Was it the freezing temperature permeating the surroundings of the Music Conservatory located in the heights of Cimiez? The relative functional coldness of the auditorium? The presence of an audience that was not usually seen in the corridors of the Opera House? Whatever the case, the atmosphere was not very conducive to the exceptional concert given by the Nice Philharmonic Orchestra on Friday, January 9, despite a program from Central Europe capable of warming hearts and minds: the “Little Suite” by Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski, the Violin Concerto in D minor by Robert Schumann, and the Symphony No. 6 in F major by Ludwig van Beethoven, known as the “Pastoral.”
A wind from the East blew in the pit directed by the conductor, also of Polish origin, Antoni Wit, one of the greats from his country and the originator of more than 150 records and recordings sold in over three million copies. However, the maestro conveyed a sense of great weariness, hidden throughout his performance behind the mask of an impassive face that no reaction towards the orchestra could alter, ultimately ensuring a kind of “minimum service.” At the risk of sanitizing the deep and poignant disarrays contained in Schumann’s Concerto and of diminishing the lively exultations present in the five tableaux of Beethoven’s “Pastoral.” A “Pastoral” whose first movement singularly lacked amplitude, marked by a heavy melodic swinging instead of the lightness suggested by this thematic music. The remark also applies to the Allegro of the third movement, a “joyous gathering of peasants” probably affected by the economic crisis, as it was devoid of colors, monolithic, with little to no orchestral variations.
As for the very young German violinist Linus Roth, born in 1977 in Ravensburg and winner of the First Prize at the national competition “Jugend musiziert,” he quickly garnered numerous prestigious international distinctions. We are undoubtedly dealing with a virtuoso, that is an evident truth. However, in this Violin Concerto in D minor by Robert Schumann, one of the darkest pieces the tormented composer ever wrote in his life, Linus Roth is unconvincing. His dry gestures, lack of smoothness, and arid playing consisting of detached notes, as if sliced by a sharp blade, portray an artist certainly enthusiastic and fiery with youthful virtuosity but as cold as a dead fish in expressiveness and emotion. It was not, as he executed in an “encore” without having the courtesy to wait for the audience to request it, about delivering a lesson in violin technique. Clearly, it was about stirring emotions. This young artist plays with impressive technical skill but forgets—could his narcissism be evidence of his anxiety on the subject?—the romanticism and heightened sensitivity of this work.
We therefore look forward to the next concert on Friday, January 30, on the same European theme with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No. 2, and Glinka’s overture from “Ruslan and Ludmilla.” The Nice Philharmonic Orchestra will be conducted by George Pehlivanian, and the soloist will be the one whose masterful sensitivity Nice’s listeners have long appreciated, Vera Brodmann-Novakova.
