KVT – The Apotheosis of a Monolog at Nha Hat Lon

KVT in a Schnittke/ Nobuko mood

as there anywhere else to be on Thursday or Friday night…or, indeed, on both nights…than at the Hanoi Opera House?

Two reasons why: The Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra was having an adventure with the polystylist work of Russian composer, Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) and one of the world’s most revered viola players, Japanese Imai Nobuko, was  to play his very tense and gripping ‘Monolog’.

Well there was also a third reason: the VNSO were rounding off the evening with Beethoven’s 7^th which it is soon to play to discerning audiences in Venice and in several Japanese venues! Totally tuyet voi.

In fact the VNSO concert was titled ‘Apotheosis of Dance’ due to that term being applied to the 7^th by Wagner when he first heard its fabulous beats and rhythms. A lot of people, after its first performance in 1812, declared that Beethoven was ripe for the madhouse, mainly because their ears couldn’t attune to the groundbreaking composition.

The VNSO under the baton of Maestro Honna. made it a thrill to experience and got all the rhythmic force of the masterpiece just right.

Often a concert performance of the 7^th is accompanied by a another ‘dance’ composition that may verge on apotheosis (a supreme work) and Honna chose Schnittke’s very playful and punning ‘Suite in the Old Style’ composed in 1972 and probably Scnittke’s most easy to listen to of his serious pieces. It’s made up of five dance type movements in Handelian cum Mozartian style and is occasionally played as a bit of a decadent take on mindless baroque bits and pieces composed for promenading high society. It comes across as easy listening but has loads of nuances sparkling through.

Originally written in 1972 for violin and piano, it was given a chamber orchestra arrangement 15 years later and it was this we got…with a more enlarged string ensemble than I’ve heard before. And they almost pulled it off!

Then came the 18 minute ‘Monolog’ when Imai Nobuko gave a scintillating interpretation of this very austere piece that has you gripping the arms of your seat with the anguish and tension of it all

Schnittke composed it in 1989 and even though Gorbachov had relaxed the rules by which the citizens of the Soviet Union used to have to play by to avoid all sorts of nastinesses creeping up and grabbing them, the composer was still, understandably, paranoid about all the limitations to conversation and public utterances that used to land you in very scary places and boiling hot water…or worse. This Monolog, played by viola and strings, is one of the most exciting bits of music to come my way for a while (even beating the Gorecki I heard a week or so ago).

Unfortunately I couldn’t come up with a Nobuko interpretation on You Tube but this one by Ula Ulijona will give you an idea of why I went to Nha Hat Lon on successive evenings…and if Imai Nobuko was to play it again on Saturday and Sunday I’d be lining up for another ticket 

Another reason to watch Nobuko play was to see the superb sculptural gown she wore (not the one in the older image above). Probably one of the best pieces of haute couture to have been seen in Hanoi…and she wore it with great panache.

By this you may have gathered that I’m one of her biggest fans…and after seeing her play for the third time in Hanoi (here in 2011) I’ll  be there first in the queue if the Japanese sponsors of the VNSO persuade her to come again.

Schnittke was a prolific composer with eight symphonies and lots of other serious works to his name (including more than 60 film scores that earned his bread and butter) but it’s only been since the 1980ies that his music has hit the popularity stakes and oh what I’d give to hear a whole season of his work played! In fact a season that combined Schnittke, Gorekki and Tavener – who hit the hot spot around the same time due to the influence of players like Yo Yo Ma, Kremer, and the Kronos Quartette-, would be to die for.

A first rate musical experience would be if his first symphony could ever be done again in its 75 minute version with all of its references to past composers flying fast and furious and with the choreography that has the musicians wandering on and off stage and that someone described as western musical history being re-created as a barrage of garbled transmissions, a radio receiving many stations on one channel. Its planned anarchy making the sound of music rather than music itself, like what is overheard by so much of today’s society … people who no longer know how to really listen.

Maestro Honna you’ve done it again with a superb night’s music…especially that Monolog! Congratulations to your players in the VNSO. They are set to wow the citizens of Venice and Nhat Ban….and please…..more Schnittke!