Violin: Alena Baeva
Conductor: Omer Meir Wellber
Ahead of the much-anticipated performance of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, we have the pleasure of listening to a programme of Haydn and Mahler/Schnittke in the evening’s first half.
With the grand yet silent organ as a striking backdrop, Haydn’s Symphony No. 49 in F minor (La Passione) starts off this evening of music. The symphony unfolds through four movements: Adagio, Allegro di molto, Menuet, and Finale: Presto. The opening Adagio’s expressive string passages marked by a delicacy in timing and silences allow the music to wash over you with lightness. Allegro di molto quickens the pace with precision in its power, its canonic passages, elegantly passing motifs between first and second violins, violas, and cellos to both beautiful visual and sonic effect. The bouncy Menuet builds anticipation for the lighting speed Finale: Presto, which is executed with remarkable assurance. Conductor Omer Meir Wellber leads with panache, seamlessly balancing his dual role as harpsichordist with musical, engaging and charismatic flair.
The programme’s first half continues with the meatier Mahler and Schnittke’s Piano Quartet in A minor, comprising Nicht zu schnell and Scherzo. Mahler’s darker tones combine a sense of angst with melancholy which are immediately apparent in the piano’s opening. As the strings enter, the piece takes on a dynamic shape, shifting between moments of intense emotion and sweetness. Nicht zu schnell ventures into darker territory, its dissonant harmonies and high-pitched violin passages evoking ghostly echoes. The unexpected conclusion lingers with a low rumble as if leaving an unfinished thought hanging in the air.
Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35, comprising Allegro moderato, Canzonetta: Andante, and Finale: Allegro vivacissimo, is the centrepiece of the evening. It is remarkable to consider that this now-beloved concerto was once met with critical disdain. Composed in the wake of Tchaikovsky’s ill-fated marriage, an attempt to mask his true homosexual self, the piece brims with rich and tumultuous emotion, making for a magnetic listening experience.
With Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider unable to perform, Alena Baeva steps in, delivering a breathtaking performance of technical brilliance and full of soul. She navigates the demanding trills and rapid passages with apparent ease, yet it is in the interplay between soloist and orchestra that the concerto’s full emotional depth is realised. Baeva delicately renders the highest of notes and executes the occasional vibrato exquisitely.
The Canzonetta, featuring an elegant clarinet and flute duet with the violin, provides a melancholic contrast before the finale bursts forth with ambitious fervour. The audience is rewarded further when Baeva returns for an encore, performing Aurora from Ysaÿe’s Sonata No. 5, dedicating it to remembering that “there is always sunrise after darkness.”
Time really does fly as the London Philharmonic Orchestra delivers an evening of exceptional music full of technical precision and heartfelt expression.
Reviewed on 1 March 2025
