Above : Pianist Benjamin Kopp (from the Streeton Trio) performed the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 1 with TMO. Featured image: Sarah-Grace Williams-Artistic Director and conductor of TMO.
The Metropolitan Orchestra’s cohesiveness, collective stamina and calibre of expression continues to go from strength to strength. These exciting qualities enabled works of Russian greats to be featured exclusively in Met Concert #2. Their compositions were delivered with scintillating levels of clarity and emotion.
In yet another sold out event at the ABC Centre’s Eugene Goossens Hall, the programme consisted of two major Russian orchestral classics from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The first half of the concert saw the orchestra collaborate with Australian pianist Benjamin Kopp in a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto no 1 Op 23. Following interval we heard a stunning performance of the Symphony No 10 in E Minor Op 93 by Shostakovich.
The first piano concerto by Tchaikovsky is loved for its blend of bravura and bold shifts to contrasting lyricism. With Benjamin Kopp as soloist, moments of layered lyricism and cantabile contrast were searchingly and spontaneously realised.
Kopp’s beautifully restrained playing was admirable and his delivery of measured bravura completed the dramatic tapestry with fireworks which were never exaggerated. This pianist’s virtuosity in cadenza flourishes was engaging in its degree of colour. There were dazzling, well-nuanced segues between passages of bare and fuller keyboard communication.
In this work, unisons and general balance with the orchestra were nicely managed despite challenging shifts in tempo and texture. This provided pleasing forward momentum to the well-known movements. TMO shone in several moments of commanding tutti declaration and supplied precise lush backgrounds for the soloist’s musings as well as Tchaikovsky’s unique Romanticism.
A shift in style came after interval. The talents within TMO were showcased as they performed the Symphony No 10 in E minor Op 93 by Shostakovich. The orchestra answered Shostakovich’s demands for prolonged intensity of steely tone colour and relentless repetition of motifs.
Conductor Sarah-Grace Williams is to be congratulated on this Shostakovich interpretation. Under her baton the orchestra was guided to produce great emotion but with suitable control throughout. The resulting drama and individual characterisations of each movement’s statement were clearly accessible for the audience.
TMO’s principals were called upon many times as soloists articulating outbursts above the rest of the orchestra. Shostakovich’s work searches constantly for new and varied hues for the soundscapes, and relies heavily on the uniqueness of solo lines interestingly juxtaposed. At all times these single instruments answered the composer’s requests admirably. The principals were well highlighted above their supportive colleagues.
The extremes of dynamics and many instrumental effects utilised by this composer were excellently observed by the orchestra. Climactic moments with thundering reiterations and all repetitions successfully contained similarity of tone, nuance and attack. The playing of Shostakovich’s signature melodic fragments based on his name and that of his unrequited love were communicated well between soloists, orchestral sections and in forceful orchestral unison.
TMO’s large forces observed and conveyed the architecture of this work well. It was a crowd-pleaser and an exciting way to end a programme of Russian music. This symphony was an effective vehicle to display the developing capabilities of this popular orchestra. I left craving a recording of this work from TMO so the performance could be listened to again.
TMO’s Met series continues with Met Concert #3 on June 11, featuring Mendelssohn’s ‘Italian’ Symphony, Beethoven, Strauss and a world premiere work.