The Strasbourg Philharmonic in Paris: Khachaturian & Prokofiev
Khachaturian, Prokofiev Nemanja Radulović (violin); Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg / Aziz Shokhakimov (conductor). Philharmonie de Paris, France, 26.11.2024
Khachaturian Violin Concerto in D minor (1940)
Prokofiev Symphony No. 5 in B flat, Op. 100 (1944)
A rare opportunity to hear the Khachaturian Violin Concerto live bought me to Paris: in my report on the 17th Khachaturian Competition (2020), a triumph of invention over plague-driven adversity, I said then that ‘I now pine for a performance of this piece in London’. Paris is close enough.
The Violin Concerto seems to contain the essence of Khachaturian. It is full of folk-sounding melodies (none actually are from the folk repository). It was written in only two months in the summer of 1940, and premiered on November16, 1940 by David Oiistrakh (for whom it was written and who has left a simply phenomenal recording with the composer conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra). This is a long and wide-ranging work, and for all its free-flow melody, challenging, particularly in terms of solo violin/orchestra co-ordination.
This is a long violin concerto – around 35 minutes in most performances. So, a major challenge is continuous laser concentration required by the performers. That was a major part of this performance’s success, something which fell under the responsibility of the conductor, Aziz Shokhakimov. He is as fine a concerto partner as he is an operatic conductor (memories of his Tale of Tsar Saltan at the Opéra du Rhin come flooding back). And talking of Rimsky, that composer’s shadow does occasionally fall on Khachaturian’s score, something foregrounded in this performance. Orchestral colour is certainly an element common to both composers, and Shokhakimov is a great orchestral colourist: he brings out the light and shade perfectly. A special mention for the Strasbourg orchestra’s principal clarinetist in this movement, too (Sébastien Koebel). Shokhakimov’s way with Khachaturian’s grand melodies is perfect: they exude nobility and a sure sense of place, the second movement (Andante sostenuto) offering the perfect case in point.
Born in Serbia in 1985, violinist Nemanja Radulović had his career breakthrough with the Beethoven Violin Concerto, replacing an ailing Maxim Vengerov at the eleventh hour, in 2006 (French Radio Philharmonic and Myung Whun Chung). There is no doubting Radulović has a big stage presence and a big character; he also has a very large sound (he is, in other words, notably loud). But that loudness does not really come with timbral depth, which can act against him. For all of his surmounting of he challenges of the first movement cadenzas, Radulović was most successful in the finale, the music’s forthright core coloured by moments of real nuance from both soloist and orchestra ((there is a sort of post-Rimsky aspect to Khachaturian’s scoring in this movement). The slow movement, an Andante sostenuto, was almost a tone poem before the solo violin’s entry; Radulović's line was of nicely blanched tone, with vibrato used sparingly and effectively yet even here he did not penetrate fully into the music’s mysteries.
Two encores: the famous Caprice by Paganini (Op. 1 No. 24, the ‘Tema con variazioni’), which suited Radulović well, and t duet by Shostakovich with the Strasbourg orchestra’s leader, Charlotte Juillard, an absolutely lovely way to usher in the interval.
And if you want to hear he Khachaturian concerto now,I will post the David Oistraikh performance with Khachaturian conducting, but do try also to seek out Viktor Tretiakov with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra under Dmitri Tulin (part of the Brilliant Classics Tretiakov box):
For the second half, it was Prokofiev’s well-known Fifth Symphony (perhaps the First, the ‘Classical,’ is the ‘favourite’?) This was Shokhakimov on home turf: remember the excellence of his recording of the ‘Classical’ Symphony and the Romeo and Juliet Suites Nos. 1 and 2 for Warner with his orchestra, not to mention the Strasbourg performance of these works (alongside Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1 with Simone Lamsma) in May 2022. The Fifth Symphony is a major undertaking, and Shokhakimov’s reading is magisterial. This is clearly a piece he resonates strongly with, and his response is predominantly lyrical, perhaps reflected in the fact he eschews the baton for this piece (as he did with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra in February 2018, an account enshrined on YouTube: see below).
There is no doubt one can hear the care Shokhakimov surely put into the balancing of the woodwind opening; his tempo, too, allowed for the perfect unfolding while destablising lower strings hint at the troubled territory to come. Shokhakimov offers a blend of performance accuracy (strings so together at speed) with a sense of inevitability. Aspects of orchestration often overlooked or misunderstood become clear: Prokofiev’s deliberate use of the low trumpet register (actually difficult to control for the player) here became a new colour (and perfectly controlled ere). The power of this first movement was in the literal sense awesome: an intensity more associated with Shostakovich, clothed in Prokofiev’s vernacular.
The second movement is marked ‘Allegro marcato’ and it was the marked element that came to the fore, staccato from all sections of the orchestra perfectly calibrated. Worth noting, perhaps, that the orchestral hairpin in the opening bars was more pronounced, better executed than back in Frankfurt, a deliberate interpretative decision that launched a technicolour adventure. For all of the activity, Shokhakmov’s second movement in Paris was underscored by malevolence, perhaps in part a result of the honouring of, and reveling in, the characteristically angular shapes of Prokofiev’s melodies (and, indeed, the ‘tang’ of some of the harmonic twists). This conductor’s discipline in rehearsal also paid huge dividends in the sudden tempo changes.
The Adagio moved: this was no static meditation, but a multivalent processional enlivened by careful placement of harp flecks and washes. Oboe and bassoon octaves were perfectly judged; interesting, too, how the piano is used very much as orchestral percussion in this movement. Finally, an Allegro giocoso, violas all a-buzz prefacing a stunning clarinet solo by Koebel. Again, that low trumpet makes its mark, as it did earlier movements, almost a connecting thread to the symphony in this performance. The biggest win of this account was how Shokhakimov made sense of this movement where many fail. A terrific performance of his symphony, but also a rethinking from within. The score emerged fresh, involving, and invigorating.
A most fascinating, energising evening. One hopes fervently for a recording of the Fifth from these forces; and talking of dreams, would Shokhakimov consider recording Khachaturian's symphonies for Warner?
The Tretiakov Edition is available for a steal at the rather random price of £19.22 (for ten discs!) here; the Oistrakh GROC is available here