Vienna in Spring

THE MUSIC is familiar, easy and frothy but if it is also elegant, witty, sonorous, graceful and with the dark continuo of tragic sense, then it has to be Vienna. And so was the Vienna Chamber Orchestra conducted by Joji Hattori.

They brought Vienna to life in Spring at its most exhuberant when the city waltzes by the Danube in a profusion of colours and flowers. "The air trembles like violin strings' remarked the great Viennese conductor Carlos Kleiber, as a warning for both conductor and orchestra not to go overboard. The programme began aptly with Spring from Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" which is unbashedly programmatic with dancing nymphs, shepherds playing on bagpipes, a barking dog and a thunderous thunderstorm in the finale. One has to remember the overall title which is "The Trial of Harmony and Invention". Coordination was effected superbly; the violinist conductor Hattori led with strong bravura but brilliant articulation with dynamic contrasts with the orchestra in lifted rhythms and alert, resilient accompaniments. The pastoral dance of the opening was full of charm in sunshine conveyed in revealing transparency. On the violas the friendly growl of the dog was heard in the slow movement. The violin commanded the centre stage with the lovely, voluptuous adagio enhanced by the dark colouring from the lower strings in tutti. The bustling strings threatened the approaching storm in the finale which begins with the fury of a tempest but was dispensed with a sense of Mozartian fun.

Fresh and intelligent solo playing and the soft accompaniment of the orchestra brought out the essential classic spirit of Mozart's Fourth Violin Concerto in D Major, a work which is often a battle between violin and orchestra, but which, in the hands of the soloist conductor, was harmoniously resolved with the violinist rightfully given its place. He was dignified and ebullient in the first movement and then ascended to the seraphic melody of the slow movement which floated gracefully and effortlessly. The theme of the dance continued in Schubert's Polonnaise in A flat. Both violin and orchestra brought out the stately waltz. Tschaikovsky's Serenade for strings in C in the conclusion brought out a darker and deeper side. The music spoke for itself - vigorous, extrovert, taut and alert. An extremely polished playing in the first movement which enhanced the elegant and graceful waltz and the immensely spirited Finale.

Two feats difficult to achieve were performed with grace and distinction - the antiphon responses within the string groupings where ideas move back and forth and the lustrous full orchestral singing that begin and end the work.

The encore disproved the adage that the best wine should not be served last. And proved another one, that only for the Viennese is the Blue Danube really blue. Hattori from Japan, with unbuttoned zest, introduced the Blue Danube Waltz with some fetching words and then unleashed glorious playing with precise ensemble and the lilt which is uniquely Viennese. Whereas in Mumbai the programme was repeated with dancers in ball gowns at a gala event, in Chennai we gave our own distinctive accolade when a famous Bharatanatyam dancer, spontaneously waltzed gracefully out of the hall, an embodiment of the grace and music of a Viennese evening.

A. F. COUTO

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