying than his podium persona suggests.

Once that expires tomorrow, the second programme will be available for a week. This features Stravinsky's music for the ballet Petrushka and his Symphony in 3 Movements, Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No 1 with soloist Vadim Repin, and three of Debussy's Préludes for piano.

You have to install the iPlayer software, and it takes a while to download (about 30 minutes for me), but the picture quality is excellent, every speck of the Gergiev stubble pinpointed. Other music programmes currently available there include a fascinating series on Brazilian music.

Xmas-period BBC TV broadcasts are scheduled for La Fille du Régiment from Covent Garden and the Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra from the Proms. It's possible these may turn up on the iPlayer at some time too, so keep your eyes peeled.

***UPDATE***
La Fille du Régiment is scheduled for broadcast at 7.30pm on 30 December on BBC4. It's not yet clear whether it will be distributed via the iPlayer.

Prom 55 - Haitink's Dutch masters kick their clogs off

Prom 55: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra/Haitink - Royal Albert Hall, 25 August 2007

The stage was set for this performance in more ways than one - we arrived in the arena to find the familiar paddling pool and cuddly dinosaur (left) vanished from the centre of the audience area, and a low, roped boxing ring stage set up in its place. Were Haitink and Abbado about to duke it out for the World Maestro Championship (Senior Division)?

No - enquiries revealed it had been set up in advance for Monday afternoon's children's performance. So why not wait till Monday, and leave space to accommodate a full-complement audience for tonight's sell-out concert? My neighbour cynically but probably correctly suggested the BBC didn't fancy paying the bank holiday overtime.

I was hoping tonight's performance would show a livelier side to Haitink than the previous night's. The opening Parsifal Act 1 Prelude was not promising. Mystery and wonder were nowhere to be found in this stolid reading.

Haitink sped seamlessly into a passage from Act 3 of Parsifal, the 'Good Friday Music' with barely half a second's breath. Although stodge was still the order of the day here, it was at least partially redeemed by some exquisite haunting oboe work. But if this is a taste of his forthcoming Covent Garden Parsifal, I'll be bringing my knitting.

There was a sense of routine in the very grounded reading of Debussy's Nocturnes too, with measured restraint replacing the expected shimmering impressionistic textures. 

The other Debussy work of the evening, Six épigraphes antiques, has a long genesis. It's a relatively recent arrangement, by Rudolf Escher, of a set of Debussy piano duets, themselves in turn based on material from Debussy's earlier flute, harp and celesta incidental music for Pierre Louÿs' poems Chansons de Bilitis.

The programme sniffily notes that "the monochrome, percussive medium of the piano duet [!?*!$! send Martha Argerich and Nelson Freire round with a baseball bat...] was hardly more than a means of presenting the material". However Escher's arrangement is like an immaculately faked painting. Trademark Debussyisms like rippling strings and sinuous oboe solos are stuffed in to the point of pastiche. It is hard to listen to it as anything other than an efficient academic exercise. That said, the Concertgebouw dropped some of their earlier brawn and gave a thoughtful, reflective reading.

The most impressive performances of the evening came at the end, with the Prelude and Liebestod from Wagner's Tristan and Isolde and the encore, the Prelude from Act 3 of Lohengrin. Seatbelts were unbuckled and rockets lit as the Concertgebouw finally let go and unleashed some passion and momentum. If Haitink can coax the ROH orchestra into this sort of performance for Parsifal in December, we could have some memorable nights.