Mozart, Mahler Katia & Marielle Labèque (pianos); Czech Philharmonic Orchestra / Semyon Bychkov. Barbican Hall, London, 09.03.2025
Mozart Concerto for Two Pianos in E flat, K 365 (1779)
Mahler Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor (1901/2)
Semyon Bychkov’s Mahler cycle i shaping up to be a major recording event of our time. The Fifth, this time: but wat to have as coupling? Bernstein, when he came to the Proms with the Vienna Philharmonic, chose Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto; Bychkov opted for the Double Concerto (for wo pianos), a piece he recorded with the Labèque sisters several decades ago with the Berliner Philharmoniker. Many of the dynamics are still there: the sisters demonstrate two different personalities that merge and meld as appropriate, the orchestral exposition to the first movement is very much a (reduced) modern orchestral approach. And it works, and satisfyingly so, not least because of the telepathic link between Kaia and Mariell. Mozart’s concerto has the pianos jousting with passages, one after the other. It was fascinating to hear Katia and Mariell’s opening statements, Katia testing the boundaries of rubato, Marielle more reined-in. Ane when they play together, it is as if there is one super-piano.
The central movement was actually a proper Andante (I suspect a bit swifter than the Phillips recording). A word for those Czech oboes at the opening, so perfectly judged, ad such a satisfying sound. Central European orchestras rarely disappoint for woodwind character. The finale is marked ‘Rondeau,’ but is also an Allegro. And a rather sprightly one here: exchanges between the ladies were sunning. Moments of softer energy offered plateaux of contrast. Strings had heft when needed (two double-basses ; the string layout was first and second violins together, then cellos and on the conductor’s right, viola).
One encore, and not Ravel, surprisingly, gievn the anniversary: a piano duet )(plyed on on piano), he third movement of Fauré’s Dolly Suite, Op. 56, “Le jardin de Dolly’.
Mahler’s Fifth Symphony packs a huge emotional punch, from the funeral march of the opening to the tender caresses of the Adagietto. Mahler said a symphony should contain the World; and there is little to contradict that in the Fifth. Bychkov’s Mahler is fairly lean: the double-basses at the opening in some performances seem positively chthonic; less so, here. For Bychkov, the frightening aspect of the music came from unstoppable momentum; against this, glorious woodwind. The brass, so important in this symphony, offered a mixed account, not quite as accurate throughout as one might expect, from trumpet to tuba. To pigeonhole Bychkov’s Mahler, he lies somewhere midway on the spectrum between Bernstein on one end and Jurowski at the other.
The mania came in the second movement – significantly more so than on his Pentatone recording of this piece with this orchestra. Here, Mahler seemed to shake hands with Charles Ives in what amounted to controlled cacophony. Phrases surged forth, now with increased panic. Tempo changes were superbly negotiated, Mahler’s structure laid out clearly and audibly against an underlying angst.
The third movement contains a horn obbligato, played fearlessly here by Jan Vobořil, and hyper-accurately, too. The spirit of the dance, only somewhat transmogrified, underpinned all. A mention also for the principal trombonist, Lukáš Besuch, faultless throughout.
The famous Adagietto sang its song at a comfortable speed (Adagietto, not Adagio), one of the two harps placed at the back of the strings. Bychkov’s achievement was to present this as a gentle (but, again inevitable) flowering, the harmonic brightening hinting at clearer skies.
Or perhaps not. The horn introduced the finale, with Ondrej Roskavec’s bassoon jauntily implying a pastoral end (Roskavec played with more vibrato than on the Pentatone recording, incidentally). The fugato bounced along almost fluffily, emboldened by double-bass pizzicato; all the starker the contrast, then, as the music suddenly fell from Heaven to Hades, a descent into the darker regions of the psyche. This was a multivalent music, woodwind chords colourful and transparent like a stained-glass window, scampering strings like a legion of imps, the trajectory towards the brass perorations was heady indeed. and as the spirit of the dance r4eturned, so eh end was in sight. The bass peroraion made its mark, shining brightly, ts final appearance a chorale that seemed to blaze. Again, that sense of controlled cacophony, this time leading to an emphatic close.
No encore, and rightly so. What a ride!
