Pianist Steven Osborne joins the Auckland Philharmonia and conductor Shiyeon Sung for Maurice Ravel's jazzy Piano Concerto in G bracketed by works by Russian composers Anatoly Liadov and Dmitri Shostakovich.
The orchestra's Principal Guest Conductor Shiyeon Sung is on the podium.
Scottish pianist Steven Osborne Photo: Supplied
LIADOV: The Enchanted Lake Op 62
Inspired by Meshchersky’s painting of the same name, this short and atmospheric work is subtitled a “fairytale scene”.
It is a symphonic poem and represents the expressive spirit of late-Romantic Russian music. Describing the painting to a friend, Liadov said that it was picturesque but mysterious: “no entreaties and no complaints; only nature — cold, malevolent and fantastic as a fairy tale.”
RAVEL: Piano Concerto in G
The Concerto in G was written in the years following Ravel’s extended 1928 tour to the United States, and demonstrates his willingness to incorporate the influences of the Jazz age into his compositions.
He was considered at the time to be France’s greatest living composer and this American tour offered Ravel the chance to rub shoulders with the likes of Duke Ellington and that other composer who bridged the gap between jazz and classical genres, George Gershwin.
Ravel’s Basque heritage is ever-present in the rhythms and harmonies of this work, but we will also hear the sounds of the jazz clubs of Paris and New York interwoven into the three movements of the concerto.
This work is intended to be joyful. Ravel wrote that he wanted it to be in the spirit of Mozart or Saint-Saëns. In his mind, a concerto should be lighthearted and brilliant. And yes, you will hear the crack of a music whip as this concerto begins.
Born in Scotland and trained at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, Steven Osborne is a multi-award-winning musician who has made his name as an expressive performer across diverse repertoire from Beethoven to Messiaen to jazz improvisations. The Observer describes him as a player always “in absolute service to the composer” and his performances of Debussy and Prokofiev have been declared transcendent. In fact, his recordings of both composers have become benchmarks in the genre. Recently honoured with an OBE for service to music, Osborne returns to New Zealand as part of an extensive 2022-23 touring season.
The cor anglais solo in the second movement is played by Michelle Feng.
Keith JARRETT arr Steven Osborne: Improvisation on Keith Jarrett's 'Vienna Concert'
An encore performed by Steven Osborne.
SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No 5 in D minor Op 47
Now we shift to the dark days of 1937 and Joseph Stalin’s Great Purge.
Dmitri Shostakovich had fallen foul of the politbureau after his avant-garde opera “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” was denounced as formalist and bourgeois – a literal death sentence for Soviet artists. Shostakovich wrote the Fifth Symphony as a last gasp attempt to redeem himself in the eyes of Stalin. It is no exaggeration that the success of this work saved him from the gulag. But it was no real victory. Shostakovich reportedly said that, “The majority of my symphonies are tombstones. Too many of our people died and were buried in places unknown to anyone, not even their relatives...”
The Fifth is consequently more traditional in form to his earlier symphonies and outwardly conforms to the expectations of “Socialist Realism”, yet a sense of unease and lamentation permeates the four movements of this work. And the extent to which it adheres to Stalin’s expectations is entirely up to interpretation. Where the Soviet establishment saw a triumphant rejection of pessimism in the fourth movement, others hear the forced celebration of a masked despair.
Recorded by RNZ Concert in Auckland Town Hall, 17 August 2023
Producer: Tim Dodd
Engineer: Rangi Powick
