I can imagine the main draw for many people to this concert had been the prospect of hearing Nina Stemme sing Strauss's Four Last Songs, a work which she's recorded, to considerable acclaim, with Antonio Pappano for EMI (reviewed here). Due to illness, she had to withdraw and we were lucky that no less a Straussian than Anne Schwanewilms was on hand to take her place.
The London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Simone Young played with many of the qualities that had marked out their performance of Mahler's 'Resurrection' Symphony earlier in the week: the temptation to wallow and indulge was avoided and the moments of drama were outstanding. For me the main problem with this concert was the programme order. Placing Also sprach Zarathustra in the second half, after the refinement, economy and beauty of the Metamorphosen and Four Last Songs, does the work no favours.
It was also a missed opportunity to trace the line from the beginnings of Strauss's career to the end; from the self-determined, youthful confidence of the tone poems of the 1890s to the wise, world-weary Goethe-inspired utterances of the composer's final years. Quite apart from anything else, the early tone poem leaves us in a state of total uncertainty. If the Metamorphosen and Four Last Songs can't be said to answer specifically the questions posed in Also Sprach Zarathustra, they do represent Strauss coming to terms with the problems of the philosophical path he was taking in basing a work on Nietzsche.
His unstinting, naive belief in German culture's ability to retain a sovereign independence in the face of political developments had been shattered: Germany's cultural institutions had been poisoned intellectually and laid waste physically. He was facing charges of Nazism; his determination to remain an independent artist had led paradoxically to his being dragged into the machinery of Nazi cultural policy.
This situation is most explicitly evoked in Metamorphosen, outwardly inspired by the destruction of Dresden's Semperoper which had played host to many of the most important Strauss premieres. It's an elegy for which the LPO strings produced a mellow, homogenous sound but Young's reading was relatively swift, verging sometimes on the breathless. The designation 'Study for 23 Solo Strings' might suggest that Strauss was retreating into the objective, seeking refuge in technique at a time of philosophical turmoil. It's therefore a good tactic in performance to avoid the temptation to wallow. Young achieved this but I also felt that some parts of the performance were driven a little too hard. This meant that much of the more ornate solo writing came across as a little garbled and rushed. Technically though, the players equipped themselves admirably, a few moments of insecure intonation notwithstanding.
After a brief pause to install the conductor's podium, the orchestra filled out and the elegantly imposing figure of Anne Schwanewilms took to the stage. Throughout the songs, she sang with glorious tone, her voice soaring effortlessly. Yet she seemed strangely reluctant to become emotionally engaged. This was particularly noticeable in the first song, Im Frühling, where each of her phrases seemed to exist independently rather than as part of the whole. The longer lines of September came across better and there was no resisting the tonal beauty of Schwanewilms' lustrous soprano and Strauss's inspired melodic writing. She remained slightly detached though, expressing very little through her facial expressions or body language. The LPO's accompaniment was difficult to fault; leader Boris Garlitzsky was restrained but affecting in Beim Schlafengehen's violin solo, and the horn solo in September, where Young couldn't resist lingering but to good effect, was stylish.
As I've suggested, after the mellow, considered economy of the music in the first half, the opening of Also Sprach Zarathustra was always going to sound bombastic and shallow. However, those reservations aside, this was another fine performance, carrying the hallmarks of what seems to be Young's interpretative style. The opening itself was on the slow side but sonically impressive and the reading was most successful when Strauss called for drama in his score.
The LPO sound was ravishing throughout and much of the solo work was impressive. Once again, though, there were times when it all seemed a little driven. The waltz section was unsmiling, for example, with Garlitzky's solo sounding overwrought. There were also some untidy moments at the frantic figures on the flutes and piccolos a couple of minutes into 'The Convalescent' and the high wind also struggled with intonation in the final bars. All in all, though, this was still a highly respectable performance of this enigmatic and original work. And although I would have preferred to have had the running order reversed, it was nevertheless a thought-provoking concert, offering an interesting contrast to Young's Mahler a couple of evenings earlier.
By Hugo Shirley
To read our review of Simone Young's performance of Mahler's Second Symphony, click here.