Classical blockbusters from the Belgian National Orchestra in Cardiff

United Kingdom Respighi, Mozart, Saint-Saëns: Paul Lewis (piano), Belgian National Orchestra / Robert González-Monjas (conductor). St David’s Hall, Cardiff, 9.11.2022. (PCG)

Respighi – Prelude, corale e fuga, P.30
Mozart – Piano Concerto No.25 in C, K503
Saint-Saëns – Symphony No.3 in C minor Op.78 ‘Organ Symphony’

Since its unexpected appearance in the pop charts in 1977, and later on the soundtrack of the film Babe, Saint-Saëns’s Organ Symphony has comprehensively outstripped in fame all his other pieces, except the perennially popular Danse macabre and Carnival of the Animals. (It had previously been generally regarded as a monstrously overblown work only to be performed on special occasions.) This apparent popularity aside, any performance remains something of a special event, since the featured roles for organ and piano duet mean that it does not slot easily into a standard concert format. And its reputation as an orchestral showpiece conceals a very carefully considered and quite revolutionary construction. Saint-Saëns took as a fundamental formal basis the Lisztian idea of symphonic metamorphosis; the symphony is indeed dedicated to the memory of Liszt. The whole of the gigantic structure is derived from a single cell of a theme which progressively transforms itself into a whole series of massive variations. That includes not only the tune which has established the work in popular culture but also, in the slow movement where the organ is first quietly introduced, one of the most beautiful of the melodies that even Saint-Saëns ever wrote.

What was remarkable about this performance of the symphony by the Belgian National Orchestra under their principal guest conductor Robert González-Monjas was not so much the sheer spectacle of the finale; that should be taken for granted in any but the most miserable of the performances. It was the manner in which the structure of the whole was so splendidly realised. The entry of the organ at the beginning of the finale did not come so much as a shock but as the culmination of a graduated realisation of the material, where climaxes were accumulated rather than simply delivered. The performance also drew parallels with later unacknowledged imitators: the manner in which the main theme of the finale gradually emerged from the end of the scherzo – Sibelius in his Second Symphony written less than a decade later – or the very distinctive delivery of that theme by massed violins in octaves over a background of rippling piano arpeggios which anticipates the slow central section in the first of Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances. The latter example also demonstrated the superb balance achieved by the energetic González-Monjas. The melody was not obscured by the underpinning chords from the organ while it simultaneously allowed the piano textures to continue to be heard. The floating woodwind phrases were securely delivered and heard above the seething developmental textures, and the deeply sonorous strings in the slow movement also had a full weight of plangent warmth.

The concert had opened with a similarly spectacular example of orchestral writing, this time the much more obscure Prelude, Chorale and Fugue, an early piece by Respighi. Despite its Bachian title and its origin as a graduation exercise, this was very far from being a severely formal demonstration of the composer’s technical expertise. The chorale theme itself, with its wistful echo of the duet from the last act of Puccini’s La bohème, was sufficiently distinctive to act as a firm basis both to the impressionistically atmospheric prelude and the very chaotic fugue which followed and overwhelmed it. I describe the fugue as chaotic, because of its very rapid descent, after a few traditional opening entries, into a freely evolving web of counterpoint. It occasionally seemed to recollect that it was supposed to be a fugue after all, only to relapse into its naughty ways after a brief semblance of rectitude. This was all great fun, not indeed without a sense of humour. The orchestral scoring demonstrated Respighi’s superb craftsmanship at that stage of his career (although even then he had already been studying with that other orchestral master, Rimsky-Korsakov). As an almost unknown work beginning a concert, its appearance on the programme might have been regarded as a risk; but it was one that paid off, evoking cheers from an audience fresh from the outside darkness on a damp and wet night.

Between these two orchestral showpieces, Mozart’s piano concerto might have seemed almost a lightweight trifle, but that would have been to reckon without the considered performance of Paul Lewis. He avoided any impression that the sparkling piano figurations could be regarded as trivial, lending weight even to the opening quavers of the rondo theme in the finale. This was indeed an unfashionably romantic view of the music, but the score is after all a product of Mozart’s later years when emotional considerations were colouring his harmonic palette. Mozart himself furnished no cadenza for the work, but that provided here by the soloist was suitably thoughtful, including some quite unexpected sideslips into more distant keys. Again the woodwinds distinguished themselves, Mozart’s single flute neatly dovetailed with the pair of oboes.

For the encore after the symphony, González-Monjas marched onto the podium, raised his baton and delivered the second of Brahms’s Hungarian Dances. An odd choice as it was not a work that had any obvious association either with the orchestra (one might have welcomed some Belgian music) or the remainder of the programme.

The audience cheered the Saint-Saëns symphony to the rafters, as indeed they should have done. It was also pleasing to note, after the measly attendance at last week’s concert, that the number of seats filled was considerably improved. Miserable weather, it seems, has less of an adverse effect on Cardiff audiences than industrial action on public transport. This was the penultimate concert is the orchestra’s eight-night UK tour; the same programme had previously been heard in London, Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham. Gregor Tassie has already published a review (click here) of the Edinburgh event. I would endorse his complimentary comments on the quality of the individual playing in this fabulous orchestra.

Paul Corfield Godfrey