United Kingdom Gubaidulina, Shostakovich, Stravinsky: Clara-Jumi Kang (violin), London Symphony Orchestra / Ryan Bancroft (conductor), Barbican Hall, London 30.10.2025. (JR)
Gubaidulina – Märchen – Poem
Shostakovich – Violin Concerto No.1, Op.77
travinsky – The Firebird – Ballet
This was Clara-Jumi Kang’s soloist debut with the London Symphony Orchestra and Ryan Bancroft’s debut with the full orchestra as he had conducted the LSO’s Brass and Woodwind BBC Prom this year replacing Sir Simon Rattle. They went down a storm.
First, the concert opened with a concise piece by Sofia Gubaidulina. This had apparently been programmed before her death earlier this year, at the age of 93. Like Shostakovich before her, she was censured by the Soviet authorities and urged to forgo her bold approach to orchestration in favour of music more befitting the regime. Her Poem was composed in 1971, free of restraints. Having said that, her personal struggles surface as a subtext in this work, which is – for the most part – rather bleak. There is, however, plenty to interest the listener: shimmering strings and flute, strident piano chords, and playful use of xylophone, glockenspiel and harp. Gubaidulina uses the whole panoply of the orchestral palette. The work tells the story of a piece of chalk, forced to write boring maths on a blackboard; the chalk loses hope and begins to disintegrate. One day it comes into the sunlight and can draw colourful castles, gardens and seascapes. The work ends brightly, though the final bars are an elegiac postlude. It is easy to see the comparison with the composer’s own struggles, her artistic release after first the weakening and then the fall of the Soviet regime.
I had not heard Clara-Jumi Kang before this concert. Born to Korean parents and raised in Germany, she is now – in her late thirties – making a name for herself as a violinist. Recent highlights include appearances at the BBC Proms, Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Salzburg Festival. Kang is clearly a rising star, or should I say risen star. Her performance of the Shostakovich (his First Violin Concerto) was nothing short of staggering, both in terms of intensity, technique and passion. (Bancroft is Chief Conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and gave this concerto with Kang in a concert in Sweden two weeks ago).
It must be said that the first movement (Nocturne) is hard to warm to, with its background of brooding anxiety, but we wallowed in the sound of Kang’s Stradivarius (the ‘Thunis’ from 1702). Restraint was thrown aside in the following Scherzo which hurtled along in frenetic fashion. Bancroft accompanied enthusiastically, a bouncing bundle of energy. There was instant applause after both the first and second movements, for the prowess, stamina and virtuosity of the soloist, richly deserved. The third movement, a Passacaglia was most beautifully and sensitively played, ending in the cadenza where Kang overcame all the technical challenges. Straight through into the finale, Burlesque, where soloist and conductor bounced along, finally enabled to put a smile on their faces. The audience was enthralled.
Stravinsky’s Firebird ballet music needs no introduction. Bancroft’s energetic and flamboyant conducting style, without using a baton, fits the orchestra’s own style like a glove and the rapport was palpable. Bancroft frequently was balletic on the podium, reminding the orchestra and members of the audience that this is primarily dance music. Bancroft employed a huge gradation of dynamics, insisting the pages of the scores be turned inaudibly when the music quietened to a hush. When it was loud, it was very loud – deafening timpani thwacks (Nigel Thomas), spectacular offstage Wagner tubas and trumpets, all offering a wonderful aural experience. The list of principals who contributed to the quality of the performance is long, I highlight just two, beautiful horn play by Diego Incertis Sánchez and deft percussion from Neil Percy.
Bancroft brought the work to its thrilling conclusion with dash and élan, and we look forward to hopefully many more concerts in future seasons with this most charismatic conductor.
John Rhodes
Featured Image: Ryan Bancroft conducts the LSO © Kevin Leighton