In the Dark

Last night’s concert at the National Concert Hall in Dublin was billed Shostakovich 50 because 2025 marks the 50th anniversity of the death in 1975 of Dmitri Shostakovich, whose First Symphony was performed after the interval, by the National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of guest conductor John Storgårds. As you can see, though, the programme was quite varied and no fewer than three other composers were represented.

The first piece was The Oceanides, tone poem by Jean Sibelius intended to evoke the sea nymphs of Greek mythology. It’s quite a short piece – only eleven minutes in performance – but full of movement, suggesting the ebb-and-flow of the sea and its different moods, from tranquil to stormy. Its place on the programme made it a good workout for the orchestra and a wonderful starter to whet their appetite of the audience for the rest of the menu.

After that appetizer we had a performance of the Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini by Sergei Rachmaninov with soloist Yukine Kuroki at the piano. This piece comprises a set of 24 variations on a them from one of Paganini’s caprices for solo violin. The Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini is piece full of contrasts: sometimes pyrotechnical, sometimes lyrical. My favourite section is the 18th variation, in which a lovely romantic melody emerges and is picked up by the whole orchestra in a manner that’s very characteristic of Rachmaninov. This tune is just an inversion of the theme transposed into a different  key and slowed down.

The Rachmaninov alone was worth the cost of the ticket. I was amazed how pianist Yukine Kuroki coped with the technical challenges of this work but also how she managed to generate so much power for a person of such slight build. Rachmaninov himself was quite a large man who had hands like shovels, so his work often places difficult demands on a soloist. Not last night, though, as Yukine Kuroki not only played with great accomplishment but also clearly enjoyed herself. In the passages during which the piano was not playing she was bouncing up and down and tapping her feet waiting for her cue. It was lovely to watch as well as to listen to. I’ll also mention that she was wearing a gorgeous one-shoulder dress with a vivid red colour.

After the wine break interval we returned for a piece that was new to me, the Symphony No. 3 ‘White Interment’ by Ukrainian composer Victoria Vita Polyova. This is described a symphony, but it doesn’t have the traditional structure in terms of movements. It has instead a rather static structure, consisting of thematic blocks based on a poem Now always snows. It’s a sombre and rather minimalist piece, with little of the development you would expect from a true symphony, but the sound world it creates is layered in interesting ways. I enjoyed the performance.

And finally we have the Symphony No. 1 by Dmitri Shostakovich which I don’t think I had heard in concert before. The most astonishing thing about this work was that he wrote it as a graduation piece for the St Petersburg Conservatory. Its first performance was in 1926, when the composer was only 19. It is a substanial work over four movements (the last two played without interruption) and there are passages within it in which you can see that he had already found much of the distinct voice that he used in his later compositions. This piece isn’t really reminiscent of any other composers, either.

The performance was excellent, with particularly strong work by the woodwinds and brass. It was very well received by the NCH audience which is always very generous with its applause.