Ivanov in a lovely Mendelssohn VC debut

The concert on 30 January 2010 had the "Fair Melusine Overture" by Mendelssohn as the unusual first opening piece of a fine MPO/Kees Bakels concert. The overture was quite well played, except some uncomfortable moments in the upper string parts (when performing the rapid string crossing passages).

The previous Mendelssohn VC performance by Chloe Hanslip and Claus Peter Flor at one of the earliest DFP gala concerts was very poor - with Hanslip rushing and garbling her triplets in the first movement of this masterpiece. In fact, the Mendelssohn VC was too tough a piece for Hanslip to sustain. There was no such misadventure on Ivanov's part. He was entirely in command technically, producing a very sweet tone from the 1699 Lady Tennant Stradivarius.

This was beautiful playing on Ivanov's part, with subtle shading and portamento sparingly used in the lyrical portions of this most seamless of all violin concertos in the repertoire. Tempi chosen were standard fare and articulation was very fine too. Again, with young and up-and-coming artists that have come to DFP recently, they lack a special persona and lack something individual to say. This was also true of Ivanov and a comparison could be made with a supreme artist in the Mendelssohn VC (like Alfredo Campoli in a fantastic 1954 Beulah CD with Sir Adrian Boult). He gave a superb encore in the form of Ysaye's Solo Sonata Op 27 No 2 (Les furies - Allegro furioso).

After the interval, we were treated to a good performance of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony. Kees Bakels is a good conductor but does not highlight contrasts and magnify interesting points of the score. Indeed, he is no Karajan, Böhm, Bruno Walter or Andre Cluytens and did not give a cutting edge performance of the score. Dramatic contrasts were under-played (e.g. timpani in the storm movement as well as a simple triplet motive in the first movement). Nevertheless, the audience enjoyed themselves in a well-thought out programme.