On Saturday, February 3, an evening of pure symphonic romanticism was presented with the Brussels Philharmonic in the Flagey building where it is based. Under the motto Beethoven 7, Hervé Niquet conducted works by Paul Dukas, Camille Saint-Saëns and Ludwig Van Beethoven.
The crowd-pleaser, and rightfully so, was Ludwig Van Beethoven's seventh symphony. Niquet rightly chose this work to program as a kind of apotheosis of the concert. The Brussels Philharmonic opened with a notably large brass section for the performance of 'Polyeucle – ouverture pour la tragédie de Corneille' by Paul Dukas. For me, it was a first encounter with this rarely heard work. A piece of French orchestral romanticism with much use of brash brass, then again almost faint strings only to deliver a fortissimo in tutti once more. Personally, I won't seek out this work again, but that doesn't mean the acquaintance with it wouldn't have pleased me. It is a work tailor-made for Niquet to give such pieces extra tonal color, and with this accomplished orchestra, this task proceeded naturally.
I was less enthusiastic about pianist Marie Josèphe Jude, who performed as soloist in Camille Saint-Saëns's second piano concerto. She emphasized the virtuosic (well, this work doesn't offer much more than passages) but in my view stumbled too often over her fingers. This concerto could also benefit from more variation in its musical structure from the pianist. Pity, as the conductor and orchestra did not lack inspiration.
After the intermission, the genius of Ludwig Van Beethoven came into its own all the more in his lyrical seventh symphony. A work that conductor and orchestra have in their hands and that was particularly enjoyed by the audience that filled Studio 4 of Flagey well. One minor point of commentary on Niquet's interpretation is that the Allegretto could have been set somewhat slower, but this is a matter of taste, not musical execution.
It was pleasant that during the intermission one could enjoy an authentic Austrian dish, a Rostl (sliced potatoes with pieces of sausage and a fried egg) and a damper at the end of the concert was the so-called 'afterparty with DJ4T4 which provided very loud rock music that sent the audience rushing down the stairs toward the exit. If Beethoven had experienced this...
- WHAT: Beethoven 7 with works by Dukas, Saint-Saëns and Van Beethoven
- WHO: Brussels Philharmonic conducted by Hervé Niquet, pianist Marie-Josèphe Jude
- WHERE & WHEN: Flagey Studio 4, Brussels, Saturday, February 3, 2018