Portugal Marvão International Music Festival [1]: Veronika Eberle (violin), Juliane Banse (soprano), Cologne Chamber Orchestra / Christoph Poppen (conductor). Castelo de Marvão, Portugal, 20.7.2024. (LV)
Beethoven – Coriolan Overture, Op.62; Violin Concerto, Op.61
Mendelssohn – Concert Aria ‘Infelice’, Op.94
On an open-air stage in the courtyard of windswept Marvão Castle, Veronika Eberle gave a performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto for the ages to a sold-out audience at the tenth Marvão International Music Festival. With a camera crew posted like sentries on the battlements and spectators sitting on the ramparts, she and conductor Christoph Poppen found the kind of simplicity that leads to the sublime.
The first movement set off at a moderate tempo, triggered by the iconic four notes in the timpani that were measured and precise. Everything in the opening orchestral introduction – from the nuanced woodwinds to the cellos’ triplets, with Poppen keeping the power under wraps until it was ready to be unleashed – was immersive and absorbing. When Eberle entered with her opening solo, rich in colors yet simple in line, her intimately reflective attitude shone through. Even the timpanist phrased like a poet. Remarkably, the gusting winds, which reached up to 30 mph, did not seem to bother any of the musicians. Eberle’s dialogue with the bassoons in thirds was intense and lapidary, her sense of quiet before the big striding triplets was deeply affecting and her triplets against the long lines of the strings were captivating. She navigated Fritz Kreisler’s cadenza with finesse, toning down the pyrotechnics in favor of warmth and sentiment, as if it had been written by Beethoven himself.
In the slow movement, Eberle again phrased so simply and so right. The tempo was a bit quick and would quicken a bit more in the Rondo which, under the circumstances – did I mention it was windy? – made perfect sense from a practical point of view. She played the big arching passages exquisitely and the cadenza was spontaneous, after which she had a special sweetness left for her last upward phrases before Poppen and the orchestra ended with a tremendous shout, and the grandeur of the whole performance was complete.
Ten years ago, Renaud Capuçon had singled out Eberle among the young lions for the purity, which was in striking evidence at her performance Saturday night. She did not play Jörg Widmann’s phantasmagoric cadenzas, including a duet episode with the double bass, as she had last year in her recording with Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra. But as outstanding as the recording was – I selected it as one of the year’s best in my annual round-up for Strings – her performance with the Kreisler cadenzas was infinitely more moving.
The concert had started with a bracing performance of Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture that caught the conflict of the protagonist and was suffused with the eloquence of the cellos in the closing bars. Next, Juliane Banse came onto the stage for what would turn out to be a brave, sometimes melting and often brilliant performance of Mendelssohn’s concert aria which had been written for the classical music power couple of Maria Malibran and Charles de Bériot. Although obscure, the aria was in the repertoire of the great Dame Janet Baker and was recently recorded by soprano Anna Samuil with her sister Tatiana playing the violin solo. It was Konrad Elias-Trostmann on this occasion who performed the violin part which was characterized by the soaring beauty of his solos.
Curiously for an open-air concert, the musical impact was strong and direct, and there was an enhanced sense of dimensionality and depth. It confirmed the value of reading music from tablets rather than printed music, although during the Mendelssohn a moment of confusion in the first violins showed that even with digital technology, it can sometimes be difficult to be on the same page.
Laurence Vittes