Variety Spices Closing Pärnu Festival Concert
The final concert of the 2013 Pärnu Music Festival
in Pärnu, Estonia was led by Neeme Järvi and two top students from the Järvi
Academy for young conductors (held concurrently), Christopher Dragon of Perth, Australia and Estonian Kaspar Mänd.
Järvi, founding father of the musical dynasty that bears his name as well as the Pärnu Music Festival and the Järvi Academy, conducted the Järvi Academy Youth Symphony Orchestra July 23 at the Kontserdimaja (Concert Hall) in Pärnu in a compelling performance of Saint Saëns’ Symphony No. 3 (“Organ”). It was Dragon and Mänd’s assignment to lead works by Estonian composers Peeter Vähi and Eduard Tubin, specifically Vähi’s flute concerto “Chant of the Celestial Lake” (Dragon) and Tubin’s Concerto for Double Bass (Mänd).
Soloist in “Chant of the Celestial Lake” was flutist Maarika Järvi (daughter of Neeme), with Russian bassist Nikita Naumov in the Tubin Concerto. It was a program exhibiting refreshing variety and extraordinary achievement.
Vähi wrote his flute concerto for Maarika Järvi, who
recorded it in 2001 for CCn’C Records. The 1999 work exemplifies the composer’s
fascination with Asian culture. In one 29-minute movement, the work is scored
for flute and string orchestra. Special effects abound, including tapping of
the stringed instruments, pizzicato behind the bridge and over-blowing by the
flute. It began in an atmosphere of serenity, morphing into to dance and
chant-like sections and including dialogue with the principal first violin and
cello. Järvi gave it a soulful as well as secular interpretation, handling
Vähi’s splendidly decorative writing with ease and poise. Dragon was a skillful
and sensitive collaborator with the Academy Youth Symphony.
Bassist Naumov tackled Tubin’s exacting Concerto,
composed in 1948 for Estonian virtuoso Ludvig Juht (an expatriate who pursued
an international performing career, with the Boston Symphony among others). It
is a remarkable and remarkably challenging work with the bass performing
constantly in the instrument’s highest register. Naumov’s facility was daunting
in that respect, lending the bass a rewarding melodic dimension. In three
movements performed without a break, it began in medias res, full of energy that turned jazzy with lots of
syncopation and a big string melody on top. The second movement introduced a
tender bass solo that waxed heroic, following by a jaw-dropping cadenza. The Allegro marziale finale also featured
formidable acrobatics. Balances with the orchestra were sometimes an issue, but
Naumov kept his listeners engaged and in awe of his skill throughout. Conductor
Mänd kept a firm hand on the ensemble and worked closely with Naumov, yielding
another fine collaboration.
Neeme Järvi, 76, always a favorite of his countrymen, stepped to the podium for the Saint-Saëns Symphony. It was a performance to relish, with Järvi employing minimal gestures to get exactly what he wanted from the orchestra musicians. That included a robust string sound and finely crafted dynamic extremes. He shaped the gentle second movement exquisitely and gave crisp enunciation to the propulsive third. The Maestoso conclusion was just that, full of drama and heavenly resonance as the strings softly voiced the main theme against the sublime piano background.
Organist Ulla Krigul sounded the king of instruments mightily, stirring all within hearing, and the grand melee of sound at the end was punctuated with matching emphasis by timpanist Heigo Rosin.
Responding to the crowd's standing ovation – they simply wanted more – Järvi obliged with one of his trademark encores, the “Bocaccio March” by Franz von Suppe.