United Kingdom Benjamin, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky: Yefim Bronfman (piano), London Philharmonic Orchestra / Edward Gardner (conductor). Royal Festival Hall, London 27.9.2025. (JR)
George Benjamin – ‘Ringed by the Flat Horizon’
Beethoven – Piano Concerto No. 5 ‘Emperor’, Op.73
Tchaikovsky – Symphony No.5, Op.64
The opening concert of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s new season got under way with a nineteen-minute orchestral work, ‘Ringed by the Flat Horizon’, by new Composer-in-Residence Sir George Benjamin, composed when he was only 20. Benjamin had met Messiaen at the age of 16 and spent some years as his pupil. He also came under the influence of Pierre Boulez and they have clearly influenced his style of composition. The LPO is, this season, focussing on works examining our relationship with the natural world; this piece by Benjamin was inspired by a photograph of a thunderstorm over the Mexican desert. Benjamin treats orchestral colour and texture with imagination, there is growling to represent distant thunder, shrieking from the piccolo as the lightning strikes and the bird scatter, thwacks on the eight double basses (representing hail, perhaps?) and a variety of percussion to produce magical sounds. There is much to interest and amaze, though some will have found the work quite hard to approach and appreciate. There was some fine solo playing by Kristina Blaumane, principal cello. Gardner kept the beat meticulously to hold the work together. The composer was in attendance, applause was subdued though polite.
Classics Today, a well-recognised and popular American online classical music guide, recently reviewed a dozen recordings of the ‘Emperor’ Concerto, including versions by Arthur Rubinstein, Rudolf Serkin, Leon Fleisher, Rudolf Firkušný, Friedrich Gulda, Claudio Arrau and Mitsuko Uchida – but the ‘winner’ was the recording by Yefim Bronfman with the Tonhalle Orchestra of Zurich under David Zinman, dating back to 2005. (Bronfman’s teachers included Serkin, Fleisher and Firkušný.) Bronfman is not known particularly as a Beethoven specialist, but in this concert he showed not only his unfailing virtuosity but also his absolute mastery of this repertoire. In the opening Allegro Bronfman astounded with the lightness of his touch, there followed a lyrical, poetic Adagio unpoco mosso, neither rushed nor dawdled; and to finish, an ebullient and rhythmic Rondo: Allegro, the final movement. Bronfman impressed in the muscular passages, Beethoven in heroic mode, with masterful trills, phrasing and well-judged dynamics – a perfect swift performance for the ages. Gardner accompanied with suitable grandeur, with spontaneity and passion, the horn section standing out – though the orchestra played very well across the board. Period timpani and trumpets gave the performance a whiff of authenticity. By way of encore, Bronfman rewarded rapturous applause by giving us a wistful Robert Schumann Arabesque in C minor, Op.18.
Performances of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony often fall into two distinct camps: classical, unemotional, but ensuring proportion and balance; or hot and heavy, Romantic, passionate, full of bite, often favoured by Russian conductors, such as Mravinsky and Svetlanov, and their Russian orchestras. This performance tended towards the former, but there was plenty of urgency and drama when required. (I cannot forget the turbulent performances by Riccardo Muti from the 1970s in the Royal Festival Hall, with the Philharmonia, which for many have never been bettered. Vladimir Jurowski’s thrilling performance in May 2011 with the LPO was also very highly praised and falls more into the latter camp.)
Gardner eschewed extremes and gave us, for the most part, an intelligently interpretative, gentlemanly performance. Clarinets (led by Benjamin Mellefont) in the opening Andante section were to die for, and the principal horn (Annemarie Federle) was utterly secure in the opening of the slow movement. Trombones were sonorous, trumpets crisp; the strings scampered effortlessly and with precision in the third movement, the Valse. The Finale cannot fail to bring the house down, and did so; it was played fast and with plenty of bite and passion.
A great start to a very promising London Philharmonic season.
The performance can be heard on BBC Radio 3 on September 30th at 7.30pm and on BBC Sounds for 30 days after that.
John Rhodes
Featured Image: Edward Gardner conducting pianist Yefim Bronfman and LPO © Marc Gascoigne
A lovely review.