The audience at the Thailand Cultural Center was in ecstasy for large parts of last Tuesday's concert by cellist Raphael Wallfisch, conductor Martin Yates and Bangkok Symphony Orchestra. The Elgar cello concerto in particular was met with endless cheers and streams of applause. It was truly a spectacular performance that left the audience yearning for more.
Wallfisch took command right from the start of the four-movement piece. A lot of performers today tend to over-dramatise the first movement of this dramatic concerto, but there was nothing pretentious about Wallfisch's performance. His movements and expressions were natural and that was enough to captivate everyone in the hall. The dialogue between the cello and the orchestra were suspenseful and well balanced.
Also worthy of praise was the woodwind section, especially the Japanese clarinettist, who did a beautiful job supporting both the soloist and the orchestra. As the movement progressed, Wallfisch's music constantly transformed. The variety of rubato, phrasing and colour he was able to produce contributed to the intensity that lasted throughout the movement.
Wallfisch's pizzicato reverberated throughout the hall in the second movement. Such powerful resonance shook everyone in the audience and was immediately followed by nearly-endless tremolos. This experience was further enhanced by a sudden charming melodic line that led to the cadences. One of the greatest challenges in the third movement lies in the long, recurring motive that could have easily sounded static and repetitive. Yet Wallfisch's performance brought the entire movement into another dimension as the cello sung with a beautiful lamentation; haunting and seductive.
The fourth movement was beautifully played by both the soloist and the orchestra, and Wallfisch displayed a vast array of emotions. None of the recurring themes ever sounded the same, as his use of portamento was done tastefully just like the great masters of the past century. It was truly impressive when the theme from the third movement and the opening recitative from the first movement came back in the end. Wallfisch somehow gave a different rendition in these returns that sounded a lot darker, almost like a eulogy. After such an emotional passage, the orchestra wonderfully joined to give the piece a grand ending. Overall, Wallfisch touched all of us.
After an intermission, the New World Symphony began with a mysterious opening and Martin Yates' rendition of Dvorak's well-known piece was full of energy and suspense. Right from the beginning, the pulse of the piece never stopped, which made this an entirely different experience from what I have previously heard. However, I soon discovered that the ongoing pulse made the whole piece much more meaningful when Yates finally expanded the phrasing of the last flute solo.
If there is a favourite movement in this piece, I would have to pick the second movement. The horn solo splendidly captured the American spiritual landscape, joined by the strings that were sublime, warm and uplifting. Continuing, Yates slowly transformed the earlier calm section into a different atmosphere in the middle section.
The suspense turned into pure joy as the orchestra grew in force before returning into the calmness of the English horn once again. All of this was special as this movement came to a close with a sense of melancholy and nostalgia. Waking up from the ethereal second movement, the third movement entered with an energetic orchestra, punctuated by the thunder-like timpani.
This was splendidly interrupted by the woodwind to create a contrast between stormy and charming sections in the middle of the movement. The fourth movement was extremely exciting by the motive that unmistakably reminded us of the score from Jaws. Continuing on was the heroic brass followed by the woodwinds, each building on top of each other; even in the softest section, Yates managed to maintain the energy and tension while going through all the modal changes.
Not moving away from Dvorak's original direction, Yates made sure that all of the returning thematic materials combined through the built up tension and culminated into a huge climactic end section worthy of the grand applause he received from the audience.
