RSNO Hahn at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall review: 'remarkable eloquence'
On paper it looked an odd programme, teaming mid-20th century masterpiece Berg's Violin Concerto with Mozart's Requiem, but, as RSNO Principal Guest Conductor Patrick Hahn explained, preceding both with Beethoven's rarely heard late choral miniature Elegischer Gesang created a sequence of works that all shared a memorial purpose.
More than that, however, all three were never heard by their composers, because Mozart and Berg had themselves died before the first performances and Beethoven was deaf. So it was especially appropriate that the concert was signed by the remarkable BSL performer Paul Whittaker. It is not necessary to be reliant on his interpretation of the music to appreciate its remarkable eloquence.
Earlier in the week, the RSNO, Hahn and soloist Carolin Widmann had been recording the concerto for a new disc that will pair it with the Violin Concert of Benjamin Britten, who was one of those who recognised its stature at the first performance. Berg's champions are still fighting their corner, and Widmann and Hahn made their case with a performance that relished the range of orchestral colour as much as the virtuosity required of the soloist, particularly in the second movement.
Read more reviews from Keith Bruce:
With alto sax joining bass clarinet and contrabassoon in the winds, that section's exchanges with Widmann were wonderfully expressive, the whole work framed by sections in which they were joined by the harp of Eluned Pierce.
If Hahn was meticulous, precise, but understated in the first half, we saw his more expansive side after the interval as he guided the RSNO Chorus, prepared by director Stephen Doughty, through the Mozart. This was quite a brisk Requiem, a pace that only seemed to catch the large choir out at the end of the Sanctus, and the conductor integrated the choir, players and quartet of soloists in a way that brought out the operatic elements of the score.
That front line – Scots soprano Mhairi Lawson and tenor Jamie MacDougall, mezzo Hanna Hipp and baritone Laurent Naouri – were especially good in ensemble in that regard and the might of the full choir was perfectly matched by the crisp playing of the RSNO's trombones in the concluding Lux Aeterna.
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