A British Christmas - in Paris!

An all British Christmas concert de Noël - but from Paris, with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, conducted by Mikko Franck.  Elgar, Britten and RVW, but also Arnold Bax, Frederick Delius and Victor Hely-Hutchinson.. If the BBC SO did a programme as ambitious as this, it would be a major event. But Radio France beat them to it. Aha! Britishness through a non-British prism! OPRF don't sound "English" but the music benefits from being performed "as" music, without baggage.

Adeste Fideles, or O Come, all ye Faithful, started the party, the first of four movements in A Carol Symphony (1929) by Victor Hely-Hutchinson (1901-47)  According to wiki, he died because he wouldn't turn on the heating in his office in the cold winter of 1947. Hopefully, his fellow workers didn't suffer. In contrast, Ralph Vaughan Williams's Fantasia on Christmas Carols (1912) an altogether more original work, not mere transcription, where the carols become part of a larger creation, with suggestions of medieval music and plain chant (baritone Marc Pancek). .  In Frederick Delius Sleigh Ride (no 2 of Three Small Tone Poems) Franck downplayed the obvious "sleigh bells" in the introduction, emphasizing the finesse in the abstract themes that followed.  This approach also enhanced Arnold Bax's Christmas Eve (1912 rev. 1921) , a tone poem with sweeping  lines that might suggest vast nocturnal landscapes, the opacity in the tutti lushness darkness lit by flashes of brass and light.

The youth choir of Radio France returned for several songs from Benjamin Britten A Ceremony of Carols op 26, 1942. Lovely, clear, piping voices with the purity Britten sought. If they had slight French accents, not a problem at all ! That brought out the sense of otherworldliness that makes such a difference in Britten interpretation. The adult choirs assembled Douce Nuit (Silent Night), followed by a new transcription of the carol for solo organ, magical and bizarre at the same time.  Then the Elgar part song, The Snow, op 26/1 1894, for choir, two violins and small orchestra.   More Elgar, "Nimrod" from the Enigma Variations , here played with magisterial elegance.  An excellent choice, reminding me at least of Bax Christmas Eve and Delius and even Holst and Finzi.  Yet again, thoughtful programming, setting the scene for Britten's St Nicholas.(1948). The girl singing the treble part was lovely, as was the tenor (Christophe Poncet) and the full choir striking. Yet even in these grand moments, Britten doesn't really write in the British choral tradition but does his own quirky variation.

But it's Christmas, and party time ! So Vive le vent (Jingle Bells in French). Then the Hallelujah Chorus, written by a German, sung in English by a French choir, conducted by a Finn, who sang along, as did the Paris audience.  Proper Christmas spirit, and dare I say, proper European spirit, too.   Enjoy the concert HERE on arte.tv - better than most things planned in UK this season

Majestic Mahler 3 Mikko Franck St Denis

Mikko Franck conducted Mahler Symphony no 3 with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France last week in a striking performance which filled the basilica of Saint-Denis "de toute sa majesté." (video here)  A majestic performance to match majestic surroundings, even if the fixed camera positions don't do the film justice. (audio only here). This is a superb performance: someone I know was actually present at Saint-Denis, and even more enthusiastic !

A magnificent reading, where the craggy "peaks" in the landscape loom darkly over sunlit meadows. Both aspects of the symphony are fundamental to meaning. I've listened to this so many times over the past week that I'm too exhausted to write as much as I usually would   A bit stunned, too. From the get go, Franck's approach is masterful. He knows what the OPRF can do, and pushes them. The intensity of the first theme feels dangerous, not violent but uncompromising. When the next theme enters, the pizzicato dances brightly : sparkling sunshine ?  moments of happiness ? Franck doesn't linger, pushing ever forwards, so the expansive figures which follow seem exuberant.  Mahler's music is striding forward as the composer himself did in the mountains of the Salzkammergut. Hence the gloriously open vistas, the horn and trumpet calls. Then, suddenly dark moments return and the horn calls more poignant, the violin melody delicate. But flurries on winds and strings whip along, as energetic as mountain breezes.

"Pan erwacht: Der Sommer marschein ein" This long first movement can baffle, but Franck observes its structure, intensifying the sense of forward thrust. There are marches, here, yes,  and part way the orchestra breaks into a wild gallop.  But these aren't "military" marches even when the drums roll. The brass theme returns again, triumphant : Pan was the God of Nature, of music and significantly of disarray.  But it would be amiss to approach this symphony in sloppy disarray.  This orchestra is so good that Franck's tight discipline spurs them on.  Another visual metaphor : the energy of many stallions coming purposefully together.  Us modern, urban folks don't remember why "horsepower" is a measure of an engine's power.  Listen for that cracking ending !

The second movement here is purposeful too.  No lazing in the sunshine here.  Listen to the sharp,  crackling percussion chasing the orchestra on, and later the woodwinds.  Franck gets good interplay between nostalgia and excitement : one without the other wouldn't be quite so piquant.  The violin melody is exquisite. Yet immediately the mood is cut by Dionysian swagger. Summer rushes forth with unstoppable vigour - listen to the brass repeat the birdsong, but with sass and rude health. Kukuk ist tod, kukuk ist  tod - but not for the moment!  Summer is short in the mountains, as the lingering call of the distant brass reminds us. But while it's here it's glorious. Thus the posthorn call, heard from a distance, as if it remains suspended in time. The world may change, but somehow the posthorn is eternal.

Mihoko Fujimura has been singing Mahler for years. Here, she's magnificent : elegant yet austere and dignified.   Voice and violin dialogue : the rest of the orchestra seems stilled, listening in rapt concentration. For all the abundant life in the orchestra up to this point, we're hit hard by the inescapble fact : things come to an end.  We're not left there long, though, as the Choir of Radio France sparks into action.  Bimm, Bamm, Bimm bamm. Notice the regular rhythm, her "march of life quietly resurgant.  Another ;long, poignant look backwards.  Wonderful violins, their soaring tessitura suggesting upwards movement.   Perhaps in Mahler's time, orchestras weren't so technically proficient but that's no excuse.   Mahler's music is so beautiful, so wonderful that it really needs performers who can access levels the composer might have dreamed of.  +As the symphony moves into its last, all-important themes, refinement is of the essence. We are no longer in the mountains, even as metaphor, but in an altogether more elevated,  spiritual plane.  Magnificntly assured playing. Now the "march" is beaten out firmly on timpani, with quiet confidence that doesn't need overstatement.

Kurt Masur Leipzig, Mikko Franck Paris and Bach in Munich

London might be shut down for the season but there's plenty to listen to elsewhere.

Kurt Masur conducts the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchesta in 2009, commemorating their stand during the "Peaceful Revolution" 20 years before. 

Bach cantatas with the Akademie fur Alte Musik, Berlin, the Munich Radio Chorus and Peter Dijkstra

Mikko Franck conducts the Orchestra Nationale de Radio France in a very different, but fun Xmas concert
 also HERE

Mikko Franck's Sibelius France Musique

This September, Mikko Franck takes over from Myun-Whun Chung as Chief Conductor of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, where he's been guesting for the last twelve years. He was only 24 at the time, yet had already been conducting professionally since his teens  At the Sibelius Academy,  he was a young prodigy, widely tipped for international acclaim. Fortunately, early fame didn't go to his head and distort his talent. Instead he built his skills  steadily, By the age of 22, he had become Chief Conductor of Orchestre National de Belgique. He went on to be Music Director of the Finnish National Opera, which is a much bigger deal than opera houses in other countries, because in Finland, opera is so dominant that it's the focus of much new writing. Franck commanded such respect that he was able to regain his position after resigning in protest at the management, not something that can be done lightly. In the early stages of his career, he was plagued  by poor health (injuries and asthma) but that seems to have been resolved. ORF know what they're doing.

France Musique presents a selection of Franck's Sibelius concerts with them over the years  Interesting and unusual choices, such as the Nocturne from King Christian II, Sibelius Violin Concerto with Baiba Skride, En Saga and a magnificent Sibelius Symphony No 7.  Ironically, it must be harder for Finnish conductors to tackle Sibelius, because he carries so much extra musical weight in his home nation that it can be hard to interpret him in purely musical terms.  As Esa-Pekka Salonen said, he couldn't face conducting Sibelius until he had himself matured, much in the way that you can;t really appreciate your father until you've become your own person.

Sibelius used to complain about “distorted” performances of his work, as he told his friend Simon Parmet, whose book about the symphonies was first published in English in 1959 , though written much earlier. It's such a personal, first hand account that it's still a key document in Sibelius interpretation. “Many conductors seem unwilling to allow their impulsive playing to be disturbed by intellectual considerations and sober musical thinking”, he wrote. “A conductor can acquire an authoritative position in relation to a composer’s work equal to that of the composer himself if he possesses an exact knowledge of his logic, a knowledge which must be extracted from the text of the composer’s work.  Then, and only then, can he feel sure of keeping faith with the intentions of the composer. (Only) then will he be entitled to let his own subconscious take over and guide him through those difficult passages which no degree of intellectual effort could help him master”.

Since Sibelius's music is so remarkable, it's easy enough to play safe and wow audiences with something predictably overblown,  but good conductors do more. And Sibelius deserves more. Thus I like Franck's Sibelius, which sounds clean, fresh and vibrant.