Chinese virtuoso cellist Jian Wang, along with respected Dutch conductor Hubert Soudant and the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra Foundation, closed out its seventh "Great Artists Concert Series" with another extremely fine sounding performance on Dec 7 at the Thailand Cultural Centre.
Cellist Jian Wang performs with the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra and conductor Hubert Soudant on Dec 7.
The Royal Celebration Concert — an annual BSO fixture in honour of the birthday of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej — began with one of His Majesty's most delightful and romantically-inclined compositions, Love In Spring. Thai concertmaster Siripong Tiptan delivered a particularly sweet toned solo line here, with the orchestra's luxuriant textures providing a dreamy and soothing background.
Siripong swapped his leader's seat with visiting Russian pedagogue and concertmaster Yuri Zhislin for the rest of the concert. Then the programme started with its first main draw, Antonin Dvorák's mighty and majestic Cello Concerto In B Minor.
At 40 minutes in length, this masterpiece is the most substantial work in the entire cello repertoire, both astounding in emotional depth and compositional ingenuity, and the toughest of all-round musical challenges for any cellist.
Jian Wang is known for his passionate and intense interpretations of this work elsewhere, and on this occasion he transfixed the audience with the mesmerising clarity of his playing, giving a fully absorbing account and rising effortlessly to all the technically demanding passage work.
The lower-sounding pitch range of the cello somehow needed more expanse — compared to violin concerti — to fully work out the exposition and development of material, especially in the middle Adagio movement. Soudant set up the required impassioned atmosphere and proceeded to ratchet up the tension nicely during the extended, somewhat Brahmsian orchestral tutti introduction, before the solo cello entered with an explosive energy for that first emphatic theme — one of so many strong and memorable tunes throughout this concerto.
The mighty first movement's dialogue alternates between hushed, whispered passages and fortissimo outbursts and as it unfolded the transitions and tempo changes were negotiated well. The fiendish string-crossing arpeggiations high up the fingerboard which pepper the solo cello writing were dispatched with breathtaking accuracy.
The massive expanse of the elegiac slow movement featured some lovingly played woodwind solos, whilst some notoriously difficult violin section string-crossing writing also came across convincingly. Wang explored the subtleties of the exquisite rubato material with an increasing and intoxicating meditative calm. The nostalgic and sentimental heart of the concerto came to a complete rest on the final major chord, fading away with the BSO to a blissful silence.
And then so enters the ominous march-like lower string section to ignite the fiery finale, leading through another searing orchestral introduction and ultimate impassioned entry of the hero soloist. Again, the ebbing and flowing of vastly contrasted dynamics and tempi were negotiated with a taut control from Soudant's podium, leading to the lushest of all soloist/concertmaster duets when Yuri Zhislin joined Jian Wang in ecstatic B major counterpoint as this marvellous performance neared its triumphant conclusion.
The entire brass section had already played with a tastefully controlled tone throughout, but particularly pleasing was the rounded, mellow sound of the trombone chorus which heralds the upcoming final euphoric flourish.
The audience was clearly delighted and so Wang duly rewarded the deserved ovation and enthusiastic applause with the contemplative Courante from Bach's Cello Suite No.1 — music he has recently recorded to much critical acclaim. The attentive looks of shared admiration from within the ranks of the BSO string section itself was indication enough of the level of world-class musicianship on display here. Certainly a rare treat for all, what projected above all else was Wang's sincere and genial personality, combined with heart-warming musical integrity. George Bizet's two L'Arlésienne Suites — performed here unabridged and complete after the interval — served as a sort of de facto "symphony" consisting of eight delightfully orchestrated movements.
Each suite consisting of four contrasted movements, which in themselves was relatively brief, the effect of them all in sequence was quite a revelation for those who may have only heard the most famous sections (perhaps Farandole or Carillon, for example) in isolation.
After the high drama of the Dvorák in the first half, this made for rather more light-hearted fare, but many individuals and instrument sections in the BSO shone admirably on the evening.
Principal flautist Kalaya Phongsathorn deserves special mention for deft fingerwork throughout, but most of all for her mellifluously-toned solo spot in the second suite's exposed Menuet. There is absolutely no hiding place here in a thin texture, shared for the most part with only accompanying harp (supported nicely here by Judith Utley) and saxophone (Supat Hanpattanachai) and Kalaya displayed admirable nerve under the spotlight.
Another highlight was the whole string section's gorgeous sounding tone in the tender Adagietto, with the violins playing more into the string even in the quietest bars to achieve an intense timbre. Soudant obviously knows all of this material inside out, and his clear setting of tempi and attentive balancing of the BSO made for a cool-headed and authoritative account of Bizet's memorable, albeit occasionally underrated, incidental music.
