Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra: Brahms: Symphony No. 4 / MacMillan: Larghetto for Orchestra
Reference Recordings

Any new recording by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and conductor Manfred Honeck qualifies as an event. Based on the calibre of their earlier releases (eighteen in total, with twelve on Reference Recordings), one anticipates that the performance, regardless of the works involved, will be terrific, and furthermore will be presented gloriously by the Soundmirror team, who've garnered more than 130 Grammy nominations and awards to date. On this sterling addition to the PSO catalogue, a live Heinz Hall performance of Brahms' fourth symphony is paired with James MacMillan's Larghetto for Orchestra, the latter a commission by the PSO to honour Honeck's tenth anniversary with the group as Music Director. Enhancing the release are in-depth liner notes by him that provide historical context and detailed analysis of the work's four movements.

Though Beethoven cast a dauntingly huge shadow on any composer thinking of writing a symphony after him, Brahms (1833-97) eventually succeeded in completing his first in 1876 at the age of forty-three. Three more would follow, with the last, written during the summers of 1884 and 1885 in Mürzzuschlag in northeastern Styria, Austria, premiering nine years later. Interestingly, it was Schoenberg who identified Brahms as a twentieth-century forerunner and, in a 1933 lecture, called him “a great innovator, indeed a great progressor in the field of musical language.” Speaking of Brahms' fourth, Schoenberg went on to say, “The intellectual concentration and compression of the motivic-thematic work has found perfection in this symphony.” Expressing a considerably less charitable view, Hugo Wolf stated, “The art of composing without ideas has decidedly found its most worthy representative in Brahms. Quite like the good Lord, Herr Brahms also understands the feat of making something out of nothing.” Both, as Honeck astutely notes, are correct: in being so deft at motivic development, Brahms' mastery is most impressively demonstrated in the way core motives blossom into canvases of magnificent sweep. Ideas follow organically after one another with all artfully organized into a satisfying whole.

Reading through the conductor's play-by-play of the score, one gains an enhanced appreciation for his fastidious shaping of the performance. Issues concerning articulation, tempo, dynamics, and balance are thoughtfully addressed in order to produce an interpretation designed for maximum clarity, and micro-details of the work are highlighted in a way that enriches the listening experience. The opening movement begins on a two-note hush before the expansion begins. As haunting melodic material emerges dramatically, Brahms incrementally assembles strings, horns, and woodwinds into a majestic architectural structure. Whereas strings voice a wistful melody like the gentlest caress during one part, horns declaim assertively elsewhere. The PSO's sensitivity to texture resonates powerfully, so much that the music grows ever more transporting as the movement advances. The influence of Beethoven is undeniable, but it's fascinating to hear anticipations of Mahler, the early symphonies in particular, in the writing.

An illustration of the fine balance achieved by Honeck and the PSO is found at the start of the "Andante" movement in the blend of the horns, clarinets, bassoons, and pizzicato strings. The conductor's choice of a cantabile (singing) character for the material amplifies its yearning and melancholy tone, and the sensuality of the orchestra's execution accentuates the music's lyrical dimension as vividly. A dramatic passage seven minutes along makes the lushness of the elegiac string episode that follows all the more affecting. Sadness seeps in as the ten-minute mark approaches, with a sombre section briefly adding a funereal character until resolution is reached with a calming E Major chord. Following quickly on its heels, the "Allegro giocoso" lunges emphatically into position with tutti declamations and a playful, even impish mood instating itself, in the woodwind melodies especially. Honeck's characterization of the third movement as a “brilliant, multi-faceted, fun fireworks display” feels entirely apropos in light of the PSO's energized rendering. The culminating closing movement—an intensely dramatic one titled "Allegro energico e passionato" (lively and fast) and containing thirty variations—is highlighted by a haunting solo by principal flutist Lorna McGhee and a lovely chorale that recalls the second movement in tone. The music swells aggressively thereafter, progressing through anxious and tense episodes before exiting dynamically.

Premiered at Heinz Hall in October 2017, MacMillan's Larghetto for Orchestra is based on an earlier choral work by the Scottish composer, 2009's Miserere, itself a commission by the London-based choral ensemble The Sixteen. Convinced that the piece could be effective in an instrumental form, MacMillan proceeded to fashion the originating material into a fifteen-minute setting that retains the singing quality of the choral version and exudes an undeniably lamenting character. Solemnity permeates the piece as it advances from its forlorn, cello-based intro into anguished passages heavy in strings. Grief is intimated, certainly, but optimism, peace, and triumph too. MacMillan's orchestration impresses also, with the composer attentive to the colouristic effects the orchestra's different sections are capable of producing. Note, for example, how effective the lone horn is when it appears halfway through against a whispering backdrop of strings and harp. As impressive is how patiently Honeck and company sustain and develop mood, and the injection of Celtic flavour into the closing moments is striking too.

November 2021