Conducting Concert Review

St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra

Sunday 15th February 2015

Usher Hall, Edinburgh

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture

Camille Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto No. 1

Pyotr IlyichTchaikovsky Symphony No. 6

Alexander Dmitriev – Conductor

In a concert from Russia’s oldest orchestra conducted by their Russian conductor of

30 years, Alexander Dmitriev, one would expect a programme of mainly Russian

Romantic music to be executed with finesse. It was immediately clear from the

opening bars of the Overture that Dmitriev was very at home with Tchaikovsky’s

works. Conducting without a score, he was obviously intimately familiar with both

Tchaikovsky pieces, in slight contrast to the Cello Concerto which was done with a

score and with much less ease.

Throughout the concert however, Dmitriev’s conducting style was very interesting to

watch. There was obviously a good relationship between him and the orchestra as

he was able to trust them to follow his extensive rubato without letting it drag,

particularly in the Overture which was far more polar in tempo than any version I

have heard of this piece. His frequent cueing was obviously matched to individual

sections or players, making use of his own space to make it clear who he was

focussing on. This was helped by his placement of sections, for example having the

horns amongst the cellos and basses, away from the rest of the wind and brass. This

also made it apparent that at times he would ignore the tune to conduct the intricate

off-beat rhythmic material for momentum’s sake. He also had a wide variety of

physical contortions to indicate the intensity of the music – by the size of his gestures

– or the pitch, by gesturing above his head for higher pitched material or almost

squatting for bass passages – impressive for a man in his eighties! Dmitriev made

use of the method of giving his beats significantly before they were to be played,

particularly in emphatic phrases, which helps the intensity as the players have more

warning of what is coming, but requires a strong conductor-orchestral understanding.

However, with the soloist in the Cello Concerto, Natalie Clein, Dmitriev appeared

less at ease, having to jump ahead or back as the soloist was not watching him.

Most of the time he did manage to catch up, but occasionally it appeared slightly out

of sync between orchestra and soloist, which made it slightly less comfortable to

watch as the audience was not quite certain that everything was alright. Despite this,

and aided by the fewer desks of strings used for this piece, Dmitriev kept the second

“movement” under impressively tight dynamic control by use of very close, minimal

hand movements to keep it no louder than a piano.

Altogether this concert showed off a highly skilled conductor who has an almost

unparalleled relationship with a world-class orchestra over thirty years, however as

with any conductor and orchestra, they have their strengths and weaknesses, and in

this case Dmitriev’s strength definitely appears to be in the massive Russian

Romantic works.

Reference

St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra Usher Hall Concert Programme