The prestigious Bayerisches Staatsorchester provided one of the great symphonic concerts of the Klara Festival. Their conductor was none other than the Russian top conductor Vladimir Jurowski, who has also been their chief conductor since the 2021-22 season. Add to this the French soprano Sabine Devieilhe as soloist and the programme is of the highest calibre.
The programme was, however, anything but self-evident, let alone easy. With Benjamin Britten's "Four Sea Interludes" and his not so accessible song cycle "Les Illuminations", one is rather called upon to listen with concentration than to sit back and enjoy. The same applies to the suite on Debussy's opera "Pelléas et Mélisande" in the arrangement by Erich Leinsdorf. Maurice Ravel's "La Valse" is almost a light finale to the programme, although the dance also has its thorns. From the first "Interlude" ("Dawn") onwards, the orchestra took you along with its impressive sound. What a wealth of colour these musicians produced with their penetrating string sound, as if the violins united into one great violin corps. Simply beautiful. Throughout the four interludes, you saw as it were the opera pass before your eyes, so clearly did Jurowski provide a dramatic interpretation of Britten's instrumental interludes. You empathised with the village community of the fishing village and you heard the raging sea and the incitement of the stubborn and lonely Peter Grimes by the furious villagers. The same experience with the intimate drama of "Pelléas et Mélisande". The mysterious sound of the mysterious Mélisande in "Une fontaine dans le parc", the threatening fear in the underground vaults, the ethereal quality of the death scene.
Devieilhe, a star without star pretences
We already knew Sabine Devieilhe as a very beautiful soprano, but what she performed in Benjamin Britten's "Les Illuminations" surpasses superlatives. The cycle of ten songs for high voice and strings set to texts by Rimbaud was composed by Britten in 1939 in America. In three of the songs the same motif returns, giving it a cyclical unity. The repetition of "J'ai seul la clef de cette parade sauvage" gave Devieilhe an extra mysterious accent. The songs in pure fin de siècle style are arch-difficult both vocally and in terms of interpretation. Devieilhe gave an outright sublime rendition of it. Her supple voice can sing the highest notes and she remains crystal clear. Her virtuosity forms a magical harmony with the flowing strings.
The encores of this concert were marked by the dramatic situation of the war in Ukraine. After the song cycle, Vladimir Jurowski sat down at the piano and performed with Devieilhe a Ukrainian folk song in which the sad vocalise movingly told of the war suffering of a child. At the end of the concert, Jurowski had a Debussy rarity performed, "Berceuse héroïque" a piece that Debussy composed in November 1914 under the impression of the First World War as a tribute to King Albert and his brave soldiers. Jurowski here explicitly dedicated it to the brave president Zelenski and the Ukrainian people. An engaged choice, which the audience loudly applauded. In every piece, Vladimir Jurowski guided his orchestra towards the perfect interpretation. The precision of shimmering cellos in a long pizzicato passage, warm clarinets and flashing flutes. Percussion and brass, everything played in an improbable harmony. The slender figure of the conductor radiated his tension and inspiration to the musicians. The result was a unique concert experience that we would not have wanted to miss.
WHO: Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Vladimir Jurowski, conductor, Sabine Devieilhe, soprano
WHAT: Benjamin Britten: Peter Grimes, Four Sea Interludes; Les Illuminations, Claude Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande, suite Maurice Ravel: La Valse
WHERE: BOZAR
WHEN: Wednesday 16 March 2022