City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla
The CBSO and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla present two masterpieces of the 20th century, one a rapturous violin concerto, the other hewn under the pressure of Stalinist Russia.
When Edward Elgar wrote his Violin Concerto in 1909–10 his reputation was at its peak, with a decade of spectacular artistic successes behind him. But nothing was ever straightforward with this complicated man: elation and terrible self-doubt would alternate as he composed and, after the initial satisfaction at finishing a score, he would often react harshly against it.
But the Violin Concerto was a different matter. As one friend recalled: ‘I have never heard Elgar speak of the personal note in his music except in regard to the concerto, and of it I heard him say more than once, “I love it”.’ Elgar said more about that ‘personal note’ to his close friend Alice Stuart-Wortley, whom he nicknamed ‘Windflower’, grouping the concerto with his Second Symphony (1911) and his choral ode, The Music Makers (1912): ‘I have written out my soul in the concerto, Sym. II and the Ode and you know it … in these three works I have “shewn” myself.’ At the head of the concerto’s score Elgar placed a quotation from the novel Gil Blas by the 18th-century writer Alain-Rene Lesage: ‘Aqui esta encerrada el alma de .....’ (‘Here is enshrined the soul of .....’). The five dots appear to stand for Alice’s full initials, ASCS-W. Was Elgar in love with her? Certainly he found her fey beauty, her intelligence and her devotion to his work inspiring, but if she was ever more to him than a muse, we’ll probably never know.
If we can for a moment accept conventional Edwardian notions of ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’, we can hear how muscular masculine ideas and more delicate, feminine ‘Windflower’ motifs alternate throughout the concerto’s long first movement. The striding opening theme suggests a self-portrait: Elgar the bluff , self-styled Edwardian man of action. But the violin’s entry takes us into a new world: meditative, soulful, subtly fluid in tempo and character. One striking detail: the violin never plays the concerto’s first theme (Elgar himself?) in its original form, instead responding to it, extending it lyrically or developing it with virtuoso fireworks.
It’s tempting to hear the Andante that follows as an imaginary love-scene. Now the feminine themes initiate, but intimate or dramatic conversation between these and the masculine element is just as crucial as in the first movement. The closing pages have a rapt, sensuous beauty unusual even by Elgar’s standards. The man of action takes the lead again in the finale, but memories of the slow movement grow stronger as the movement unfolds. Eventually, a ghostly return of the first-movement theme introduces the most original passage in the whole concerto: a dream-like accompanied cadenza full of longing, during which the strings strum their instruments like guitars. Eventually the first theme rouses soloist and orchestra again, leading to an exultant major-key conclusion; all the same, it may well be the unearthly vision of that haunting cadenza which lingers longest in the memory.
Passion and tenderness, joy and pain, abound in Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet score Romeo and Juliet, emotions often thrown into relief by his playful sense of humour. But whose passion and tenderness are we hearing? Unlike Elgar, Prokofiev was not the kind of man to ‘shew’ himself in his music. Instead there is a remarkable empathy with Shakespeare’s characters, plus a feeling that the playwright’s ripely beautiful poetry is being transformed into music of equal richness and poignancy.
Prokofiev completed the original score in 1935, while he was in still in the process of returning to his Russian homeland – he finally took up Soviet citizenship in 1936. In this early version the story had a happy outcome, but for the 1940 premiere at the Kirov Ballet it was much revised, and Shakespeare’s tragic ending was restored. It was a huge success, both in the USSR and across the world, and has never lost that popularity. The fact that music written for a Communist ballet theatre could become famous as the theme for a TV show celebrating capitalist enterprise (The Apprentice) would no doubt have appealed to Prokofiev’s ironic sense of humour.
Prokofiev extracted three orchestral suites from the ballet, in which the ordering of the movements had more to do with musical balance than with Shakespeare’s plot. But tonight we hear a selection of movements from these suites arranged so they reflect the unfolding of the tragedy. The enmity of the two rival families is presented with grim force in ‘Montagues and Capulets’ and we sense their determination to maintain the feud in ‘Dance of the Knights’. After being introduced to Juliet, we are spectators at the ball (‘Masks’) where the lovers meet for the first time. The famous Balcony Scene is portrayed gorgeously, then comes maximum contrast as we watch the lightning swordplay of Mercutio and Tybalt, witness Tybalt’s death agonies, then follow his funeral cortege. Next we meet the ambiguous Friar Laurence – wise counsellor or agent of the lovers’ downfall? Prokofiev’s sense of irony is very much to the fore here. Two colourful dance sequences lead to the full-on emotional catharsis of the last two numbers, in which Romeo, believing Juliet dead, kills himself, and the revived Juliet then discovers her lover’s body and follows him into the arms of death.
It may be easy to mock the absurd elements in Shakespeare’s dramatic showdown, but not when you hear Prokofiev’s musical response, in which his gift for long-arching, viscerally stirring melody is displayed at its finest, leading to an ending that’s touching in its simplicity.
© Stephen Johnson
Details
Programme and performers
Edward Elgar Violin Concerto
1. Allegro
2. Andante
3. Allegro molto
Sergei Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet
Montagues and Capulets – Dance of the Knights
Juliet as a Young Girl
Masks
Romeo and Juliet (Balcony Scene)
Death of Tybalt
Friar Laurence
Dance of the Five Couples
Dance of the Antilles Girls
Romeo at the Grave of Juliet
The Death of Juliet
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla conductor
Vilde Frang violin
Artist biographies
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is the flagship of musical life in Birmingham and the West Midlands, as well as being one of the world’s great orchestras.
Resident at Symphony Hall in Birmingham, the orchestra gives over 150 concerts each year in Birmingham, the UK and around the world, playing music that ranges from classical stalwarts to contemporary, film music to symphonic disco, and everything in between. With a far-reaching community programme and a family of choruses and ensembles, it is involved in every aspect of music-making in the Midlands. At its centre is a team of 90 outstanding professional musicians and a 100-year tradition of making great music in the heart of Birmingham.
That local tradition started with the orchestra’s very first symphonic concert in 1920, conducted by Edward Elgar. Ever since then, through war, recessions, social change and civic renewal, the CBSO has been proud to be Birmingham’s orchestra.
Under Principal Conductors including Adrian Boult, George Weldon, Andrzej Panufnik and Louis Fremaux, the CBSO built an artistic reputation that spread far beyond the Midlands. But it was the discovery of the young Simon Rattle in 1980 that allowed the CBSO to build an international reputation, showing how the arts can help give a new sense of direction to a whole city.
Rattle’s successors Sakari Oramo and Andris Nelsons helped cement that global reputation and continued to build on the CBSO’s tradition of flying the flag for Birmingham. And under the dynamic leadership of Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, the CBSO has continued to promote great music for the people of Birmingham, the Midlands and beyond.
Last year Kazuki Yamada, the orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor since October 2018, was announced as Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor with effect from 1 April 2023.
Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla was named Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in 2016, following in the footsteps of Sir Simon Rattle, Sakari Oramo and Andris Nelsons. For this season she assumes the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the CBSO. She won the 2012 Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award, subsequently making her debut with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra at the Salzburg Festival.
Recent highlights include Britten’s War Requiem at the Salzburg Festival, a new production of Janaček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, staged by Barrie Kosky, at the Bavarian State Opera, numerous European tours with the CBSO and performances with the London and Swedish Radio Symphony orchestras, NDR Elbphilharmonie and the La Scala and Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestras.
She has appeared as a guest conductor all over the world. In Europe she has collaborated with the Bavarian Radio, Danish National and Lithuanian National Symphony orchestras, Stockholm Philharmonic, Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, Deutsche Radiophilharmonie, MDR Leipzig, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre National de Lyon, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Mozarteum Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg and the Orchestra of the Komische Oper in Berlin. She has also enjoyed a dynamic collaboration with Kremerata Baltica and Gidon Kremer on numerous European tours. She has conducted operas in Munich, Heidelberg, Salzburg, at the Komische Oper Berlin and Bern, where she served as Kapellmeister.
In North America she has worked with the orchestras of Philadelphia, Seattle and San Diego and conducted the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in her Carnegie Hall debut in 2018. Her relationship with the Los Angeles Philharmonic began as a Dudamel Fellow (2012–13), subsequently becoming Assistant Conductor (2014–16) and Associate Conductor (2016–17). She was the Music Director of the Salzburg Landestheater from 2015 until 2017.
Since 2018 she has been an exclusive DG Artist. Her first album for the label was of Weinberg symphonies, winning both Opus Klassik and Gramophone Awards in 2020. A second recording featured music by her compatriot Raminta Šerkšnytė and was followed in 2021 by The British Project, featuring music by Elgar, Britten, Walton and Vaughan Williams.
Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla was discovered by the German Conducting Forum (Deutsches Dirigentenforum) in 2009. She was born into a musical family in Vilnius; before pursuing her studies at the Zurich Conservatory, she studied in Leipzig and Bologna. She gained her bachelor’s degree in choral and orchestral conducting from the University of Music and Fine Arts, Graz. She has participated in numerous masterclasses and conducting workshops, and has worked with many established conductors and professors, including Christian Ehwald, George Alexander Albrecht, Johannes Schlaefli, Herbert Blomstedt and Colin Metters.
Vilde Frang has established herself as one of the leading violinists of her generation. In 2012 she was awarded the Credit Suisse Young Artists Award, leading to her debut with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Bernard Haitink at the Lucerne Festival.
In 2016 she made her debut with the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle, returning during the 2017–18 season for concerts with Ivan Fischer.
This season she returns to the Cleveland Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the London Symphony Orchestra. She also embarks on tours with the Berlin and Southwest German Radio Symphony orchestras, Budapest Festival Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. She is also Artist-in-Residence with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.
She has worked with the world’s leading conductors, including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Herbert Blomstedt, Semyon Bychkov, Ivan Fischer, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Bernard Haitink, Daniel Harding, Manfred Honeck, Jakub Hrůša, Mariss Jansons, Paavo Jarvi, Vladimir Jurowski, Sakari Oramo, Sir Antonio Pappano, Sir Simon Rattle, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Lahav Shani, Yuri Temirkanov and David Zinman.
She regularly appears at the Lucerne Festival and BBC Proms; she is also a keen chamber musician, frequently playing at the Verbier, Lockenhaus, George Enescu, Salzburg and Prague Spring festivals. In 2020 she joined the Artistic Board of the Oslo Chamber Music Festival.
As a recitalist she has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Royal Concertgebouw, Vienna Musikverein, Berlin Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall, Zurich Tonhalle and BOZAR in Brussels, as well as in North America as part of the Vancouver Recital Series, Boston Celebrity Series and San Francisco Performances.
She is an exclusive Warner Classics artist and her recordings have received numerous accolades, including two Gramophone Awards, an Edison Award, a Diapason d’Or from Diapason magazine and a Grand Prix du Disque. She was born in Norway and engaged by Mariss Jansons at the age of 12 to make her debut with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. She studied at Barratt Due Music Institute in Oslo, with Kolja Blacher at the Hamburg Musikhochschule and Ana Chumachenco at the Kronberg Academy. She has also worked with Dame Mitsuko Uchida as a Borletti–Buitoni Trust Fellowship winner (2007) and was a scholarship-holder with the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation (2003–09). Vilde Frang performs on a 1734 Guarneri del Gesu, generously loaned to her by a European benefactor.
