Ireland R. Schumann, Brahms: Simone Lamsma (violin), National Symphony Orchestra / Alexander Shelley (conductor). National Concert Hall, Dublin, 28.2.2025. (RB)
R. Schumann – Symphony No.3 in E-flat major, Op.97 ‘Rhenish’
Brahms – Violin Concerto in D major, Op.77
Ireland’s National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) were joined by guest conductor, Alexander Shelley, for these performances of music by Robert Schumann and Brahms. Shelley recently recorded the complete symphonies of Schumann and Brahms with Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra to critical acclaim. Dutch violinist, Simone Lamsma, was the soloist in Brahms’s monumental Violin Concerto.
Schumann visited Cologne Cathedral in 1850, and the Third Symphony was written to commemorate the trip and as a celebration of the Rhineland. In spite of the numbering, it is the last of Schumann’s four symphonies (the fourth symphony in D minor was written much earlier but withdrawn and later revised). Unusually, the work is in five movements. Schumann added an additional movement which he marked ‘Feierlich’ (‘Solemn’). It depicts the ceremony in Cologne Cathedral where Archbishop von Geissel was elevated to the rank of Cardinal. It is in Beethoven’s heroic key of E-flat, the same key as the ‘Eroica’ Symphony, although it is sometimes seen as Schumann’s response to the ‘Pastoral’ Symphony.
Alexander Shelley was clearly on top of the detail and offered many unique insights into this work. The opening movement marked Lebhaft (Lively) had symphonic weight and depth of sound, and the music moved along briskly. The NSO’s horns were impressive and helped to underline the heroic quality of the music. Some of the entries were a little sluggish in the early part of the movement, although the orchestra quickly got into its stride. The second movement marked Sehr mässig (Very moderate) is a ländler and incorporates folk music. I was impressed with the clarity of the textures and with Shelley’s layering of the music. Occasionally, the balance of sound did not seem quite right and there were moments when the music could have been a little more polished. The NSO’s strings and woodwind collaborated well to conjure up a sense of intimacy and warmth in the third movement intermezzo.
The NSO’s performance of the fourth movement was particularly impressive and the highlight of the first half of the concert. The horns and trombones created striking, organ-like sonorities in the opening chorale while the strings played the sustained lines with a gripping intensity. The finale was light and exuberant with the phrases crisply articulated. Shelley succeeded in injecting energy and dynamism into the music, ushering the movement to its heroic conclusion.
Brahms met the Hungarian violinist, Joseph Joachim, when he was 20 and they remained friends for much of the composer’s life. Joachim acted as a mentor to Brahms and helped him gain recognition by premiering his works and offering advice on his compositions. Brahms turned to writing a violin concerto for Joachim after the composition of his Second Symphony. The work makes exceptional demands on the soloist, and it was famously described by Hans von Bülow as written ‘against the violin’. Violinist Henryk Wieniawski branded the work ‘unplayable’ while Pablo de Sarasate refused to perform it. Joachim described it as one of the four great German violin concertos after those of Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Bruch. He premiered the work in Leipzig in 1879 with Brahms conducting.
I had not come across Simone Lamsma before this concert, but she is clearly an exceptional performer and did not put a foot wrong in this performance. Shelley allowed the first movement to build gradually before Lamsma’s dramatic first entrance. Lamsma struck just the right balance between the very powerful dramatic elements of the first movement, with its fiery gypsy fiddling, and the intensely lyrical elements. The double- and triple-stopping throughout the movement and Joachim’s technically demanding cadenza were performed with virtuoso aplomb.
The NSO’s principal oboe, Matthew Manning, gave a moving and poetic rendition of the opening theme of the slow movement. Lamsma adopted a silvery tone at her entrance and achieved a wonderful eloquence and flow in this movement. The central episode in F-sharp minor plumbed the depths of emotion before she and the orchestra returned to the opening theme. Soloist and orchestra combined to give an exhilarating performance of the Hungarian dance finale. Shelley let his players off the leash in the tutti sections and there was an unbridled quality to the playing. Lamsma did a brilliant job negotiating Brahms’s thirds and sixths and cascading scales before driving this great staple of the repertoire to its conclusion. This was a stunning performance from Lamsma which was deservedly greeted with a standing ovation from the audience.
Robert Beattie