KVT – In Seventh Heaven at Nha Hat Lon

In Seventh Heaven at Nha Hat Lon

It was going to be a great Beethoven evening….it couldn’t have been anything else.

Last year Goethe and the Germans presented us with youngish conductor Jonas Alber, the Berlin Philharmonic Choir, and Beethoven’s Ninth at the Opera House. It was a sensation. It was the first time I realized that the Ninth can be grooved along to (mainly because the only seats we could beg, borrow or steal were behind a big pole so we decided to stand at the back, in the aisle, and it proved to be much more cathartic than sitting solemnly in packed rows). Parts of the last movement were a total headbang.

This year Goethe helped to get Alber back for us and that’s why all my other social engagements had to be cancelled last Friday night.

Now, Alber was a notable violinist before he became a notable conductor and when I read that Beethoven’s Violin Concerto was to start the program I knew that a special treat was in store.

Funny thing about Beethoven – he’s the top of the pops in anyone’s language when you talk classical music but in his own time some of his work wasn’t considered to be all that special at all. I mean, the violin concerto only had a couple of outings in his lifetime – and to very lukewarm reception – before it was mothballed and forgotten. A couple of decades later, Felix Mendelssohn unearthed it and popularized it to the iconic status it holds today.

Vietnamese violinist Le Hoai Nam, who is pretty famous in Hong Kong violin circles, gave us a really lovely interpretation. At first glance you think that this slight, long-haired, waifish looking young man couldn’t possibly have the stamina required to play that long first movement – but he certainly did… and then went on to play that oh so peaceful second larghetto that segues without pause into the very lively last rondo movement…. And he deserved the very prolonged applause we all threw his way. If we had all had long stemmed roses, the stage would have been heaped high around his feet (and those of conductor Alber who had the VNSO in the palms of his expressive hands).

It’s a really tricky concerto to get right and doesn’t allow the violinist to show off those virtuoso bits and pieces that make you immediately wam to them. Being so well known (it’s the most recorded violin work and regarded as one of the highpoints in the history of music) it takes courage for a beginning soloist to tackle it. Nam did it proud and those times when the violin spoke alone were very poignant. I breathed in time with him for the whole 45 minutes.

Then came Beethoven’s Seventh!

Now for all the plaudits we heap on Ludwig Van we have to realize that when he wrote the 7^th he was not the most performed or published composer around. In fact Rossini was getting far more attention… but the 7^th put him back in the Viennese pop charts.

It was composed to celebrate a victory over Napoleon’s army and to praise the wounded soldiers.  At its premiere, the second movement was such a smash hit that it had to be immediately encored. It has remained since one of Beethoven’s most loved bits and is often played by itself.

Alber gave a lovely interpretation of the 7^th…which in its day was highly innovative. One CD reviewer says that the finale’s obsessive rhythmical drive would have seemed like 19th century rock music to its initial audience. Whereas, Richard Wagner called it the dance music of the Olympian gods. Alber gave a beautifully restrained touch to the last movement that would have pleased that most obstreperous of all conductors, Thomas Beecham, who declared that too often it sounded like a herd of jumping yaks.

Played well, as we heard it, the symphony certainly lived up to Beethoven’s description of it as his best ever work, and to realize that Alber conducted it without a score made you really appreciate his immense conducting talent.

The Orchestra wiped away the metaphorical sweat after the final notes sounded and sat exhausted but looking like cats who’ve been fed rich cream.

Lovely, lovely, lovely summer night music.

The orchestra goes Italian and plays Paganini at the end of the month. Unmissable!

If I was a parent I’d definitely have my kids booked into the family day time concert on the 12^th….best intro to the classics they could get. I might have to kidnap a child or two so that I’ll have a reason to go too ….but the thought of all that excited squirming makes the swimming pool another desirable option.

KVT’s opinions on Beethoven only cost 450 00VND…a steal for a stereophonic experience in the best seats in the house.