Neeme Jarvi - RSNO Saturday Night
The Ring - An Orchestral Adventure - Henk de Vlieger condensed The Ring cycle
into an one hour symphonic Wagnerain journey - and a packed house at the
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall got to see it performed for the first time on
Saturday night. And so did I.
The concert starts out with Haydns 101 aka The Clock Symphony. Terrible. The
band is lacklustre and uncertain. They play under Jarvi who does all he can
to get them going. But Jarvi himself is uncertain, and after the symphony is
over I wonder if the Wagner showcase is going to crumble in the same way.
It doesn't.
It starts fairly quietly, the band appearing much more deliberate in what
they're doing, but the strings grow and grow, the players glancing up and
down, up and down, from instrument to conductor, and as the Wagner swells the
whole house know this is going to be a knockout piece. The Valkyries fly
seamlessly into the score, their eyes wide open to the woodwind and strings
which now match Jarvi's spinning pulse and then some. By the time the Rhine
began to burst its banks at the end of this 'Wagner Symphony', there is not a
person in the house who thinks this is a flop. We are dazzled by the concert
hall being sucked into itself by the volume and vortex of the RSNO
performance, we're being drowned by the Rhine ourselves and Jarvi is wasted
now, gone so far, gone TOO far with his directions that the woodwind and the
Timpani almost tear their skins open and burst their lips clean off, and
there's the strings in synch with the furious head wobbling and sweeping
movements of their owners, matching every pitch and bend of the music with
hair tossing passion. I near expected Wagner himself to stride on to tell
everyone to calm down.
He didn't but he should have.
From an absoloute dead end deadpan beginning, to quite the most devastatingly
excellent 'Best Wagner remix Ever' Jarvi and the RSNO were not there to
disappoint. Maybe Haydns clock was there at the beginning so the band could
get their timing right for the Wagner. Who knows? One things for sure, their
timing was never more right, and Wagners Ring powerfully engulfed Haydns
little clock in a way that's had me playing the album version non stop ever
since.
Phew...Did anyone else go?
I don't get the opportunity to go to many concerts these days, but if members would like to report concerning any concerts you have attended please dump a few notes here!
