Collegamenti:

- Teatro la Fenice

With an ambitious programme of more than 2 symphonies, the concert started with Strauss’ Symphonic poem “Till Eulenspiegels Lustige Streiche”, a playful and pretty piece. There were some nice soloist moments in this work which is based on the story of a character from 14^th century Germany. The strings ebbed and flowed to the waltz-style main theme and the clarinettist, Fantini, should be noted for his musical dexterity.

Haydn’s Symphony in C Major followed, which was largely uninspiring. During the second movement, the cellos and 1st and 2nd violins shared some fairly magical exchanges of call and response. With the fourth movement, we were treated to a rousing start to help us out of our Haydn slumber and the hard-working first violins certainly kept my attention. To my delight, at the start of the fifth movement, oboe and first violin were left to masterfully introduce the opening melody, with Valĉuha rightly choosing to allow his baton to drop with a little wink to the leader for good measure. A bold move at the start of the final movement caused some titters in the audience but Baraldi was correct to stop proceedings to make sure he was in tune, and the orchestra was able to recommence with a mutual smile.

Thankfully, all became clear through reading the programme, explaining that this was Haydn’s idea of a musical joke; instructing the violins to call a stop to a piece and de-tune their lowest string in order to carry on. I would like to thank him for finally making me sit up and take notice of a performance of one of his works.

In general, from the point of view of a Brit, the whole theatre felt less tense, and I was surprised when during the interval certain orchestra members, including Baraldi himself stayed to have a little practice on stage: a practice that we don’t personally “practice” in the UK.

After the interval, we recommenced with Mozart’s Symphony Number 35 in D Major, a grand allegro opening the 1^st movement preceding the gentle 2^nd movement andante. This flowed nicely with some lovely episodes between the bassoon and oboe who both showed extraordinary sensitivity and lightness of touch. Mozart uses Haydn’s structure in his third movement, which was well played but not awe-inspiring and the symphony finished with the presto, and that is certainly what it was. A bit of a frantic ending for me but the nervous smiles between Valĉuha and Baraldi were a joy to watch, as was the mutual final note sigh.

A Suite from Strauss’ opera Der Rosenkavalier brought a busy yet enjoyable end to the concert, with some excellent brass work and an astonishing amount of control amongst muted strings. There were some magical moments of muted thirds amongst the upper strings which were reminiscent of a film such as Star Wars, but certainly not in a bad way – rather a breath of fresh air. The audience was able to feel the story as it unfolded and the grand waltz did not disappoint, being what I would call pleasingly “swirly”, allowing the audience to bathe in the full orchestral sound. 1st violins and the oboist, Calvi, shared some emotive solos whilst the percussionists were certainly kept on their feet right up until the stirring finale.

In conclusion for this British critic’s first concert by the Orchestra del Teatro la Fenice, I would like to touch upon some comparisons between this orchestra and other orchestras I have observed, including the CBSO (City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra). Firstly, in reading the programme in greater detail I realised that the orchestra is made up almost completely of Italians, if not completely of Venetians. For me this is not a creative way to work; musicians of other cultures bring fresh ideas to the musical table and therefore new interpretations and more varied, exciting and unknown concerts. I have made it very clear throughout this review that this certainly wouldn’t be my choice of programme and in reading about the concerts which I have missed and have yet to come by this orchestra, I am shocked to see the lack of modernity, is anyone looking to the future within this orchestra? I am looking for an orchestra who dares to play something even from the last century. In fact, please, just bring back Biennale!