The doldrums: Berg Violin Concerto and Christ on the Mount of Olives with the LSO
Berg Violin Concerto and Christ on the Mount of Olives
Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra
Barbican Hall
Circle H10, £16
19 January 2020
Barbican page
I needed to have done more homework to enjoy Beethoven’s oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives. My companion David had a whale of a time, emerging upbeat and perky and almost (but not quite) humming some toons. Not so for me; I gazed at him stupidly through a slowly dissipating fug of ennui. (Our positions had been reversed at the interval, where the luminescence of the Berg had ushered David gently into the land of nod.)
The Beethoven didn’t send me to sleep but it did bore me terribly. I had booked with some sense of obligation; many friends later followed suit after a stern edict from Rattle in an interview. In hindsight, I know I should have listened to it before hand: mid-period Beethoven, oratorio – the signs were all there. But I am ever attracted by seeing something live completely cold. The consequence here? I can barely remember the piece beyond a vague fuzz of generically pretty Classical tropes, and Pavol Breslik’s fabulous shoes.
The Berg also disappointed me, though my non-soporific friends tell me I’m unkind. Lisa Batiashvili is a fine violinist but there were a few moments right near the beginning where the intonation felt wayward and, unfortunately, for me with this piece my good opinion once lost is lost forever. Rattle, of course, can be an extraordinarily fine conductor; but, understandably enough, I felt his focus in preparation had been largely on the Beethoven, and his performance with the LSO of the Berg was largely perfunctory. A perfunctory performance is still going to be very pretty – the kind of relaxing classic that might well send you to sleep – but I think we can agree that it deserves better.
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