COMMANDING KORNGOLD AND BARTOK FROM JAMES EHNES
James Ehnes (violin and viola), VSO/ Katharina Wincor, Music of Korngold, Bartók, Liszt and Johann Strauss, Orpheum, May 12, 2023
For all his international commitments, James Ehnes has always been very good about returning to Canadian concert halls to display his many talents. He showed Vancouver his conducting and play/direct skills in a 2017 VSO festival that also included an excellent rendering of Walton’s Viola Concerto. Inspired performances of the Tchaikovsky, Bach and Beethoven violin concertos have come forth in more recent years. Ehnes perhaps outdid himself at the current concert, bringing both Korngold’s Violin Concerto and Bartók’s Viola Concerto. These performances turned out as fully commanding, two of the best I have seen from him. They also highlighted the strength of Ehnes’ collaboration with young Austrian conductor, Katharina Wincor, who is still only in her 20s.
Ehnes’ 2006 recording of the Korngold concerto with the VSO under late, beloved Bramwell Tovey remains one of the launch-pads of his international career. It was originally recorded by the CBC but was later published by Onyx. It remains a wonderful performance, illustrating a keen identification with the composer’s special form of sentimentality and energy. Nonetheless, the current performance went further.
While there was virtuosity, feeling and a beguiling innocence of expression earlier, the current reading seemed to find a more aristocratic awareness of the range of the work and its architecture. The lyricism of the opening movement still soars, but is it more confidently wedded to the rhythmically-active features of the score, making contrasts clearer and detail sharper, so that the expression seems more complete. Ehnes’ lovely bursts of virtuosity still remain but they did not draw any attention to themselves; they served only to highlight what was being said. Lyrical phrases fell into place beautifully in the following Romance, while the rollicking finale – with its catchy little film tune and boisterous ending – did not put a foot wrong. Ehnes varied his attack and colour so judiciously that the whole movement just flowed spontaneously in joy, providing a feast of magical violin playing throughout. Though based on film themes in all three movements, I think Ehnes’ approach gives the concerto greater structural integrity than it often finds, finding a special sensitivity and nobility in Korngold’s themes and an architectural strength that makes the work more universal in reach.
The performance of the Bartók Viola Concerto was equally commanding, providing one of the most cohesive interpretations I have heard. As is well known, the work was left unfinished at the composer’s death, and was orchestrated from sketches by Tibor Serly. While more recent editions have come forth (e.g., Peter Bartók), it is the original Serly we heard here. Lest any reader have doubts about Ehnes’ abilities on the viola, it is useful to record that he has played the instrument for almost 30 years now and has already made recordings of key viola repertoire for Chandos, including this concerto.
The long opening Moderato received particularly clean execution, and emerged with as much integration as I have ever heard. Taking a marginally faster speed, Ehnes managed to convey Bartókian character not so much by dwelling on the movement’s restlessness or yearning but, rather, through a keen awareness of its idiomatic folk accents and rhythms. Violists from Yehudi Menuhin to Tabea Zimmerman have focussed more on the former, and have attempted to probe the more fragile half-lights in the writing; however, at the cost of making the movement seem more episodic. Ehnes more forthright, and bigger-toned, presentation offers a valuable solution, though some may still prefer a more personal approach.
For many, the heart of the work is the Adagio religioso, and here Ehnes did seek a more intimate, soliloquy-like posture. He gave a superb account, concentrated and deeply felt, bringing out some of same rarefied feelings that one finds in the slow movement of the composer’s Violin Concerto No. 2. It was also beautiful tonally: the burnished resonance Ehnes achieved from the lower strings of his instrument was remarkable. Much like the Korngold, joy just sprung from the Hungarian rhythms of the finale, a movement that has a lovely travelogue feel insofar as it makes passing reference to earlier works like Dance Suite. Ehnes built the movement with both cunning and virtuosity, ending with strong bravura. The traversal seemed especially communicative and complete to me.
Of course, none of this would have been possible without the contribution of Katharina Wincor, who was very conscientious in her conducting while never allowing the orchestra to overwhelm the soloist. Her orchestral control, and exactness in rhythm and detail, were notable assets in the closing movements of both concertos. She also contributed the Blue Danube Waltz and Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 as popular fillers, generating considerable excitement at the end of the latter.
It is not often that I comment on the sound at a concert, but I did notice that resonance had been increased markedly in the Orpheum from my previous visit. This generated more impact for orchestral climaxes and more projection for winds and brass. However, it tended to cloud everything else, compromise string timbre in particular, while making it difficult to identify the spatial relationships between the instruments onstage. I do suggest this sonic enhancement be reversed.
© Geoffrey Newman 2023