MARK BEBBINGTON, PRINCIPALS OF THE ROYAL PHILHARMONIC
ORCHESTRA
Cadogan
Hall *****
Though there were only three composers named on the
programme, there was in fact a fourth hovering over proceedings, and that was
Brahms, exerting a posthumous presence not only over two fledgling composers,
Ireland and Vaughan Williams, but also over a well-established composer nearing
the end of his life, Elgar.
In this wonderful programme in the acoustically- and
comfort-friendly Cadogan Hall pianist Mark Bebbington and principals from the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra gave heroically generous accounts of works from
the first two above-named, and then an absolutely magnificent reading of
Elgar’s Piano Quintet which in reminiscence disturbed my sleep and still haunts
the memory.
John Ireland’s Phantasie Trio in A minor, written according
to the tenets of William Cobbett’s chamber music competition, requiring a
compact, single-movement multi-structured composition mirroring the works of
English consort composers centuries earlier, begins bracingly, Brahmsian surges
filigreed with a tinge of fashionable Frenchness. Cobbett’s requirements are
more of a straitjacket than a backbone, however, and transitions seem
unconvincing, with the conclusion to the rumbustious finale coming too quickly.
Bebbington’s pianism was compelling, drawing us into the
Cadogan’s natural, accommodating acoustic, and the RPO players relished their
freedom from orchestral ranks.
Listening to it blind, you would be hard pressed to identify
the next offering, a 1903 Piano Quintet in C minor as by Vaughan Williams,
speaking as it does in so many tongues, Brahms shoulder-pushing among them, the
poor composer helpless to decide which of them is his.
The scoring is the same as that of
Schubert’s Trout Quintet, Benjamin Cunningham’s double bass here adding a
sturdiness to the string unisons, and Bebbington’s piano articulation, now
crisp, now full-throated, brought as much personality as could be found in this
anodyne work. It is not surprising that the composer later withdrew it, and
perhaps unfair that his widow agreed to its resuscitation towards the end of
the last century. Scored for similar forces, Vaughan Williams’ On Wenlock Edge
of 1909 proclaims much more of a well-found voice, his studies with Ravel
kicking Brahms into touch.
But Brahms still cast a presence
even up to the declining years of Elgar’s career, perhaps not so evident in the
Violin Sonata and String Quartet, but certainly in the Piano Quintet which
completed that magnificent chamber trilogy composed in Fittleworth, and which
here received an absolutely tremendous performance from Bebbington and the RPO
players, bringing their orchestral experience to the expansive generosity of
the score.
There is certainly a Brahmsian
subtext threatening to break through in the Quintet, but Elgar has so many
novel surprises up his sleeve, beginning with the shadowy, pointillistic
textures of the opening. This was a well-built account throughout, finding all
the conviction of Elgar’s thrusting forward whilst cherishing his recourse to
previous material during the progress of the three movements.
Bebbington brought an almost
concerto-like personality to the piano writing, but another major feature in
this reading was the ardent viola of Abigail Fenna, her tone properly forward
in all the opportunities Elgar gives in the poignant endless valediction of the
slow movement – making one wish he had written a viola sonata, also thinking
back to the Canto Popolare of In the
South (a rhythm from that much earlier work permeating the finale here).
The players had provided their
best advocacy for the material of the concert’s first half, but it was perhaps
unfair to pit those works against this masterpiece, written with such a proud,
confident voice.
Christopher Morley