Joshua Bell, Alan Gilbert and NDR Orchestra play Bruch And Bruckner in Alicante
It looked like a midway show of romantic staples. Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy and Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony were written around 1880, although, as with everything, Bruckner took all criticism seriously and later reworked various aspects of his work without changing its general form. These works of similar origin, of course, also contrast. Bruch’s Fantasia was written for a star performer, Pablo Sarasate, and clearly the composer had his potential for public popularity in mind, whereas Bruckner probably wrote nothing out of an intensely personal inner drive to express his faith. . The Fantasia uses popular songs and folk melodies as its foundation, while Bruckner’s music always seems driven by a highly personal energy. In any case, these are works that this particular listener has heard many times and they represent an approach to music that is not one of my great personal preferences. I had also prepared myself, choosing earlier to listen to a symphony performance that I remembered from a previous tour of Spain by a foreign orchestra some years ago, a tour that included a symphony performance in Alicante that I attended. Thus prepared, I applauded the Elbphilharmonie orchestra of North German Radio (NDR) on stage.
What he hadn’t anticipated was a performance the likes of which he had rarely heard. Joshua Bell arrived to play at the Bruch Scottish Fantasy. Reputations can now be built on the basis of marketing, in which case the ego’s performance experience is often less than the promise. With Joshua Bell, one feels that it is quite the opposite. He is in such control of the music, so at ease with its expression, that the instrument, the human being, the art and the performance become one force. The result would be devalued by the label ‘bewitching’. At times it felt like an effort to remember to breathe, so completely engrossed was this audience in the performance. It was an experience enhanced by Joshua Bell’s evident skill and delight in communicating with the director, his fellow musicians and the audience to create a sense of inclusion and sharing. An encore seemed inevitable and it appeared. It was again a popular choice, but with an unknown appearance. Thus, Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi’s O Mi Babbino Caro became a violin solo with discreet orchestral accompaniment.
Until now not mentioned, conductor Alan Gilbert conducted his NDR Elbphilharmonie orchestra at the Bruckner Symphony. Given the orchestra’s previous association with Gunther Wand, this was certainly familiar territory for the band, but this familiarity garnered not just respect, but immediate, radiant brilliance. His relationship with his recently adopted principal conductor will clearly not only build on the orchestra’s tradition, but also enhance it.
There was not a moment in this performance when the playing, the playing, the sound, the phrasing, even the whole musical sense fell short of impressive, even revealing. Bruckner’s tremolo strings often create the oral equivalent of a painter’s wash, saying nothing in itself, but coloring the overall effect with a commanding presence. In the hands of NDR and Alan Gilbert, the tremolos were lightened up by adding what seemed like the perspective of another dimension within the image. Through this clarified air, the landscape was able to offer its magical detail, often laden with guilt.
Long before the end of this performance, it was clear that this was one of the best performances of music I had ever heard. My previous preparation became irrelevant. Nothing could have prepared a listener for this brilliance, this sheer beauty of sound, this perfect balance, this ever enlightened phrasing. For the first time in this concertgoer’s experience, Anton Bruckner’s music made sense as well as an impression.
Joshua Bell, Alan Gilbert, Max Brooke, Anton Bruckner and the North German Radio Orchestra combined to deliver what can only be described as the experience of a lifetime.
