“Dream Inauguration”
Quatrième Mur
Musique Classique
November 5, 2023
Dream Inauguration of the Rachmaninoff International Orchestra (RIO): On the path to a language with deep roots, penetrating presence, and musical beauty
“Celebrating the universal language of music.” This quote opens the page of the new Rachmaninoff International Orchestra. What can really be said within music that words cannot reach? It's about a new anchoring, ancient roots, raw questions, current tensions, all a poignant journey to arrive at a presence and harmony experienced during a concert, on the occasion of Rachmaninoff's 150th anniversary.
The Rachmaninoff International Orchestra played its inaugural concert at the Rosey Concert Hall on October 30, 2023. Between "reincarnation" and a new project by the pianist and conductor Mikhail Pletnev, accompanied by his colleague Sergey Markov as the orchestra’s co-founder, the RIO takes root between the experience of the virtuoso and the legacy of the one who gave his name to the orchestra. Why Rachmaninoff? In the last century, this Russian virtuoso composer and pianist had to sever ties with his country, fleeing the regime in place and spending the second half of his life in the United States. His story and origins find a particular resonance with the story of Pletnev. He too has led a career as a pianist but also as founder in 1990 and conductor of the Russian National Orchestra, the only independent orchestra in Russia... until the Russian government also nationalized it. Today, Pletnev no longer goes to Russia and lives in Morges, Switzerland. He decided to form an orchestra thought of as the "reincarnation" of his previous orchestra. The initial project has been somewhat modified, focusing on the internationalization of its musicians. The orchestra is thus composed of Russian, Ukrainian, and European artists.
This blend of Russian roots and international makeup of the orchestra thus echoes the figure of Rachmaninoff. Sergey Markov also emphasizes the impact the Russian composer had on American composers. In a nod to this American influence, the works of American composer Gordon Getty were featured in the first concert, with Getty himself present in the hall during the inaugural concert. Thus, the programming traces a path between Russian roots and contemporary American musicality.
The orchestra opens with Getty's Plump Jack Overture, with an energetic introduction marked by inaugural timpani and pompous brass, where we witness an oscillation between solemn themes and the winds' sketches of a more mysterious side. The mocking strings accompany the sought-after changes in atmosphere. The Rosey Concert Hall transforms into an ideal sound setting, with a clear, compact sound without harshness, where certain instruments stand out perfectly, such as the harp sections. In the middle of the overture, a popular theme emerges, perhaps even of traditional inspiration, interspersed with percussion with military accents. This allows us to make a connection: the memory of the country, whatever it may be, despite the omnipresent presence of the army, or more broadly, of war. An ambivalence that is not resolved in the two vocal pieces. The velvety voice of baritone Lester Lynch is heard even in the deep tones that the aria "No, My Good Lord" reaches, before rising in pitch. The "Hostess Aria" allows the voice of soprano Alexandra Armantrading to blend with the orchestra, creating a nocturnal and unsettling atmosphere, highlighted by the harpsichord parts. The interval leaps showcase her solidity in the low registers and power in the high notes.
These three titles are excerpts from Gordon Getty's opera Plump Jack, inspired by Shakespeare's Falstaff. In the composer's note, we read that one of the main themes of the opera is the conflict between two worlds, that of impulse and responsibility, another ambivalence explored in this concert.
The rest of the program is centered on Rachmaninoff. Mikhail Pletnev first performs the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43. What unfolds is a playful machine, with winks over a material that awakens under Pletnev's clear and playful touch, using a light touch during the rapid passages. The piano knows how to blend into the orchestral material. The magic of Paganini's theme, often revisited by various composers and here varied by Rachmaninoff, unfolds in several dreamlike moments, where everything seems to stem from the piano. This seems even more so given the placement of the piano in the foreground, somewhat hiding Kent Nagano, the conductor, directing from behind the immense harmonic machine. Nagano knows how to guide his orchestra with delicacy and intelligence. The piece bridges the program: between traces of the past with Paganini, its playfulness gives it a contemporary freshness, linking it with the first part of the program.
After the intermission, Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 makes a savory entrance for the pleasure of our listening. At the beginning of the first movement, Pletnev looks at the audience as he plays the defining theme of the concerto. This look, we can interpret as an invitation to complicity with the audience: "Yes, we know this theme, but have we listened to it the right way? What are we really making it say?". The clarity of Pletnev's sound transforms during the arpeggios into something more intimate, yet still retaining a certain brilliance. The orchestra's palette unfolds in the piano-free moments. The tensions felt between the piano and the orchestra help to build the harmony of the piece together.
One of the cardinal points of the orchestra's philosophy is to respond in their own way to the suffering and violence of the current world, delivering a message of harmony and beauty through music. This unifying intent, however, does not overlook existing tensions, and these even constitute one of the claimed characteristics of the orchestra. The tension within the same ensemble (Markov mentions the presence of Ukrainian and Russian individuals in light of the current situation) even constitutes the path towards beauty. We also feel Pletnev's grounding in tradition, who, while showing great mastery, seems to rediscover at each measure the treasures of the score. The constant rediscovery of this composer, whose 150th anniversary is being celebrated, placed back at the center here and who still has much to communicate with our current world. Coming out of his "hit" image, without the entrance of the concerto's most famous themes having the effect of a repeated idiom, they act rather as an extension of the moment, without falling into the triteness of the already seen and heard. It seems to be more a melancholic reminder or a dream of the past.
A voluptuous second movement offers us a pianistic parenthesis that fills the space, alternating between lightness and a certain intensity, with finely conducted nuances. To end on a third movement with energy and power. The coming together of the solo instrument and the orchestra takes us out of the dream bubble that was established and transcends the moment, with a brilliant final crescendo concluding the concert. We thus retain from this inaugural moment a re-realization of the original beauty of these compositions, an overcoming of tensions to create beauty.
