Ireland Gubaidulina, Price, Tchaikovsky: Michelle Cann (piano), National Symphony Orchestra Ireland / Patrik Ringborg (conductor). National Concert Hall, Dublin, 12.12.2025. (RB)
Sofia Gubaidulina – Fairytale Poem
Florence Price – Piano Concerto in One Movement
Tchaikovsky – Selections from The Nutcracker
The National Symphony Orchestra Ireland were joined by Swedish conductor, Patrik Ringborg, and American pianist, Michelle Cann, for this pre-Christmas concert of nineteenth- and twentieth-century works. Sofia Gubaidulina sadly passed away earlier this year at her home in Germany, so it was a fitting tribute to open the concert with one of her works.
Gubaidulina’s Fairytale Poem was written for a 1971 radio programme based on The Little Piece of Chalk, a children’s story by Czech writer Miloš Macourek. It describes the adventure of the eponymous little piece of chalk and how it eventually creates beautiful drawings full of castles and gardens, oblivious to the fact it is dissolving. The story is an allegory for the fate of an artist particularly under an oppressive regime. This performance from Ringborg and the NSOI was a model of transparency showing close attention to detail. The composer’s imaginative orchestral effects were executed with precision by various combinations of instruments. Ringborg succeeded in creating a strong narrative flow through the work and he was able to coax an impressive range of dynamics and sonorities from the NSOI.
The music of Florence Price is appearing much more frequently in the concert hall nowadays, so it was good to see the NSOI turning their attention to her music. She was the first African-American woman to have a symphony premiered by a major American orchestra. She wrote her piano concerto in 1934, and she premiered the work in the same year, performing the solo part herself. Like many of Price’s works, the score was thought lost and it was initially reconstructed from a two-piano reduction and some instrumental parts. The original orchestral manuscript was later discovered in 2009. The work blends European Romanticism with African-American musical elements including spirituals, blues and the Juba (a pre-Civil War plantation dance). The work is made up of three distinct sections following the fast-slow-fast format which follow on from each other without a break.
Michelle Cann has won several Grammy awards for her performances of Price’s music, including one for the Piano Concerto in One Movement. This live performance was if anything even better than her Grammy award-winning recording. Following a short introduction from brass and woodwind, Cann entered the fray with a Lisztian cadenza which she played with complete technical assurance. She navigated her way through Price’s rich bravura textures with virtuoso aplomb and coaxed a big, burnished tone from the piano. She and the NSOI combined to inject fiery passion, depth and anguish into the music. The central section is a gorgeous spiritual and is the emotional heart of the piece. Cann played the main theme with enormous warmth and tenderness and there was a very moving quality about her performance. Her duets with Matthew Manning on the oboe and Catriona Ryan on the flute were exquisite. In the final Juba Ringborg unleashed the full power of the NSOI. Soloist and orchestra played in a completely unbridled way allowing Price’s infectious rag time melodies and syncopated rhythms to shine through in an explosion of pure joy.
The second half of the concert was dedicated to a selection from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. Ringborg and the NSOI for the most part did an excellent job conjuring up the images of childhood wonder and fantasy elements associated with the ballet. The NSOI’s scurrying strings created light airy textures in the opening Overture while brass fanfares and galloping rhythms in the subsequent Marche conjured up the enchanting scene around the Christmas tree. The scene introducing us to ‘The Enchanted Palace, the Kingdom of Sweets’ had a sumptuous opening and the NSOI produced a glittering array of colours. However, some of the rapid upward scales from the woodwind in this section were too emphatic.
The series of national dances from Act II were beautifully characterised and there was much to admire. The timpani and castanets brought colour and drive to the Spanish Dance, while the woodwind captured the playful whimsical quality of the Chinese Dance. Ringborg and the NSOI delivered a thrilling upbeat performance of the Trepak Russian Dance while the contrasting Dance of the Reed Flutes had an appealing lightness and delicacy. Harpist, Andreja Malir, did a marvellous job conjuring up the magical dream-like atmosphere in the opening section of Waltz of the Flowers. It was glorious to hear the orchestra producing rich sumptuous sonorities while capturing the regal elegance of Tchaikovsky’s waltz. Ringborg’s tempo in the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy was a little sluggish for my taste and this detracted from the enchanting fairy tale quality in the music. The NSOI did an excellent job bringing out the grand sweep of the Waltz finale, although one of the cello entries was marginally late. Overall, this was a first-rate performance of a Christmas classic.
Great playing from Ringborg, Cann and the NSOI. Can I make a plea that we hear more of Florence Price’s work in the not-too-distant future.
Robert Beattie