Beethoven’s violin concerto is a big hill to climb for any soloist, but few recently have prepared for the task with the rigour and thought of Christian Tetzlaff. A recording last year on Arte Nova showed us the way
his interpretation went; but no CD experience can compare with the electric thrill of hearing it unfold, beauty after beauty, surprise after surprise, in a packed Albert Hall.
Lured by its epic size and lyricism, violinists past
and present have often treated this piece as a well-cushioned armchair, ideal for an indulgent loll. Tetzlaff will have none of it.
Without ever losing the big picture, a hard look at the score convinced him to stress the contrasts, the dream-like musings thrust against muscle and conflict. In the first movement, out went the usual Fritz Kreisler cadenza, full of peacock finery but cloying; in came Tetzlaff’s adaptation of Beethoven’s bracing creation for the concerto’s piano version, complete with timpani and the strong whiff of a military march. We watched and listened astonished; as did the
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BBC Symphony Orchestra, on good form throughout with their new boss, Jirí Belohlávek.
But it wasn’t just the probing intelligence and the integration of jagged moods that made this performance special. Consider the pianissimos. Tetzlaff’s tone, heard in the Hall’s cavern, may not have been large, but it proved remarkably, exquisitely penetrating. Opening bird calls in the larghetto passed, he conjured some of the most hushed and mesmerising violin sounds this side of inaudibility. For the finale, on with the dancing shoes, at a brisk tempo, the notes flying in perfect safety. Roars of applause followed; then tender unaccompanied Bach.
Elsewhere in the concert, Belohlávek and the orchestra clung to the usual interpretations, though the high quality continued, with good rustic woodwinds, fleet-footed brass, and the subtlest of timpani taps. Schumann’s Manfred overture brooded nicely,
and the delights of Mendelssohn’s Scottish symphony rose through
the northern mists. A bit pale, though, after the Beethoven.