It is concerts such as this, that are a reminder of how lucky Scotland is to have a resident orchestra with both the commitment and the quality of the BBC SSO. Having the Music Director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Matthias Pintscher, as Artist-in-Association, is one of a number of exciting ways that the orchestra is maintaining its edge. Before his recent death, Pierre Boulez had a long standing connection with the Edinburgh International Festival, spanning some 56 years. Tonight, Pintscher, a dedicated interpreter of contemporary music and close friend of Boulez, celebrates this connection with a programme of relevant 20th Century music.
The concert begins with Boulez’s ‘Don’ from Pli selon pli, based on the text of Stéphane Mallarmé’s 1865 poem Don du poème. The orchestra play this crisply and with an extraordinary clarity. The quality of soprano Yeree Suh’s voice is perfect for this piece, her singing lucid and unambiguous: it is hard to imagine it could ever be sung better than this. It is a truly remarkable tribute to Boulez’s work.
Berg’s Three Pieces for Orchestra, dedicated to his teacher Arnold Schoenberg, require a rather long resetting of the stage, but are well worth waiting for. Again, even in its loudest sections, the music remains absolutely crystal clear. Pintscher’s understanding of the work is incredibly detailed, and he aligns all its elements precisely, giving it an astonishing, deep focus.
On the face of it, Debussy’s La Mer would appear to be a strange bedfellow for the Boulez and Berg. However, Pintscher’s razor sharp interpretation—very much from the Boulez stable—makes it work perfectly within the programme. There is nothing namby-pamby here: it is keen like a whetted knife, sweeping away any traces of saccharine that the piece may have become unwittingly associated with, to reveal its true revolutionary core: it is breathtaking.
The concert ends with a beautiful performance of Boulez’s delicate work Mémoriale (…explosante-fixe…Originel), the BBC SSO’s guest principal flautist, Charlotte Ashton, playing the solo flute part exquisitely. Its translucent ending is only marred by someone’s mobile phone vibrating quietly in the background—such a shame.
If any of these performances were available as recordings, they would certainly be ‘must have’ versions: they are of the very highest caliber. It just makes one greedy for more—why not perform the whole of Pli selon pli, for example? Or programme a whole Boulez strand to the Festival?
However, despite the fact that Boulez was one of the most important composers of the 20th Century, this is sadly not enough to guarantee anywhere near a full-house, even tonight. This is a shame, as concerts of 20th Century music of this quality don’t occur as often as one might like.