United Kingdom Wennäkoski, Beethoven, Sibelius: Leif Ove Andsnes (piano), London Symphony Orchestra / Dima Slobodeniouk (conductor). Barbican Hall, London, 4.2.2024. (KMcD)
Lotta Wennäkoski – Om fotspår och ljus (Helsinki Variations)
Beethoven – Piano Concerto No.5, Emperor
Sibelius – Symphony No.2
The London Symphony Orchestra management had to think on their feet at the tail end of last week as the scheduled conductor for this concert, Thomas Søndergård, was advised by his doctor not to travel, as he was unwell. Left without a conductor, and with a pair of Finnish works bookending the concert, including a UK premiere, their choice of a replacement must have been limited, especially if the programme was to remain as originally planned.
Step forward Finnish conductor, Dima Slobodeniouk, who was not only an inspired choice on paper, but on the night seemed completely unfazed by this last-minute engagement and steered the LSO through an evening of music making that was as revelatory as it was thrilling.
The UK premiere in question was Lotta Wennäkoski’s ‘Of Footprints and Light – Helsinki Variations’ a 12-minute work scored for a large orchestra and an eye-opening array of percussion including a pair of shoes. ‘Contemporary music’ was writ large in every bar, containing many of the tropes that bedevil new works – cymbals played with a bow, string glissandi in abundance, portamenti on the woodwind that gave the impression the Clangers had gate-crashed the party – and so on. Musical textures were sparse, until the middle section where the strings soared, and for a moment it was as if we had been transported into one of Mahler’s symphonies. Slobodeniouk’s clear, concise beat kept things together, and the players responded accordingly.
We were on more familiar ground with Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto ‘The Emperor’, but with acclaimed pianist Leif Ove Andsnes as the dexterous soloist, there was nothing routine about this scalding-hot performance. It is not just his rock-solid technique that impresses – those octaves and chromatic runs in the first movement dispatched with apparent nonchalant ease – but his superlative interpretative powers resulted in hearing this work anew. Caressing the keys in the second movement he conjured up an overwhelming sense of serenity tinged with sadness – that magical transition into the final movement was deftly handled before launching into the joyous theme that takes us on a rollercoaster of a musical journey to the work’s close.
Throughout, Slobodeniouk supported him magnificently – there was real chemistry between the two performers, which was no mean feat given the last-minute change in personnel. Sprightly textures in the orchestra, suffused with light and air gave the overall performance a sense of buoyancy, and there was no dilly-dallying either as they dispatched the work in under 40 minutes. Acknowledging the heartfelt applause, Andsnes went on to delight further with an effervescent Chopin Mazurka as an encore.
Slobodeniouk is no stranger to the works of Sibelius, in fact he conducted the Second Symphony with the London Philharmonic Orchestra only last year. It is a work he clearly holds dear to his heart, as this performance was as impassioned a performance as I have heard live in the concert hall. It is not so much that he has a complete affinity with Sibelius’s idiom, but his impressive interpretative powers are such that he is able to bring the Finnish composer’s desolate musical landscapes to life. This was highlighted in a particularly bleak view of the second movement – darkness personified, as Sibelius paints the Finnish landscape in dark-hued colours, which Slobodeniouk didn’t hesitate to highlight – the playing here, particularly from the woodwind section, was staggeringly-assured.
In the outer movements there was plenty of visceral excitement – timpani thundered and brass brayed. After much oscillating between the major and minor keys in the final movement, that blazing D major close has never felt more deserved, or hard earnt, than it did here, and set the seal on a thrilling evening of music making.
Keith McDonnell