Orchestre de Paris - Paavo Järvi - Gidon Kremer / Salle Pleyel

Ludwig van Beethoven and Alan Berger
Orchestre de Paris conducted by Paavo Jarvi with Gidon Kremer
Salle Pleyel
10th March, 8pm
10-60 euros

****

Following the critical and commercial success of Théâtre La Colline's staging of Alban Berg's opera Lulu in December of last year, Paavo Järvi conducts the Orchestre de Paris with violinist Gidon Kremer, performing the composer's best-known violin concerto, 'To the memory of an angel', at the Salle Pleyel.

Legendary Latvian violinist and prolific recording artist, Gidon Kremer performs with characteristic sensitivity, bringing out all the pained delicacy of Berg's concerto and amply illustrating the composer's vision of the violin's dark expressive possibilities within the new idiom of modern music.  His handling of the very difficult passages of the Allegro is, as expected, flawless. Tonight's billing provides a rare opportunity to hear one of the world's foremost violinists and, further, a musician who has become widely respected for his experimentation with unconventional repertoire, and it has sold out the Salle Pleyel on a Thursday night.  The audience is generally young, their style rather avant garde for this grand institution of the 8th arrondisement.

The Berg revival continues to gather momentum throughout Paris' 2011 Season; the composer's work has featured in four concerts at the Salle Pleyel thus far this year; Christopher Eschenbach will conduct three more of his pieces in the same hall later this month; and Lulu will return to the Parisian stage at Opera Bastille in October.  Berg's dark and complex psychological themes, along with his convoluted and remorselessly violent modern style may not be to everyone's taste but they do seem to be appealing to a growing audience.

The evening's programme opens with Beethoven's overture  Consecration of the House (Die Weihe des Hauses), op.124, and closes with his Symphony No. 4, providing an energised, rousing contrast to Berg's melancholic and uncomfortably angular concerto.  Järvi's assured, if reserved, style induces a performance of remarkable control and precision from the Orchestre de Paris, and there is a much energy to be felt during the Symphony's anticipatory lulls as during its magnificent climax thanks to the impressive restraint he inspires.  Beautiful violin solos from Philippe Aiche and Roland Daugareil, and a spectacular performance from the brass section, once again emphasise restraint and precision and never permit Beethoven's finesse to be obscured by the high energy of his composition.  A very good performance indeed that bodes well for both Paavo Järvi's first season conducting the Orchestre de Paris and Alban Berg's ongoing presence on the Parisian stage.