The Dome, Brighton, 23 May
If the Shostakovich at lunchtime had been demanding, the whole of the evening concert at the Dome proved to be equally challenging. The soloist in Prokofiev’s 3rd Piano Concerto was the blind pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii. Normally one would not want to highlight disability, but the phenomenal power and precision of his playing, to say nothing of his ability to respond with enormous sensitivity to orchestra and conductor, was mind-blowing. His approach was aggressive and forthright, bringing intense energy to the technical expertise at his command. It was no wonder that Ashkenazy, as much a pianist as a conductor, had chosen this young man as the soloist for the fireworks and the intellectual challenge of the concerto.
After the interval came Shostakovich’s Symphony No 13 Babi Yar. In the wrong hands the work can easily seem to dissolve into cynicism or despair, but here Ashkenazy was able to find some form of comfort and resolution, if not hope, in the final movement. After the almost unbearable emotional intensity of Yevtushenko’s opening poem, the work guides us through the stoicism of mankind in the face of evil to a resolution which, if not one which leads to an answer, does at least give hope that individuals can face up to evil on such a scale.
The Russian bass Sergei Aleksashkin knows the work well enough to sing it almost from memory, and brings not only authority and power to his performance but an emotional truth which helps us cope with the impact of the text. He was well supported by the men of the Brighton Festival Chorus dealing with transliterated Russian with some aplomb. The Philharmonia Orchestra showed off the strengths of their various departments, with particular plaudits going on this occasion to the woodwind.
A packed audience followed the evening with hard edged concentration and rewarded the performers with extended applause. BH