London Symphony Orchestra Experience

11th April 2010
Enigma Indeed !

Last weekend, the London Symphony Orchestra was in Mumbai after almost half a century. I was most excited as I walked up the stairs in NCPA, It was always a treat to watch a music concert at the main auditorium. The acoustics are amongst the best here and there is something grand about the place that makes me feel special and important! The only thing that did not quite live up to expectations that evening was the cold coffee and chicken sandwiches. Don’t know why, it just didn’t taste all that fabulous!

The conductor was Sir Colin Davis and the orchestra was playing Edward Elgar and Hector Berlioz. Have watched a few shows here before – sometimes Chamber music, at times the Philharmonic Orchestra and this time it was the Symphony Orchestra. In case you’re curious to understand the difference between the three, Philharmonic and Symphony differ in scale (much larger, usually musicians in excess of fifty) from the Chamber music. The difference between Philharmonic and Symphony is interesting, the names don’t signify any difference in the makeup of the orchestra or the way they are governed, but to distinguish the different groups playing within a city, so for example the London Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestra.

As I traveled the one hour from home to NCPA, I was pondering over who they would play (yep, I didn’t know), was guessing between Bach, Beethoven and Schubert. After buying the brochure for a princely sum of hundred rupees at the entrance I impatiently flipped to the concert details and found Edward Elgar and Hector Berlioz were the two composers being played that night. Nice, had not heard much of Elgar and never heard Berlioz before and certainly never at a live concert.

Sir Colin Davis was the Orchestra Conductor. (he is the president of the LSO as well). When I was young I thought the conductor had an easy job just standing and waving a matchstick like structure in the air. My respect grew with experience and knowledge about all the preparation that goes into getting the orchestra to sound like it does. Easy test that I still do every time I attend a concert like this is to shut my eyes and listen for a while. It is absurd how a hundred people can be orchestrated to sound like a single strain of music when your eyes are shut and all you’re doing is listening intently. Worth trying out.

Having seats in the front of the auditorium does make a difference! Of course the acoustics and therefore sound quality differs based on where one sits but what really made a difference to the experience was being able to see the interchange between the conductor and his ensemble in the few moments that he turned to each side. There would be an instant connect with a smile, mutual encouragement I surmised (that reminded me of the way musicians connect in a jugalbandhi in an eastern classical concert) . The difference was he was controlling the subtle elements of music like the tempo and dynamics of the music with a flourish of his arm. As Sir Colin Davis’ baton meted out artistic directions to about seventy talented musicians, Edward Elgar’s ‘Enigma’ was coming alive!

British, Elgar was a product of the Victorian era, an unquestionably skilled composer and whilst Elgar’s compositions have not traveled as wide as other composers, ‘Enigma’ was undoubtedly the composer’s breakthrough masterpiece.

The story about Enigma goes like this. Post returning home one evening, after giving violin lessons, Elgar sat down at the piano and, to unwind, began improvising. Alice, his wife commented favorably on the tune that emerged and Elgar responded by playing it in ways that suggested how some of their friends might play it. Out of that spontaneous exchange was born the Enigma Variations, the work that analyzes the personalities of his family and friends. What improvisation !

In all, fourteen people (including his wife, an old flame, himself and a dog) are featured in the Variations. No wonder it is referred to as an orchestral suite at times. In Elgar’s words “it expressed when written (1898) my sense of the loneliness of the artist… and to me it still embodies that sense.”

As if to reflect his words I found the music elusive and subtle, at times perplexing and always riveting. It starts with the melancholic and self doubting feel that reflected the artist’s mood but as the journey continues you can hear the ambition come through as the triumph of the artist’s soul builds up in the final rendition named ‘Edu’ (name that his wife fondly called him by). Amongst the composers I have heard (am no authority), the intensity and loudness of the music was different and showed the intensity of the composer. What is also true is that the loneliness never leaves the music and you can hear it as the Orchestra plays on from one Variation to the next.

The concept I found charming, about the core of the artist’s soul that cannot be reached. At the same time, the warmth and friendliness of some of the themes reflecting the close personal relationships and exchanges he shared with his friends and fellow musicians, at times discussing Beethoven (‘Nimrod’, one of the nicest Variations) or about his pensive, romantic viola player friend in ‘Ysobel’ or ‘Romanza’ that is the memory of a love lost and still yearned for.

I so enjoyed myself, surrendering to the Variations. Letting myself flow along with the mood and feel of every composition, it was somewhat like a roller coaster ride. Over a hundred years after, he carried me along the journey, (and I’m sure many in the audience including my neighbor who was in a trance like condition furiously playing notes in the air) of his varying moods. Best of all, I caught myself smiling quietly many times, that to me is the power of what brilliant music can do! And of course Edward Elgar’s Enigma was no less!

By,
soma ghosh.