ELGAR Symphony No. 1. Cockaigne Overture
Vasily Petrenko, cond; Royal Liverpool PO
ONYX 4145 (63:19)
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New classical music releases reviewed in detail by Gavin Dixon
Thursday, 13 April 2017
Elgar Symphony No. 1 Petrenko
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The symphonic credentials of Elgar’s First are not
immediately apparent. The work opens with an imperious largamente theme that could grace any of his orchestral works, and
it is only when the sprightly second subject begins that the music displays any
sense of symphonic contrast or argument. The standard approach is to not worry
too much about architecture when Elgar is absorbed in his long melodies and to
compensate elsewhere, especially by heightening the drama at the movement climaxes.
Vasily Petrenko takes a different approach. Everything
in this new recording with the Liverpool Philharmonic works on a symphonic
level. The opening theme is taken at a surprisingly slow pace, creating a mood
of serenity rather than grandeur. And when the second subject begins, it is not
with a sudden jolt so much as a gentle nudge towards the new tempo. Yet within
each of these sections, the tempos are finely judged. Petrenko’s rubato is
slight but continuously applied, so the main theme breathes, and the second
subject, although introduced without ceremony, soon builds up the appropriate
sense of drama.
That emphasis on coherency can go too far, and
valuable contrasts are often glossed over. There is also a sense of spontaneity
in the finest recordings of Elgar’s symphonies which is rarely apparent here. Petrenko
is more daring in the development section of the first movement, on several
occasions bringing the tempos right down, even as the textures build. In doing so,
he is able to bring out details that are usually lost, but often at the cost of
the music’s momentum and drive. On the other hand, the symphonic weight of the
musical argument is often carried by the bass end of the orchestra: When Elgar
repeats phrase endings, each time an octave lower, into the bottom end of the
string section, Petrenko ensures that we hear every note of the double
basses—for a few moments each time we are in the world of his Shostakovich
cycle, before an incoming woodwind melody returns us to Elgar.
The inner movements are also taken at slower than usual
tempos. The second is more a stately march than a driving scherzo, making the
transition into the Adagio all the
more smooth. This movement too feels slow, although perhaps more for the gently
contoured melodies than for the actual tempo choices. The finale is more
dramatic, and builds to an appropriately grand conclusion. But even here,
Petrenko focuses on instrumental detail over orchestral weight, the
contribution of the piccolo one of the many aspects of this movement I hadn’t
previously heard.
The disc opens with Elgar’s Cockaigne Overture, which provides another demonstration of Petrenko’s
skilful tempo manipulation. Here he can’t avoid immediate changes of mood and
texture, as Elgar imposes one melody after another, with clear contrasts
between each. But again, Petrenko finds ways of maintaining continuity,
sometimes seemingly by sleight of hand, raising the tempo at points where it
will be noticed least. It’s all very clever, but is it necessary?
The symphony too raises the question. Many of Petrenko’s
predecessors have demonstrated that the work holds together fine with angular
tempo changes between sections and with the developmental drama played out on a
more modest scale. But Petrenko always hears this music in broader terms. Since
this disc was released, an Elgar Second has been released on the same label
(ONYX 4165). Given the grander scale of that music, it may prove a better fit
for Petrenko’s approach.
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