This weekend past has seen the latest round of musical delights offered by the Warsaw orchestra on the occasion of its 40th anniversary. Piotr Anderszewski was the soloist in a "Viennese" concert of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Anderszewski is one of the leading pianists in the world today, particularly in this repertoire, and the concert's sold-out hall included public figures:
The concert series has, however, also entered a lively classical-music "debate". It has taken a firm stand in the "conductor question" - Do orchestras really need them? The role where the soloist or 1st violin (Concertmaster) leads the orchestra has been dubbed disrespectfully "semi-conductor" by musicians.
Anderszewski conducted the Varsovia, as well as being soloist, for Haydn's 11th Piano Concerto and Beethoven's 1st. He conducted vigorously whenever his hands were free and the orchestra and piano clearly had worked out an interpretation together, including unexpected tempo changes which would either need a conductor or careful preparation.
However, the lack of a conductor was felt at the beginning of the Haydn where the orchestra and soloist were not always perfectly in time and Mozart's Haffner Symphony (No. 35) lost melodic line with the absence of a conductor.
On 25 February, the Serbian-French violinist Gordon Nikolić was the soloist for the Brahms violin concerto and he led the orchestra for Brahms' D major Serenade. Being a work of modest resources, it is quite common for there not to be a separate conductor. Gordan Nikolić, however, especially with the BandArt Orchestra he leads, has extended this "leaderless leadership" further.
Perhaps it was a question of musical choice and not his doubling up as soloist and conductor in the Brahms concerto, but Nikolić's violin seemed sometimes too quiet as the soloist's line got lost in the rich orchestral sound. In contrast to Anderszewski, Nikolić was "minimal" in his direction, often leaving it to other musicians to lead key entrances.
The most successful concert thus far from the perspective of this particular issue was the Baroque-Modern offering of Nikolić's second concert with Sinfonia Varsovia on 28 February. The first half saw Vivaldi complemented by a beautiful rendering of Schönberg's Verklärte Nacht which perhaps moved the audience most of all. However, in the second half we did see a fully-fledged conductor, Alejandro Cantalapiedra, joining Nikolić for the Berg Violin Concerto.
Perhaps the legendary violinist Pinchas Zuckerman will settle the case on 25 March when he plays and conducts Elgar, Mozart and Mendelssohn.
Sources: sinfoniavarsovia.org, interlude.hk
pt