Conductor: Richard Egarr
Harpsichord: Olga Pashchenko
Violin: Alice Ivy-Pemberton
The “Moments Remembered” strand of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2024/5 season invites audiences to “consider music not only as aesthetic entertainment or even spiritual uplift – but as a unique witness to history and carrier of memory”. In tonight’s Vivaldi’s Four Seasons programme, the perennial favourite is placed alongside two works by lesser-known composers that offer a counterpoint not just to Vivaldi but also to the Classical canon as a whole. It’s a challenging opposition that hints at antagonism but what arises instead is a more circumspect kind of reverence for a uniquely exciting concerto.
The evening starts with Julia Perry’s Requiem for Orchestra (Homage to Vivaldi). Written in 1959, it incorporates elements of jazz and romanticism in its lush orchestration. The tonality is woozy and chromatic, a world away from the strictures of Vivaldi. It’s an esoteric homage to the composer with only a few hints at his pounding ostinati, but provides a striking example of how art can be digested and re-expressed.
Dead White Man Music (Concerto for Harpsichord and Chamber Ensemble) by Evan Williams explores much more explicit connections with the music of the past. Works by Bach and John Dowland are used as source material for a meandering musical journey that takes in elements from across history, including more recent influences like minimalism and jazz. Olga Pashchenko’s solo harpsichord provides a constant anchor to Vivaldi’s time. A solo cadenza in the middle of the first movement is a high point, partly because it gives us a chance to properly hear the instrument. Unfortunately, throughout most of the piece, it is drowned out by the rest of the ensemble. This is a shame and seems like a technological oversight – the instrument is amplified but the sound is muddy and quiet.
The provocative title of Williams’ concerto runs the risk of rankling ardent Vivaldi fans but it’s a more reverent enterprise than it suggests. The first half of the programme acts as a kind of contextual thinking point, acknowledging the problematic privilege at the heart of the Western Classical tradition, whilst at the same time platforming lesser-known works by composers of colour, one of whom a woman.
The Four Seasons is of course a slam dunk. It’s led with style and charisma by solo violinist Alice Ivy-Pemberton. With conductor Richard Egarr on continuo duties at the harpsichord, his hand waving is sporadic. Rather, he and Ivy-Pemberton work together to lead the ensemble with expressive body movements as they gesture through the often fiendishly difficult passages.
The dynamic range is spell-binding. At times the strings are playing so quietly that it feels like the notes are going to crumble and disappear. Then, the next moment, they explode with visceral force. It’s a masterclass of control. The frantic sections in Summer and Winter are especially exhilarating – virtuosic and impassioned. It’s a true pleasure to see a world-class ensemble like the LPO shredding through these runs as one entity.
Compared with the pieces of the first half, The Four Seasons is of course much more restrained in its tonal language, but it has an immediacy that transcends the boundaries of the classical world. It’s refreshing that the LPO is so aware of the importance of reframing the stuffy world of classical music. It’s a world that can still feel very exclusive and privileged, and it has found a way of addressing that whilst continuing to perform crowd-pleasing masterpieces.
Reviewed on 22 January 2025