KREMERATA BALTICA
Gidon Kremer (director and violin)
Julia Korpacheva (soprano)
Tuesday 11 December 2001
Konzerthaus, Berlin
Tchaikovsky (arr. Raskatov): The Season's
Digest
Desyatnikov: The Russian Seasons
Tchaikovsky:
Souvenir de Florence for string sextet
Pelecis: Meeting with a Friend
Gidon Kremer's KREMERATA BALTICA project looked like a passing fancy when he
founded it in 1997. It was a nice idea: Kremer would gather the best young
string players of the Baltic region into a chamber orchestra and take them on
tour. But would the ensemble be able to carve its own niche in an overcrowded
market, or would it merely be a highbrow novelty act?
The philanthropic nature of the project also raised questions. Each of the three Baltic states boasts a fine musical heritage and a thriving culture of orchestral, vocal and chamber music. Would those countries really be helped if their finest players were taken away for months at a time? In terms of international profile and money, the answer has turned out to be yes — more people have been prompted to ponder the existence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and Kremer's players can now afford to pay their heating bills.
As time has passed, Kremer has proven his commitment to the group. He has also created a profile for it through his fresh, accessible programming. Winding up a European tour in Berlin's ornate baroque Konzerthaus, KREMERATA BALTICA showed just how much it has achieved in the past half-decade — but also how much it hasn't.
The gently spiritual school of contemporary Baltic composition has provided the key to the identity Kremer has created for the ensemble. There have been other repertoire strands, most notably Astor Piazzolla and a handful of Russian composers whose style fits the Baltic mood. Programs have all been well thought out; each has had a sprinkling of familiar classics as well a core of the kind of easy listening new music that appeals to stressed-out young professionals and won't frighten off the grandmothers.
Berlin's December concert featured two of the works Kremer commissioned as a part of the ensemble's "Seasons" project. The Season's Digest, Alexander Raskatov's setting of Tchaikovsky, is a light-hearted gambol around the original, full of musical jokes and stylistic allusions. Kremer, violin tucked under his chin, wandered around the busy orchestra with an avuncular air, interjecting small musical comments. As the "seasons" progressed, following the calendar year, orchestral members were called upon to play a variety of toys as well as their own instruments; nostalgic tinklings from a prepared piano faded in and out, and two percussionists had their hands full with a series of effects. It was harmlessly entertaining, vividly pictorial, and full of recognizable references — ideal youth-orchestra repertoire played with verve and polish.
Leonid Desyatnikov's Russian Seasons is ostensibly a more earnest work, but with its stated aim of expressing the soul of 20th-century Russian music, it's inevitably prone to cliché. Each of the four seasons is broken up into three sections in which orchestral playing is interspersed with vocal settings of gloomy folksongs. It's lyrical, attractive music, with sparse tonal harmonies; there's so much quotation that Desyatnikov's own voice is hard to find. Medieval, Renaissance and folk allusions abound, but there are also shades of Stravinsky and Arvo Pärt. It's technically fine writing, obviously tailor made for the ensemble; Kremer's solo part exploited his peculiar combination of astringent attack and melodious phrasing, weaving a constant thread through the work. Julia Korpacheva sang with a girlish, disembodied sound that blended unfussily with the orchestral music.
After the interval, Tchaikovsky's Souvenir de Florence provided an opportunity to see how the string ensemble works without Kremer onstage. The group's playing was highly disciplined and wonderfully polished, showcasing an excellent sense of rhythm, plenty of momentum and a dramatic approach to dynamic shading. The musicians barely looked at one another, yet they played with remarkable unity. Kremer's presence was as strong as if he were wielding the baton — this was clearly one man's interpretation of the work, faithfully realized by the young musicians. Seen in this light, it is evident that KREMERATA BALTICA is not a chamber-music group in the conventional sense. The lively interaction of musically strong personalities is missing, and so is the frisson of democracy in action. Whether he's onstage or off, this is Kremer's show.
Even more than Desyatnikov, Georgs Pelecis writes for the forces at hand. Meeting with a Friend brought out the virtuosity and exuberance of the ensemble, but also the rough edges and sudden stabs of sweetness in Kremer's idiosyncratic playing.
In purely technical terms, KREMERATA BALTICA can be ranked with Europe's top
chamber orchestras. But it's a group that still hasn't really found its own
artistic voice. For that, the ensemble must develop an unhampered approach that
explores the tension between individual artistic expression and the musical
common interest.
